Psalm 51:6
“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”
As time passed it affected him physically (Ps. 32:3-4), emotionally (Ps. 51:8, 12), spiritually (Ps. 51:3-4, 11), psychologically (Ps. 51:5), domestically (2 Sam. 12:11-12) and vocationally (2 Sam. 12:17-18). It was an acid eating his soul. Eventually it all came out (2 Sam 12:1-13). Only then could the healing begin.
David’s world needed rebuilding. The initial site for that renovation was his “inmost place”. It is the same for you and for me.
Journey to Your Centre
Travelling inward can be a frightening experience. If you do not go there often enough the stuff you find will be unpleasant. It’s like cleaning the fridge at work and finding year old egg salad sandwiches and mould infested pies. Gross!
David’s inner world was mouldy, infested and dark. It was sick to the point that he prayed to God: “do not cast me from your presence”. He felt worthless and even wondered if God might take the Holy Spirit away from him (Ps. 51:11). Many of us have experienced this same inner darkness.
David and each of us need help.
Own Your Darkness
Before help comes there is a hard truth. You have to take the gross stuff (your spiritual equivalent of year old egg salad sandwiches) and bring it out into the open before God. David did this. “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (Ps. 32:5). He confessed to God and to Nathan the prophet.
Confession is inviting God to listen in while you tell yourself the truth. And “truth” is exactly what God desires in your “inner parts” (Ps. 51:6).
David’s experience of confessing was so releasing that he invites everyone to pray the same way he did. If you do, he promises that “when the mighty waters” of judgement rise, they will not reach you (Ps. 32:6-7). Strange as it may seem the way to find God is to go inward and downward (to quote Parker Palmer).
Bring Your Smelly Offering
David’s poetry makes a shocking claim. Every orthodox worshipper in David’s world knew that God wanted unblemished sacrifices for worship. He required new born lambs, never-yoked Oxen, healthy blue-ribbon livestock. The demand was always for the freshest and the best. But suddenly David changes the rules. When it comes to human hearts, it is different!
“The sacrifices of God are a BROKEN spirit, a broken and CONTRITE heart” (Ps. 51:17).
Amazing! God wants me to bring my mouldy spirit and my maggot infested heart and give them to him in worship. He accepts this as an offering when I bring it with a deeply sorry attitude.
This is incredible good news because I have nothing else to bring really!
Welcome God’s Renewal
This journey inward to the dark centre and the hard work of bringing a smelly offering may take weeks and months. It may prove harder than we think. But it leads to a new and beautiful place. It is here, at the “inmost place”, that God teaches us wisdom (Ps. 51:6).
And with that wisdom, if we are willing to receive it, comes purity, security, joy, community, vocation and celebration – all of them abundantly restored (Ps. 51:11-15; 32:5-7).
Is it any wonder David says: “Blessed is the person whose sins the Lord does not count against him” (Ps. 32:2). Here is HOPE!
Questions
Have you experienced the release of confession?
How often do you take the journey to your "inmost place"? What practices help you do this?
1 Samuel 18:9
“From that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”
The Jealousy Principle: Jealous leaders shrink what they lead.
By putting their own interests first and sabotaging anyone who threatens them, jealous leaders diminish whatever they lead. Jealous leaders empty the talent pool of their organisations without even realising it.
King Saul, of Israel, made a good start but he finished very poorly. He made several bad decisions. One of his worst was choosing to envy young David, Jesse’s son.
David was impressive. He had musical gifts and a leader’s heart. He could play the harp, wield a sword and write poetry all in a day’s work. He stood out in battle and in the king’s court as a man of great value to the nation. The crowds loved him, the girls swooned over him and King Saul despised him. Sad really!
A modern psychologist would have some sort of label for Saul. He was not a well man. He could begin applauding David’s skill as a harpist and suddenly chuck a spear at him in a moment of jealous rage. The Bible says an “evil spirit” took hold of Saul. This behaviour condemned Israel to pointless civil strife for a long time.
How different history might have been if Saul had mentored David instead of trying to kill him. Imagine if David had received the support and backing of this initially competent King and if the two friends David and Jonathan (Saul’s son) had been left to enjoy friendship and cooperatively build the future nation. Instead Saul’s jealousy crippled his leadership and confounded the people.
We can nurture a jealous eye today, just like Saul. It is an infection that can take you by surprise when somebody in your organisation makes you feel insecure or threatened. Suddenly you want them gone. You watch them with envy and disdain. And if you act on that impulse you will shrink your organisation by much more than one person.
Jealous bosses (including parents and teachers) may not use a javelin in an attempt to skewer their competition, but there are other ways to stick it to an underling. Ego gets in the way and truly capable people are diminished. Whole enterprises fall.
Five questions to help cure a jealous eye:
- What does this person have (abilities, connections, possessions) that I want or fear loosing?
- What would be the Kingdom result if I elevated this person instead of crushing them?
- What am I insecure about and why?
- How can I change my self-talk?
- Is there something in my leadership history that is stirring up these unhelpful feelings and attitudes?
You can choose jealousy OR you can choose to coach, mentor, build-up and serve. You can hope that young up-start falls off the ladder OR you can position yourself to hold the ladder for her/him. If you choose the first you will shrink your charge. If you choose the second you will multiply the capacity of both yourself and your organisation. Beware the jealous eye!
Questions
- Where are you most tempted towards leadership jealousy?
- Have you ever been the target of this kind of jealousy? What did you learn? How did you escape.
- Please leave a comment.
Proverbs 11:13
“A gossip betrays a confidence but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.”
Secrets are not child's play, they are the stuff of life. At all cost, surround yourself with people who can keep secrets. But know the danger of secrets as well.
Bless you, if you can keep a secret!
I want (need) people like you in my life. Secrecy is a cocoon of opportunity. There are so many things in life that we need trustworthy people to help us address.
You can’t do any of these six things without the power of secrets:
- Process your dark stuff with a great counsellor
- Know true intimacy in a marriage
- Celebrate a special occasion for one you love and do it with genuine surprise
- Have adequate space to process a decision that will effect others
- Think through a complex problem or opportunity with a friend
- Act kindly with anonymity
Can you keep a secret? Bless you if you can because many secrets are good.
But, should you keep this or that particular secret?
Secrecy can also be a closet for sinister things.
Six secrets that don’t deserve to be kept:
- The secret that abuses
- The lie that confuses
- The covert injustice
- The clandestine affair
- The unacknowledged prejudice
- The ‘dirty little’ secret
In these situations, blow the whistle. When secrecy hides truth and fosters evil it is the responsibility of good people to shine a light in the darkness. Some secrets are bad.
You won’t have to keep secrets forever.
Secrecy is temporary. The Bible promises there will come a “day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:16) and when we “shall see face to face” and “know fully” (1 Cor. 13:12). Good secrets won’t be needed, bad secrets won’t be tolerated.
Until then. Bless you if you can keep a secret and bless you even more if you know when not to!
Questions
- Have you experienced the hurt of betrayed confidence? Have you healed from that experience? What do you need to do to grow further or share that learning?
- Are you aware of any "secrets" that need light shed on them?
- What is gossip? How do you keep from participating in it?
- Please leave a comment.
Psalm 47:8-9
“God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne … the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.”
Gaddafi (Libya) looks like he is finished. No sorrow there! Gillard (Australia) looks a little less secure this week than last week. She can’t seem to cop a break these days. Even the High Court is against her. Berlusconi (Italy) is “nauseated” by public life and wants out, or so the wire-tap transcripts say.
All these “kings of the earth” belong to God. Imagine that!
I read my bible this morning and this is what it said (Ps. 47:1)
“Clap your hands, all you nations:
Shout to God with cries of joy.
How awesome is the Lord Most High,
The great King over all the earth!”
That is a powerful statement of faith. It takes some courage to clap for God in Libya, Australia and Italy this morning (and most other places too). We live in a world of challenges and perplexities. Stabilising Libya’s new leadership is no small thing. Sorting out Australia’s immigration policies and fixing Europe’s economics are major challenges.
I respect just politicians who serve the people and give of their best in troubled times. But today I am reminded that “God reigns over the nations”. Today I want to clap for God and declare that he is my “refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble” (Ps. 46:1).
I wonder how often these “kings of the earth” remember that they “belong to God”. That is how Scripture positions all politicians. It is the frame of reference I bring to reading the news. This keeps me from too much worry. It prompts me to pray for politicians. And it calls ME to act for justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
I noticed two other things this morning as I read Psalms 46 and 47.
This wonderful call to stillness (Ps. 46:10)
“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
And this invitation to sing (Ps. 47:7)
“God is the King of all the earth;
Sing to him a psalm of praise.”
Here then, is our hope: The kings of earth belong to God! When you forget this, be still until you know again. And when you remember it, sing until others are stirred to join you.
Questions
- What do you worry about when you read the news? How do these Psalms encourage you?
- Do you find stillness and singing useful in the same way David did?
- Please leave a comment.
