The Poetry of Life

Poetry is a language of the imagination, playing with words in a way that captures life from a unique perspective. It lets us enter into the emotions and experience of the writer. Add just the right melody to poetry, throw in some tambourines, cymbals, flutes, trumpets and harps (150) and you have powerful pieces of work. Masterpieces for pilgrimage (122), war (18), reflecting (23), lamenting (5), dancing (149) or worshiping (33). You have the Psalms. Hebrew poetry set to music. The song book of Israel.

David’s poetry (and the other authors for that matter) is honest, real, vulnerable, emotional. He doesn’t sanitize his feelings, giving us only the cheery, kind, acceptable ones (although he gives us those too). He pulls back the curtains of his heart and lets us take a peek at the unacceptable, the ugly. ”Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” (4) “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.” (5) “I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.” (6) “Break the teeth in their mouths, O God.” (58) Isn’t this where we all really live? Life in general and the Christian life in specific are not always riding the wave. Sometimes we are pulled under by the surf.

While exposing us to his deep emotions in the given situation, David is not held captive by those emotions. He constantly comes back to his center of gravity. The LORD is his refuge (31), fortress (59), stronghold (18), hiding place (32) and ever present help in trouble (46) to name a few. And in coming back to that center of gravity David unveils for us some breath taking views of God. “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” (59)

Somewhere along the line we have lost the idea that acknowledging our rawest emotions can actually lead us to encounter our Heavenly Father. An encounter that can fill us with hope, truth, healing, peace and transformation. Somehow in our desire not to be controlled by, lead astray by or be deceived by our emotions (which we certainly want to avoid), we have denied ourselves the opportunity to admit and deal with them. It’s a failure that covers up pain, creates wounded blind spots and hinders our spiritual growth.

David comes along and with the poetry of a shepherd, king and fugitive gives us encouragement to discover God in life. Life as it is and not as we wish it. Life as we are and not where we wished we were. Poetry in motion. The poetry of life.