Blessings,

Cole

With this in mind, in Psalm 4:4, David writes:

Be angry, and do not sin;

Ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

Along with David’s words, consider the following brief reflection on anger attributed to Frederick Buechner.  Make it food for thought this week:

“Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back–in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”

Blessings,

Cole

Consider these two “cures” revealed in these psalms:

1.      Talk to God. The writer of Psalms 42 and 43, himself struggling with spiritual drought, is nothing if not honest with God.  Instead of repressing his feelings, he pours out his soul to the Lord, at times showing very obvious frustration at His seeming distance and inaccessibility.  “Why have you forgotten me?” he asks God (42:9).  When was the last time you talked to God this way?  Even if all you can do is “talk to the absent God about his absence,” give it a try this week.  You might find it a helpful practice in the midst of spiritually dry times.

2.      Talk to yourself.  The writer three times (Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5) reminds his soul to hope in God.  His soul, disturbed within him, has been lamenting his plight, wondering why God seems so distant…  Why enemies are allowed to oppress him….  Why he can no longer experience the sweet fellowship that he enjoyed with other believers in earlier days.  After listening to his soul, however, the psalmist talks back, and by the end of Psalm 43, the clouds of dryness and depression seem to be lifting a bit.  Indeed, it seems that there is perhaps some sense in talking to ourselves!  Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, the famous British pastor, used to say that whereas most people say it is a mark of insanity to talk to oneself, Christians have a totally different take:  We say it is a mark of spiritual sanity and maturity to know how to talk to yourself!  In his classic work on spiritual dryness, entitled Spiritual Depression, Lloyd-Jones goes so far as to say:

“The main problem in this matter of spiritual depression is that we allow our self to talk to us, instead of talking to our self.  Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is b/c you are listening to your self instead of talking to yourself?”

If you find yourself in a season of dryness, meditate some on Psalms 42 and 43.  And start talking!  Though it seems difficult now, know that, like the psalmist, as you put your hope in God, you will yet praise Him, your Savior and your God (Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5).

At the beginning of a new school year, Still’s question is an appropriate one for us here at Duke.  After all, we are a bit of a mess inside, too, aren’t we?  Yet, as we meet so many new people this time of year, the natural tendency is to put our best foot forward and hope to conceal our brokenness and pettiness from them.  Maybe, we think, if I can just show them my best qualities, and hide my blemishes, we can all be great friends.  Maybe then I’ll be accepted.

But when we come around Jesus and those who love him, we have to throw all such pretense out the door.  Within the context of a community that loves and worships Christ, we can and must be real with each other.   Because as we read the pages of Scripture, it becomes clear that Jesus, rather than looking for the ‘together, ’the ‘polished’ or the perfect, is seeking to befriend and love the unlovely, the wretched and the flawed.  He’s not looking for people with something to offer, but rather calling morally bankrupt, disobedient, broken people to accept his offer to follow him.  Indeed, it seems that the main people who invite his wrath are those who claim to have it together or seek to conceal their rebellion and brokenness.

So as you come to Cru this fall, please know that we want you to come as you are. There are no prerequisites, no qualifying tests, no entrance exams.  Cru exists to help students experience Christ, and the only thing that qualifies anyone for Christ is this—that she be a great sinner, a ‘mess inside.’  For centuries on end, when those kinds of people have come to Christ, they’ve found in Him a deeper love and acceptance than they could have every dreamed.  We pray that you’ll find the same in Him this year at Duke and in Cru.

Blessings,

Cole