Each day this month, we will consider key moments in God’s glorious plan to redeem us. We will understand both the overarching story of God and the highlights of all he’s done for us in Christ.
In the course of God’s redemptive plan, for a short, happy time, the warrior-poet King David led and inspired God’s people. His creative genius emanates from many of the psalms. Although we don’t have the musical score, we still hear the powerful emotions, truths, and proclamations of praise revealed in them. Only the shepherd boy, now the shepherd king, could pen with such pathos these comforting words: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, King James Version).
Poets create, and through their art, they reveal beauty and value. Poets express what we feel but cannot articulate. Their carefully chosen words speak for, and to, our souls.
In an increasingly flippant world, we need the winsome word, the beautiful imagery, and the heartfelt expression of the poet. We need godly poets like David who pour out every emotion of the heart — the things we’re all feeling but nobody’s talking about. They skillfully bring us back to eternal truths that soothe our troubled spirits.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The Greek word for “handiwork” here is poiema, from which we get the word “poem.”
We are divine sonnets, written not with ink but with his Spirit, not on sheets of paper but on the tablets of our hearts. God is the poet. We are his poems.
Lord God,thank you for describing us as your works of art, your poems. Thank you that each of our lives can reflect your beauty and glory to those around you. Lord, use me today to show others the beauty of Christ, the beauty of the Spirit’s fruit, as you express it through me. Amen.
Throughout This Day: Seek to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus by listening to songs of worship and praise as much as you can today.
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