Giving our spiritual health equal time with our physical fitness
By Dean Collins
Many of us spent money on some fitness apparatus at Christmas, and many more have a routine of spending time and money on physical fitness and health. Early this year let’s be sure we spend equal or more time in spiritual fitness.
I exercise regularly, but I finally gave away our expensive clothes hanger originally known as a treadmill. It took up a lot of room and only made me feel guilty for rarely using it. But I replaced it with a regular fitness routine that I do everyday. Now that the new year has arrived, as we consider all the ways to do better and live healthier, we can find a time, a place, and a structure that allows spiritual formation to deepen in us.
David’s prayer pattern
Apparently David needed to create some structure to his devotional and prayer life as well. Psalm 25 for instance is an alphabetical acrostic that uses a different letter from the Hebrew alphabet to start each verse. Many scholars speculate that this created a memory device that enabled first David, and then others through the centuries, to memorize this psalm of prayer and meditation. The purpose of memorizing Scripture is not to win a gold star but rather to imbed truth deep in our minds and hearts, creating a reservoir both of help for us and better praise to the God who saves and sustains us.
Some commentators suggest that David goes back and forth from prayer to meditation in this psalm.
• Verses 1-7 prayer
• Verses 8-10 meditation
• Verse 11 prayer
• Verses 12-15 meditation
• Verses 16 -22 prayer
The rhythm of pausing to pray for our needs and then taking time to meditate on the promises of God can help us develop both good theology and good practice. It’s a habit that will serve to build a solid spiritual foundation in our lives. It’s also noteworthy to consider how this psalm encourages us to be less self-reliant and more dependent both on God and his timing. I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to fall into the trap of believing I am here to fix things rather than allow God to do that job. We are to make ourselves available, but we have neither the power nor the wisdom to do God’s job. And we must learn the difficult lesson of God’s timing. God doesn’t have a “to do” list that he is obsessed with like some of us have on our phones or desks!
Our daily focus
As David prays and considers God’s ways and his needs, he is aware that he has opposition and enemies and he needs God’s help to defeat them. He also realized that sometimes our own sins are the cause of our problems, even after we have confessed them. But, like you and me, David can be haunted by memories of previous sins, even the sins of his youth.
Sometimes you might be shocked, as I am, to think back on the temptations not resisted in earlier years. And we are reminded of how easy it is still to wander away from God and fall into a trap the enemy has set for us. So David prayed that God would forget his sins from the past. Of course God does that. Maybe this prayer will help us let go of the past as well.
Psalm 25 reminds us that life will always have challenges and difficulties. David understands that daily focus on God, daily trust in his promises, and daily prayer combine to strengthen us, ground us, and give us victory time after time.
So go ahead and exercise and watch your calories and carbs, but don’t forget that the greatest benefit comes from taking time to focus on the goodness and greatness of God each day. He got us through last year and he is our guide and our deliverer for all that awaits us in 2021.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 25:1-22 ESV
Photos by Magda Ehlers from Pexels
