Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:1-3
The subtitle of Psalm 3 sets the stage for the psalm: “A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.” David is, literally, running for his life. His handsome and charismatic son Absalom ran a successful political campaign to oust David and installed himself as the new king, his father’s replacement. Unfortunately for David, Absalom’s plan was not for his father to retire and write his memoirs. David had to be dealt with: he had to be eliminated. Political intrigue in leadership, corporate and otherwise, is nothing new. So, what does David do in these extremely difficult circumstances? David prays. Learning to develop an integrated life of prayer and work (Ora et Labora, Latin) often begins in this way. Desperation turns us to-ward God. What we’ve learned about God in moments of quiet reflection become “flesh and blood” as we risk both “flesh and blood” in our work. Psalm 3 reminds us that prayer is not merely a private spiritual discipline but an integral part of our public life and work. It also reminds us that prayer in life and work is complicated. David is not merely an innocent victim in his present circumstances. It is interesting that David quotes people around him as saying, “There is no help for him (David) in God.” Translation: David had it coming. Think of the backstory of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. David’s own failure and sin contributed to the circumstance in which he found him-self. Likewise, we often find ourselves in difficult circumstances which we helped shape. When we realize that, our hearts sink and our heads drop. However, the psalm provides hope. God is always present and ready to pick us up to reengage our life and work. In David’s words, God “is the One who lifts up my head high.” (v. 3) Finally, we are reminded that prayer is not an escape. Prayer is integral to our work precisely because we need to deal with and face the world as it really is. Prayer is not something for nice, Christian people to do as they retreat from real life. Prayer is not something that is out of touch with and irrelevant to work in the real world. Instead, as David reminds us, it is a battle-hardened discipline that equips us to engage the messy and difficult world of work with genuine hope, faith, and love. David teaches us how to pray by giving us words to pray. The Book of Psalms helps us as we learn to pray in just such a way: an integrated life of prayer and work: Ora et Labora. Comments are closed.
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