Daily Devotion - Thursday, January 12

A New Year Dawns

“God has put a new song in my mouth,
it is a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
And put their trust in the Lord.”
--An ancient Hebrew song (Psalm 40:3)

Henri Nouwen was one of the finest spiritual guides of the 20th century. I was privileged to attend some of his presentations. He was an inspiration. Devotions this week have been a small tribute to Henri, a teacher who faithfully pointed people to God.

As the New Year continues to unfold, I’d like to share this parable from Henri, written over a quarter of a century ago:

“Once there was a people who surveyed the resources of the world and said to each other: “How can we be sure that we will have enough in hard times? We want to survive whatever happens. Let us start collecting food, materials and knowledge so that we are safe and secure when a crisis occurs.” So they started hoarding, so much and so eagerly that other peoples protested and said: “You have much more than you need, while we don’t have enough to survive. Give us part of your wealth!” But the fearful hoarders said, “No, no, we need to keep this in case of an emergency, in case things go bad for us, too, in case our lives are threatened.” But the others said: “We are dying NOW, please give us food and materials and knowledge to survive. We can’t wait… we need it now!” Then the fearful hoarders became ever more fearful since they became afraid that the poor and hungry would attack them. So they said to one another: “Let us build walls around our wealth so that no stranger can take it from us.” They started erecting walls so high they could not even see anymore whether there were enemies outside the walls or not! As their fear increased they told each other: “Our enemies have become so numerous that they may be able to tear down our walls. Our walls are not strong enough to keep them away. We need to put bombs on top of the walls so that nobody will dare to even come close to us.” But instead of feeling safe and secure behind their armed walls they found themselves trapped in the prison they had built with their own fear. They even became afraid of their own bombs, wondering if they might harm themselves more than their enemy. And gradually they realized their fear of death had brought them closer to it.”

Something to pray through this year, I believe.

--Ben Keckler
01.12.12