Daily Manna · Day 27 · January 27
Simple Faith
“The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.”
The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
The man saying that had nearly died. He describes it three verses up: the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. Whatever it was, he thought it was the end, and what he did about it was not sophisticated. Then called I upon the name of the LORD. Four words of theology and one cry.
He is worth knowing as a person rather than an example. He offers no framework and defends no position. He reports. He was brought low; help came. And then, further down the psalm, you find out what a man like that does afterwards: he asks what shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me, and answers by taking the cup of salvation and paying his vows in the presence of all his people. He was rescued in private and he said so in public. That is the whole of his system.
The Hebrew word behind simple carries the sense of open, unguarded, easily persuaded. It is not usually a compliment in the Old Testament. Here it is the word for a man with no defences left, and it turns out to be the category God preserves.
So how much of what you call your faith is a position you would be embarrassed to lose, and how much of it is I was brought low, and he helped me?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 27 is No Greater Joy (3 John 1:4).