Terms of Heart

Reflections on the Psalms and the Great Psalmist,

Shepherd of Israel and Poet King David,
the man after God's own heart.

Archives for April 2015

A Listening Heart

Last Saturday I spent the morning in a workshop on the ancient prayer tradition known as Lectio Divina. This centuries-old form of meditation has been engaged by Christians since at least the 4th century and it is actually much older than that. In fact the practice is rooted in the ancient Hebrew tradition of haggadah, with which Jews in Jesus’ time would have been familiar. Both Lectio and hagaddah center on studying the scriptures deliberately and interactively in what might be best described as a listening way. [Read more…]

When Vision Fails

After my last post several people commented that thinking of David as “a seer after God’s own sight”  was a new concept. One noted that she loved learning that “beautiful eyes” can mean the way we see things, and that it would change the way she and others, she believed, viewed David.

When we examined the phrase “he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome,” that’s what we were doing — glimpsing how David’s kinsmen viewed him. But not everyone saw him that way. The enemies of Israel certainly did not. And when we look at their reactions to him, there is even more evidence of a strong scriptural connection between beautiful eyes and spiritual insight. [Read more…]

The Character of David: Heart and Vision

God’s selection of the shepherd boy David to replace Saul and to become King of Israel seems to have surprised his father Jesse. He had, after all, neglected to consider David initially as he paraded his other sons before Samuel. Even after the prophet had determined “The Lord has not chosen these,” Jesse apparently gave no thought to David. Samuel had to ask, “Are all your sons here?”

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Did David Write the Psalms?

Let me begin by saying that I see the answer so clearly that I don’t understand the need for this question. But others do, so I will pose it so I can respond.

Did David write the psalms attributed to him? Yes, I think he did and I believe the question of authorship can be settled most convincingly by examining voice.

[Read more…]

Still

Early one morning in February 2005 I sat alone in a one-room building that had once been a corncrib atop a hill called Mt. San Angelo nestled in the Shenandoah. The quiet and isolation of that tiny space conspired with the sheer beauty of the surrounding Blue Ridge mountains to make it a place of inspiration. I was there to be still, to practice my art of poetry. [Read more…]

Blogging the Psalmist

“Why should anyone devote a contemporary blog to David, to delving deeply into his life and prayers and to reflecting and meditating on his poetry?” one might ask. It certainly is a legitimate question and one that deserves more than just a word or two in response. So I have attempted to address it as thoroughly yet succinctly as I can in the “Why David?” section of this blog. I invite you to take a look.

But before you go there, let me be the one to pose and answer a couple of related questions: why am I writing this blog? and why now? It’s a story I love to tell. You can read it here.