Rev David Nicolson
A "s"ignificant letter
I will keep my reflection deliberately shorter today, as I have a more fully fleshed out message as part of tonight's midweek broadcast. I was studying for the Easter morning message this Sunday, typing some notes on Psalm 16 which will be my main text. I was finding comparisons in some of the wording to the fateful speech in Genesis 3, after the fall. I went to type 'curse', but had a typo. When I returned, I saw I had really written 'cure'. Curse and cure. Only one small letter separates them, but in the Bible's language, they could not be further apart.
Sometimes the strong current in our world and culture can cause us to confuse these things. We look for the cure for our sick and weary souls everywhere, but in God Himself. Or perhaps we mix in wisdom from the world, with our religion, hoping for a blend that works. The pressure can be great. After all, the cure for our souls, 'Christ and Him crucified' is utter foolishness to a world addicted to self-sufficiency and conveniently packaged solutions. But the cost of mistaking the curse and the cure can have dire consequences, now and eternally.
This Holy Week, I am being led back to the testimony of the psalmist the real and only cure:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heartmay fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25, NIV