In Times Like These

“When I kept silence, my  body wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.”

Today, as we face 100 degree plus temperatures here in the Pacific Northwest, these words from verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 32 ring loud and true. That kind of heat definitely tends to sap your strength. Years ago, when I was younger and even more ignorant than I am today (smiley face) I played a set of tennis in 105 degree heat. We were in Tucson, AZ. The palliative “it’s a dry heat” didn’t help much that day. My opponent was from Virginia Beach, VA and I was from Portland, OR. For some reason we assumed the sun would be more forgiving on that very dry day in Arizona. It was not. I was in pretty good shape in those days but it still took me several hours to recover.

So back to the scripture.  As you will learn from reading elsewhere on this website, I am very committed to the axiomatic “The truth hurts; and it will also set you free.” Freedom, in this context, might be not having to work real hard in an ongoing struggle to avoid offending anyone. While most people know better than to try to play tennis in extremely hot weather, we usually are quite measured and strategic when it comes to telling an economic, political, or religious truth. I’m pretty sure that particular so-called “wisdom” should go away in times like these.

What are these times? Well, take for example, a time when we have presidential candidates who insist on talking only about the litmus test social issues while scrupulously avoiding the tougher geo-economic, theological, and politically unpopular issues. In times like these we tend to keep silent when we should be “speaking the truth in love.”

Please respond to this if you’d like to go into more detail.