I've been focused on grammar lately, thanks to my children's education, especially verbs in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person. So when I read Psalm 23 for my devotions this morning something new hit me.
David starts out talking about God in the 3rd person. "Yahweh is my shepherd." Notice the precious verbs. "He makes me, He leads me, He restores, leads. Then in verse 4, David becomes the subject of the verb, but only for the first half of the verse, when he considers facing death.
After that, God is the subject again, but now in the 2nd person. Once David faces adversity, He addresses God directly. "You are with me, You prepare a table, You anoint my head."
David moves from "He and me" to "You and me."
Has this happened in your life?
Some people grow up in the church, and God is just talked ABOUT. They never get to a personal relationship with Him. Some Christians are very intellectually minded, and personally facing the living God is far from their thoughts. Prayers TO Him are rare or perfunctory.
God's people must learn to address Him in the 2nd person. This may be one reason our prayers wander. When we come down to facing God directly, it is just too much for us. Prayer TO God is inherently 2nd person, grammatically, but we often have a way of staying 3rd person in our heart's posture. We would rather think about Him, than abide with Him and say, "You, O Lord..."
But that is just what we need.
"You [Lord] have said, 'Seek my face."
My heart says to you,
'Your face, Lord, do I seek.' "
Psalm 27:8
Seek His face today.
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