Shelter in the Storm
Psalm 119:143 gives us direction for difficult times. David describes his situation as being in trouble and anguish. David’s solution, delight in God’s Word. Thinking through that a movie came to mind, “The Book of Eli.”
Art Imitates Life
If you have seen it you know it is of the dystopian genre. The story is about Eli, walking across a post-apocalyptic America on a mission with a book. The book turns out to be a copy of the King James Bible. The book is in braille, Eli is blind. He reads it daily and helps one of the other characters learn to read it as well.
The Bible sustains Eli on this quest full of trouble and anguish. It is a fairly clear picture of David’s thought in Psalm 119:143.
But.
The final couple of scenes, and I will share this without revealing much of the plot, shows a man putting a printed copy of the King James Bible obtained from Eli on the shelf of a library, at that point we get the notion that it is the only copy in existence. In the next scene we see the other character that Eli led in and through the Word leaving, essentially taking up Eli’s mantle, into trouble and anguish, but without the book… As I thought about this, this is a metaphor for what is happening in many of our communities today.
Life Imitates Art
The book is on the shelf and the disciples are in the world which gives us trouble and anguish without the book to sustain them. Eli’s disciple was in trouble without that book. So are we. She had an excuse. There was only one copy. We don’t. We have it on our phones.
Psalm 119:143 gives us direction for difficult times. David describes his situation as being in trouble and anguish. David’s solution, delight in God’s Word. Thinking through that a movie came to mind, “The Book of Eli.”
If you have seen it you know it is of the dystopian genre. The story is about Eli, walking across a post-apocalyptic America on a mission with a book. The book turns out to be a copy of the King James Bible. The book is in braille, Eli is blind. He reads it daily and helps one of the other characters learn to read it as well.
The Bible sustains Eli on this quest full of trouble and anguish. It is a fairly clear picture of David’s thought in Psalm 119:143.
But.
The final couple of scenes, and I will share this without revealing much of the plot, shows a man putting a printed copy of the King James Bible obtained from Eli on the shelf of a library, at that point we get the notion that it is the only copy in existence. In the next scene we see the other character that Eli led in and through the Word leaving, essentially taking up Eli’s mantle, into trouble and anguish, but without the book… As I thought about this, this is a metaphor for what is happening in many of our communities today.
Life Imitates Art
The book is on the shelf and the disciples are in the world which gives us trouble and anguish without the book to sustain them. Eli’s disciple was in trouble without that book. So are we. She had an excuse. There was only one copy. We don’t. We have it on our phones.
Thankfully I had one bit of the Book in my head this AM (I did need to check the reference, though), Psalm 16:8, I" have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
ReplyDeleteLots of shak'in going on in my life right now, and God gave me His word for today of assurance in the midst of it. Now my challenge is getting the reality of it from my head into my experience.....