“-mon
semblable, mon frère!”
The terrors of death assail me.
Fear and trembling have beset me;
Horror has overwhelmed me.
David is going through a serious
bout of depression, which he feels physically.
His heart races in anguish. His body
trembles. Horror has totally overwhelmed him.
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it …
But it is you, a man like myself,
My companion, my close friend,
With whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship,
as we walked with the throng at the house of God.
Life is easy if we can divide the
world neatly into friend and foe. You know what to expect from “the wicked”.
But what if we find cracks in this dividing line?
This
experience shatters David’s spirits: he feels betrayed by a companion, by a
close friend. He trembles because what he thought was firm ground beneath his
feet has been shaken. In his fear of betrayal, a poisonous suspicion seeps into
this relationship: although the other’s words may sound more soothing than oil
– aren’t they really “drawn swords”.
What is the other one really up to? How will you ever know? Who can you
trust?
David feels a
weary temptation to throw in the towel: Imagine yourself an innocent dove, fly
away from the unreliable, disappointing and unsettling company of fellow men;
stay in the desert and find rest and shelter from the destructive forces at
work in human society, the unreal, “fourmillante” city:
violence, strife, malice, abuse, threats and lies.
In the midst
of emotional turmoil and physical discomfort, when his trust in human
companions and friends is broken, David answers the question who he can trust:
But I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
Evening, morning and noon,
I cry out in distress,
and
he hears my voice.
Anon.
No comments:
Post a Comment