Psalm 1 – Imagery and Invitation

As I read through Psalm 1, I notice that the imagery in it is pervasive. It talks of walking and sitting, a tree with fruit beside a stream, and dust blowing in the wind. God is saying something here, but he’s using allegory and image. Why doesn’t he just come out and say what he wants to say? Ah… because what he wants to say is only half of the picture.

God uses things we know to illustrate things we do not. It is said that a painting is worth a thousand words. And yet a thousand words still fall short of what the painting conveys. Imagery moves past words and invites us to become involved in the picture’s story, to see, to hear, to taste the truth within our imagination, with our soul. 

We evoke imagery in another’s mind by various means, like telling stories, painting pictures, or creating music. In the end, sharing truth by imagery still leaves a certain mystery surrounding the message behind the image. But perhaps this is by design. For God does not wish to drop some truth into our lap as if he were passing by. The truth is meant to be an invitation to come closer, to engage him further, to grab him by the sleeve and say, “Wait! There is more here, I can feel it! What does this mean?”

And as if to continue the invitation, the further revelation we get from him is often like a warm blanket that settles upon the heart—an understanding that floats upon the soul with a deep knowing—a knowing sometimes too rich for words. Perhaps is it best that we not always try to confine such revelations by words—as if our words could contain them. Sometimes we can only say, “it was like” or “it was as if.” Sometimes it is good to simply embrace the mystery and wonder. 

Sure, we want to share our revelation with another, and that means we have to convert it all into words and sentences, yes? It’s funny this. We share with others as if God’s invitation to taste and see was given only to us. We feel as though we must transcribe what we’ve seen and tasted, rather than invite them to taste and see for themselves, even as God invited us. We sometimes share as if they don’t need to connect with him on this, since we’ve already done so and now have the revelation nicely packaged for them.

There is a place to analyze and dissect God’s words to us. But I wonder how often we should come to this place. When I dissect his words, it often feels like I am using my powers of rational thought to understand a sunrise. If God shines a light on something, is it then up to me to make sense of what I see? Am I trying to remove the mystery, the invitation? If I remove the mystery then do I remove my need for connecting with God on this matter?

Sometimes, and more often now, when I read scripture I can “see” Holy Spirit there in front of me, very close, looking into my eyes—like inside that invisible line we call our comfort zone. “Let’s go look at Psalm 1” he says. So I go there and begin reading. Yet it’s awkward, because he’s still there staring into my face. It’s like I cannot read this on my own, like he’s waiting for me to ask him a question. If it were a person staring at me so closely I would say something like, “I can’t read with you staring at me like that, is there something you want?”

Yes. Of course there is. He wants to connect. He doesn’t want to nudge me to read Psalm 1 and then come back later to see what I’ve discovered. He wants to participate. And why does he seem so eager to participate? Ah… now this is a really good question.