Image from biblia.com
Every word you give me is a miracle word - how could I help but obey? Break open your words, let the light shine out, let ordinary people see the meaning. Mouth open and panting, I wanted your commands more than anything. Turn my way, look kindly on me, as you always do to those who personally love you. Steady my steps with your Word of promise so nothing malign gets the better of me. Rescue me from the grip of bad men and women so I can live life your way. Smile on me, your servant; teach me the right way to live. I cry rivers of tears because nobody's living by your book! (Psalm 119:129-136)
If you've ever noticed ancient pictures, most people were not smiling. I saw once an explanation for that, but I've forgotten what they said. I remember what some comedians have said about it; but I prefer to think that for many, it was their first time in front of a camera and they did not know what to expect. And they may have been paying a steep price in that day for this photograph; they had to wear their best, have their hair perfected combed, watch as gunpowder was placed on an apparatus and then boom! A flash of light and the picture was taken by a man who probably was hidden safely under a protective cover near his camera. No smile.
Today, we must search for photographs that show some sincerity; most are now taken by our phones and we try to be as silly as we can; and so many photographs are taken, some of them do not get our full attention. But how important is a smile to you? Can you easily shop in a place where the clerk/owner do not smile? Can you honestly say you want to return to a church where folks only smile at the ones they know?
The psalmist loved God. There is no question in most of the psalms we have read and studied and prayed with. And in most of them, he wants to maintain a healthy amount of gratitude towards God for all that he has received while reading or writing most of the psalms. His desire was to walk in God's way and do what God expected. And one of the things in this psalm that jumps out at us is that he would like to see God smile on him. I remember and wish I could still see my Dad and Mom smile at me. Even though life had been hard for them, it never robbed them of the ability to smile. Their smile meant a lot to me, and I love to smile at my children and now at my grandchildren. Imagine the smile of God on you today, dear friend. It's the smile that says, I love you and I appreciate you. It's the smile that can call us to action to do something that blesses God in return for that smile.
PRAYER: Thank You, Living God, for Your Word and for the smiles we find in it. Help me to be one who shares Your smile by the way I live. Help me to be among those the psalmist wanted to see living by your precepts and make my life shine brightly for others. This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Smile!
Eradio Valverde
