The Missing Metaphor
January 8, 2022 by Rosemary Flaaten
Filed under Daily Devotions
By Rosemary Flaaten –
Using the word “as” indicates a simile which, according to my fourth grade teacher, is a figure of speech similar to metaphors. In both cases, one thing is explicitly compared to another to suggest a resemblance. While reading a familiar Psalm, I was struck by my propensity to miss this two letter word and in doing so I missed a very important comparison.
The Psalmist David starts Psalm 63 by verbalizing how his soul hungers for God as if he has an unquenchable longing for God. Verse five goes on to say “ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (NIV). It was this verse that stopped me in my tracks and made me realize that not only had I misread this verse but I was living out my mistake.
Loneliness, sadness or discontent are fed with chocolate and Doritos in an attempt to soothe. The tyranny of my emotions is like hungry lions and I try to placate those emotions with succulent food. The problem is that my soul was not created to be satisfied with food. The deep needs of my soul need to be met with the life giving sustenance of my heavenly Father’s love and grace, not sugar and salt. By extracting the word “as” from Psalm 63:5, I had chosen to attempt to satisfy my emotional needs with the richest of foods.
This has made me wonder how many other tangible things I have attempted to use to satisfy the spiritual needs of my soul. Have I attempted to use relationships to feel satisfied? How about shopping? vacations? accomplishments? None of these things are wrong in and of themselves but trying to feed them to my soul to create spiritual and emotional satisfaction is pointless.
By putting back the metaphor into this verse, my emotional needs will be met through a dependency on God which will have the same effect as feeding my physical body the food it needs.
PRAYER: Lord, forgive me for replacing your presence with temporary created things. Help me to keep You in first place, allowing You to fill and satisfy me as only You can.
Psalm 63:1,5 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods. (Psalm 63:1,5 NIV)
As a dynamic speaker and an award winning author of "A Woman and Her Relationships" and "A Woman and Her Workplace" , Rosemary Flaaten's passion is to see people deepen their relationship with God and others. She lives in Calgary, Canada.