“Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.”
Psalm 34:5
On a particularly damp and windy day, hundreds of calves were huddled outside, shoulder to hindquarter, tucked between the fence and the barn. The rain had created a mess of mud and the calves looked dirty-brown instead of the usual black and white. They looked miserable.
All except one calf. Although he, too, faced the same windy rain and was covered with the same mud, he chose a different shelter — an open field of muck! In the face of the wind he skipped and jumped like a child. He was oblivious to the downpour. That calf literally looked happy.
Life is quite often like the farm scene of the calves, isn’t it? We huddle with others of like misery in hopes that one day our lives will be happy again. Like the calf, however, David, the psalmist, chose an unusual moment in his life to declare the joy of being a child of God. Huddled around him in the cave of Adulam were four hundred smelly, dirty renegades fleeing from Saul. But David had the audacity to declare: “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Psalm 34:5).
David made a choice for himself. “We may be in a mess and we may be discouraged. But my God knows we are here and knows our need. I will dance and sing.”
David was able to do so despite his fears. He submitted them to God and was enabled to declare a calf-like joy. Are you gripped with a spirit of fear? Take each one by the horn and lead it to the face of God. Let your fears see the light of eternal day and you, too, will skip, laugh, dance, and sing.
Lord, I desire to skip and dance like a calf despite the problems that face me each day. Grant me the inner sunshine of Your Holy Spirit.
