Temporary Insanity

I love Linus in the Peanuts cartoon. He can explain the meaning of Christmas while believing in the Great Pumpkin. He has the wisdom of sages while paranoid about losing his security blanket. While I’ve never had the wisdom of sages, I did have a blue security blanket. It went everywhere with me. My older sisters made fun of it. When my aunt and uncle came to visit, they were merciless. One day it went in the wash and never came back. That was my worst day of High School.

As a pastor I see people lose their security on a regular basis. There is nothing quite so painful as loss. Our girlfriend dumps us, our employer is downsizing, our husband is messing around, dad dies. We’ve all been there, and when life hits us with a one-two punch it is so much worse. When all our security blankets seem to be pulled from us at the same time, we tend to go postal. We want to drink, to move, to buy the MG convertible, to kill something. It’s crazy, but there it is.

This week we take a snapshot of life of David from 1 Samuel 21. Through no fault of his own, he is estranged from his parents, brother, wife, and best friend. He loses his job, reputation, and popularity. His mentor and pastor dies, and David goes postal. Temporary insanity. Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." (Mt 6:33) David, after he recovered from his temporary insanity, said, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! ...Those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing." (Ps 34:8-10)

This week we will take the “taste test” in order to avoid temporary insanity.