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Day 19: Live Poets Society

Each day of this devotional series, we will consider key moments in God’s glorious plan to redeem us. We will understand both the overarching story of God and the highlights of all He’s done for us in Christ.

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” – Proverbs 16:24, New International Version

A Happy Time

In the course of God’s redemptive plan, for a short, happy time, the warrior-poet King David led and inspired God’s people. His creative genius emanates from many of the psalms. We’ve lost the music, but we have not lost the powerful emotions, truths and proclamations of praise revealed in them. Only the shepherd boy, now the shepherd king, could pen with such pathos these comforting words: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, King James Version).

The Poet

Poets create, and through their art, they discover beauty and value. Poets express what we feel but cannot articulate. Their carefully chosen words speak for, and to, our souls.

Godly Poets

In an increasingly flippant world, we need the winsome word, the beautiful imagery, the heartfelt expression of the poet. We need godly poets like David who pour out every emotion of the heart, the things we’re all feeling but nobody’s talking about. They skillfully bring us back to eternal truths that soothe our troubled spirits.

Where are the godly poets? Where are their poems?

God’s Poem

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (New International Version). The Greek word for “handiwork” here is poiema, from which we get the word “poem.”

We are divine sonnets, written not with ink but with His Spirit, not on sheets of paper but on the tablets of our hearts. God is the poet. We are his poems.

Next: David wrote many of the Psalms. His son’s writing also made it into Scripture but was quite different.

Questions:

  • Do you like or read poetry? Why or why not?
  • What do you think the role of the poet is in society and in the body of Christ?
  • What is your favorite Psalm of David, and why?
  • How does it make you feel that you are God’s “poem”?

Going Deeper:

Since 1951, Cru has helped individuals who grapple with integrating faith into daily life by offering practical steps and community support. As a result, countless people in over 190 countries have been empowered to move from passive belief to active faith.