Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomin:

Psalms 51:11; “Cast me not away from thy presences and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.”

“When  deep purple falls

Over the sleepy garden walls,

And the stars begin to twinkle

In the sky of the night

In the midst of the memories

You wander back to me

Breathing my name with a sigh.

-Mitchell Parrish-

Last Saturday I was pulling a 24hour shift caring for a client in an assistant living home.  As I was waiting in the “purple room” of the assistant living home for my client to finish dinner in the dinning room, I found myself getting drowsy as my client had kept me up all night.  As I looked around at all the elderly moving around with their walkers and wheel chairs I realized it would only be a few years and I would be one of them, waiting for life’s journey to end.  I begin to reflect on my life and all the unfulfilled hopes and dreams.  I thought of all the promises I thought God gave me that remain unfulfilled and will now likely never find a fulfillment.  I also recalled memories of the days I walked with God and felt His presence and the peace of His Spirit which I had not felt for some time.

It was at this moment that I heard an old song that you would only hear piped into an assistant living home or an elevator.   The music was written in 1933 by Peter De Rosa.  The music had a haunting and mystical melody.  Five years later in 1938  Mitchell Parrish wrote lyrics to fit the mystical melody but it was not until thirty years later that the brother and sister team April Stevens and Nino Tempo made the song a number one hit and won a grammy award for creating that haunting and mystical sound that the song was intended to give.

Sitting in that purple room, half asleep, I listened to the haunting melody of “Deep Purple” and reflected on another man who had lost the presence of God and the inner peace of His Spirit.  In Psalms 51:11 we see how King David allowed unfulfilled dreams and desires lead him into sin and how he cried out to God to not remove His presence from Him.

Yet, that is not quite accurate.  Recent discoveries from the Dead Sea scrolls have shed new light on the Hiphal form of Hebrew verbs.   The verb “shalak” which we render as “cast” is in a Hiphal future form.  The word can also be rendered as “banish” rather than cast.  What David is really saying is “Don’t allow me to banish myself from your presence.”

Yesterday my study partner and I watched a movie about a man who spent 40 years as a hermit because of some crime he committed.  He refused to confess his crime to God and asked for forgiveness and refused to turn himself into the authorities.   Instead he “banished” himself in a small cabin for 40 years making himself a prisoner, and never coming into contact with any people.    I began to think I was doing the same thing with God just as David did.  He had banished himself from the presence of God so he would not have to confront his sin.  David could not help himself from doing this so he cried out to God to keep him from banishing himself from the presence of God.  You see, God does no banish us from His presence, we do it.

I began confessing my sin of bitterness over the fact that He did not fulfill what I felt he had promised.  As I sat there in that room I think I started to doze off and have one of those half awakened dreams while listening to the music of the song: “Deep Purple.”  The purple walls suddenly turned to a deep royal purple falling over a garden where Jesus was praying.  It was night and the stars began to twinkle.  I began to recall the many times Jesus and I walked together and in the midst of those memories I saw Him wandering back to me.  He began to “ruch” (breath, spirit) my name and he spoke it with a sigh saying: “Will you ever get it?”

I can’t say if it was the song or Jesus  (I guess it was the song) who said:

“As long as your heart will beat,

Sweet love will always meet

Here in your deep purple dream.”