For I am become like a bottle in the smoke, yet do I not forget thy statutes. Psalm 119:83
Our text draws from an image of ancient days, in the humble dwellings of the poor of the middle east. Smoke from the cooking fires rose to the upper parts of the tents or crude huts where these people lived. Without a proper chimney, the smoke must find its way out through cracks or through a vent provided. But on its way upward, it deposited its soot on any surface that it contacted. That included the various articles hanging from the ceilings and upper walls. Bottles often hung there, not the glass bottles that we know, but vessels made from kid or other leather. If left hanging for days, or months, these bottles would blacken and shrivel in the smoky heat. Many a Christian feels like one of these bottles, defiled by our constant need to associate with things of the world, and shrivelled by the trials and struggles that accompany our mortality. We are not alone, the psalmist felt the same.
To be a bottle in the smoke is to sometimes feel unused and purposeless. A bottle is intended to contain liquids for various purposes, most often water for travellers. A bottle in the smoke meant other bottles were being used. We don’t like to be neglected, do we? We need to feel useful and we need to be involved. But sometimes, God needs to leave us, like a bottle in the smoke, to reflect on His word, as our text says, to remember His statutes. A smoky, shrivelled bottle would have nothing attractive about it, and a Christian enduring struggles and trials is not a pretty sight, either, as far as the world is concerned. But there is something very important about a bottle in the smoke: it is available. Regardless of its appearance, it is there for whatever purpose its owner desires. That is how our Lord wants each of us, empty of pride and ready for any of His purposes.
To be like a bottle in the smoke is to feel forgotten and neglected. And yet, the psalmist who feels like this does not forget where his responsibilities lie. He maintains his interest in and meditation upon the Word of God. Regardless of the attitudes of those around him, and regardless of whether he feels set aside and purposeless before God, this man does not forget the Lord’s statutes.
If a bottle in the smoke is a humble, available Christian, is it a role you would be willing to play for your Lord? -Jim MacIntosh