my rendition of psalm 23

 

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not look for any other guide. He makes me rest when my body, mind and soul have been worn down. He leads me to the waters that will not sweep, my tired body away. There He satisfies my thirst and restores what’s been taken by all the cares of the world. He leads me along the paths that are right before His eyes, and that bring glory to His name; where I’m challenged to be more like Him.
Though, I may walk in places of trouble and danger that the devil may be hiding and waiting in, I shall not fear his evil ways. For my God walks in front, behind and beside me. Your discipline, O Lord, Your protection, Your power, they bring me peace.
You place me in front of those may hate and despise me, and then You anoint me. Showing all that I am Yours, sealed, and equipped to fight, with Your Holy Spirit alive in me, and my heart overflows with joy for all the works You have for me.
Surely Your goodness and Your mercy will pursue me for the rest of my life, wherever I go, and I will dwell one day in Your house, O Lord, FOREVER.

Hallelujah

 

sometimes it’s nice poetry to rewrite psalms or certain parts of scripture into your own interpretation. it helps you look deeper into the passage, and make it more relevant.

I used to always overlook Psalm 23, because it was so common, and so quoted. But now that I’m older, and looking back on all these truths and scriptures, I absolutely love this Psalm. I love that the LORD truly is my Shepherd, and how good He is, and how He leads me. I love the idea of a shepherd and his sheep and the relationship there. and I love that that’s the relationship Christ chooses to illustrate our relationship with Him in John. We are His. He is not just going to leave us…He cares for us, and will take care of us. Better care than anyone could ever imagine!

The LORD, God, is my Shepherd.

really?!

 

How legalistic can one become?!

I literally was just reading in John 5, and read this passage…on where Jesus heals a lame man on the sabbath and this is the Pharisee’s response to the man…

”so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed."’” (John 5:10)

As I read that, my thought process was…”really?!?” They were so concerned with keeping the law, that they wouldnt even permit a lame man, who had just been healed, to take up his bed…
Now i realize there is much more to this, for instance, that the Jews hated Jesus…therefore the fact that this lame man was healed on a Sabbath is quite a big deal to them…

But the relevant point I am trying to make…the Jews of Jesus’ time, are modern day legalistics. We all can be legalistic about certain things. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I wish I could be legalistic about things, and more often than I like, find myself fighting it in my head… but being legalistic about the things I want to be legalistic about would cause much dissension and it wouldn’t allow people to learn from mistakes and it would make people to become just like me…which we really do not want. We want people to become more like Christ.

Jesus is LORD over the Sabbath. Jesus is LORD over the law. May our focus be on JESUS and not on rules, or the law, or how we think something should be happening. Focus your attention on Jesus.

 

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
Hebrews 12:2