Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 452

 

Here are a few excerpts from a book I recently read, "The Message," a Bible translation by Eugene Peterson.

 

Whoever would have suggested to Abraham that Sarah would one day nurse a baby! Yet here I am! I’ve given the old man a son!

  

The waves of death crashed over me, devil waters rushed over me. Hell’s ropes cinched me tight; death traps barred every exit. A hostile world! I called to God, to my God I cried out. From his palace he heard me call; my cry brought me right into his presence - a private audience!

  

God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I’ve kept alert to God’s ways; I haven’t taken God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I’m watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. 

 

Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built. Even so, I’m bold to ask: Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I’m setting before you right now. Keep your eyes open to this Temple night and day, this place of which you said, “My Name will be honored there,” and listen to the prayers that I pray at this place. 

 

Listen from your home in heaven and when you hear, forgive. 

 

A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart, but a principled life can stand up to the worst. 

 

God, don't shut me out; don't give me the silent treatment, O God.

Your enemies are out there whooping it up, the God-haters are living it up;

They're plotting to do your people in, conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.

"Let's wipe this nation from the face of the earth," they say; "scratch Israel's name off the books."

And now they're putting their heads together, making plans to get rid of you. 

 

Live footloose and fancy free - You won't be young forever. Youth lasts about as long as smoke. 

 

This is a sad song, a text for singing the blues.

 

It never crosses their mind that I keep account of their every crime. They're mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin. I see who they are and what they've done.

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.