Daleth

Now, in The Message translation, a translation that Eugene Peterson wrote, initially for his own congregation, that keeps the language of the Bible current with the common speech we use today.

^25-32 I’m feeling terrible — I couldn’t feel worse!
Get me on my feet again.
You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded;
train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out
so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
God, don’t let me down!
I’ll run the course you lay out for me
if you’ll just show me how.

When we read the second translation of this passage, it seems plainly simple that the author of this song continues the theme from verses 17 through 24 and deeply desires God’s help, His wisdom, and the fulfillment of the Father’s promise to sustain him.

He basically says four things to the Father in these eight verses:

Revive me
Teach me
Strengthen me
Defend me

I related to all four of those requests but as a shepherd leader, an influencer inside and outside the body of Christ, verses 30 and 32 spoke the loudest to me. Let me repeat them for you:

³⁰ “I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.”

³² “I’ll run the course you lay out for me
if you’ll just show me how.”

The psalmist chose the true road. In fact, to assure he did not lose his way, he posted God’s road signs at every curve and corner.

Oh, how that makes me think of my bathroom mirror, the walls around my desk, the inside of my car, and anywhere else where I think God’s road signs are needed in my life. I want desperately to choose the true road, God’s ways and precepts and truths, so, for me, it requires posting His Words all around me. I need constant reminders of the way I should go, and the post-it passages near me often are, for me, what the psalmist calls “the road signs at every curve and corner.”

When I need to assure my thinking is focused properly, I open the medicine chest, and there is Phil. 4:8, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” And under that passage are the meanings of those words from the Greek language.

When I need the reminder that as God’s under-shepherd He will provide the words I need to speak with others who are struggling, I find Isaiah 50, verse 4, on a post-it, and it says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.” His Words are our road signs and we need them at every corner and curve!

It’s also clear in verse 32 that the lyricist who wrote these words commits to running the course God lays out for him. He said, “If you show me how, I’ll do it!”

There is a decision the psalmist is making, and by the words he’s using, it feels like he is determined to follow through. After the psalmist decides and determines, he declares his decision, his commitment, to running the course God chooses for him, the course the Father lays out for him, not the path the psalmist chooses for himself.

Fellow under-shepherd, maybe you’re feeling terrible right now, as The Message translation states, or like you’re “clinging to the dust” of the ground, as another translation notes, then if so, this passage of Psalm 119 is for you.

Or maybe you’ve realized that you need to choose God’s path and put up the directions at every corner and curve to remind you which way to go, then this passage of Psalm 119 is for you. Or maybe you need to decide, determine, and declare your decision, then this passage, the fourth acrostic in the Hebrew alphabet, is for you.

Whatever it is you hear in these eight verses that speaks to you where you are in life as the Father’s under-shepherd, the one from whom the sheep in your life are to receive Provision, Protection, and Presence through, it is that direction you are to follow today. I urge you to sit a bit with Psalm 119, verses 25 to 32. Take time to process each phrase of these powerful words of admission, request, and commitment. Ask the Father where you are to apply it and then listen for His response. Rely on what you hear. And follow it closely.

Thank you for joining me. I pray your desire to shepherd well increases exponentially with every moment we spend together in Psalms and that you live deeply into your calling this week. Take care.