For those of you who've noticed that it's been 6 1/2 months since my last Quiet Time Journal entry and assumed that I've been reading regularly without posting, thank you for your faith in me. You'd be wrong, unfortunately, but thanks anyway. (If you really did notice that it had been awhile, drop me a note next time. I could use a little prodding every now and then.) I'm going to get back into it, and I'm going to read from The Message for a bit. I've read almost nothing but the NIV for a long time, it's time for a change. I saw a quote from The Message a while back and was blown away by how it made the passage completely new. The scripture links will probably stay linked to the NIV, though, just because I don't want to rebuild the whole site to change that. Oh, maybe I will after all, we'll see.
Psalm 18 is my favorite Psalm. I love the image of God sitting in heaven and a cry for help is heard. I picture God snapping His head up from his newspaper, laptop or from lounging around while the angels feed him grapes and springing to action to save the day.
I was thinking this week during a prayer walk about how I have a hard time seeing God as working (note the lounging around eating grapes image in the past sentence). My mental picture is a man standing with his arms crossed, looking down somewhat disapprovingly. There's probably a lot wrong with that picture, but the thing that has always bothered me is how hard it is for me to see Him actually working. He just stands there.
Psalm 18 seems like a good place to go to get a new look at God as worker.
A hostile world! I call to GOD,I've felt that the world is hostile toward me lately. I'm not sure why, but I've felt more like a stranger and alien the past week or two. I also love the image this translation brings of a private audience with God. When we cry out, we have His complete and undivided attention.
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence--
a private audience!
Psalm 18:6, The Message
Psalm 18:21-22 - After being rescued by God (and with such drama! Lightning! Hail! Thunder! Chaos! Hurricane! Pandemonium!), David recognizes God's working. Verse 22 in The Message it says "Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.". I think that maybe I need to look for God's working everyday. I don't want to miss a trick either.
I'm not sure about The Message now that I read an entire chapter. I plan on sticking with it for a while, but it has a too-casual, too-trendy feel to it. Some of the intensity of some of the wording is taken away, it seems. Perhaps the New Testament will be better.
I've never been a fan of The Message, though several of my friends are. I had the same "too-casual, too-trendy" observation as you.
OTOH, I haven't read the NIV in a LONG time, other than looking over my wife's shoulder at church activities occasionally.
I prefer "God's Word For The Nations", sponsored by a Lutheran organization followed by the "Easy To Read Version" originally made for deaf folk.
I plan on sticking with The Message for a while just to give it a good shot. I suspect, though, that I'll tire of it in a few weeks and move on to something else.