Psalm 18

Today in my Women's Bible Study, we had a group time and individual worship.  For Ash Wednesday they had several stations for people to spend some time in reflection on God's word.  They had a room for prayer, a room for reading and writing and reflecting on God's word and another room with some items with instructions on how to reflect on them and use the items in a symbolic way.  I chose to go in the room with books and passages for reflection.

When I came in, most people were already in there and had picked up the books.  One of the books that was remaining was a book on Psalms.  I went ahead and picked it up.  It was bookmarked in several places with yellow sticky tabs, so I went to those places and read the passages or at least parts of the passages. 

Then I remembered that the director of Women's Ministries had preached on Psalm 18 last year, and I missed her sermon because I believe I was serving with our children's area.  So, I decided to look in the book and see what it said about Psalm 18.  Below is a link to the passage, which can be read in any version of the bible.

 Psalm 18

And below is the paraphrase I read in the book that I picked up.  I just loved the way that this book worded the passage.  What a wonderful paraphrase.

Psalm 18

It is no wonder that I love You, O God.
You have granted me a security that I could never find among the things of this world.
You have erased from my life the fear of death.
What follows the grave is not my fearful concern.
The traumatic experiences of this life cannot destroy me.
You are never out of reach but are ever aware of my problems and conflicts.
How great and all-powerful is my God!
The quaking of the earth,
the shaking of the mountains,
the blackness of the night,
the beauty of the heavens,
the lightning that crisscrosses our skies,
the oceans that lash against our shores:
this and much more bear witness to the majesty of my God.
And this is the God who is concerned about me.
He reaches into my distraught life to heal my wounds.
He encompasses me with eternal love.
He abides with me even in the midst of conflict or calamity.
He sets me free from self-idolatry so I may serve His creatures about me.
He shields me from the forces that are intent on my destruction.
I am His delight and hearts desire.
It is no wonder, O God, that I love You.
Can there be any God but this God that I love?
He surrounds me with His strength and clothes me with His grace.
He puts into my hands gifts to relay to others.
He entrusts me to carry them out.
He ordains me as His son and servant destined to accomplish His purposes amongst the people of this world.
It is thus that I celebrate God's presence in my life and world.
God is not dead; He lives.
I rejoice in His concern and love for me.
I will proclaim, O Lord, Your praises to anyone who will listen to me.
I will sing and shout and dance in the joy of knowing that You are my God.

Can I just say wow?  The first couple lines of this paraphrase stood out to me.  I have always felt a security about things because of my trust in God.  My faith in Him has erased from my life the fear of death.  I am not afraid of what will happen when I die.  I know for certain that I will be with Him in Heaven, and my faith in Him gives me that confidence and helps me to be at peace with trials and tribulations that I experience in life.  It is such a comfort to have that peace, and it's really neat to see scripture paraphrased in a way that says how I feel.  I never actually realized that is what that passage was saying.  I love the simple language used in this paraphrase.  It really gives a new light to what I have read.  I hope that it speaks to someone else in the same way it speaks to me.