A David Psalm
1-2 Bilious and bloated, they gas, "God is gone."It's poison gas—
they foul themselves, they poison
Rivers and skies;
thistles are their cash crop.
God sticks his head out of heaven.
He looks around.
He's looking for someone not stupid—
one man, even, God-expectant,
just one God-ready woman.
3 He comes up empty. A string
of zeros. Useless, unshepherded
Sheep, taking turns pretending
to be Shepherd.
The ninety and nine
follow the one.
4 Don't they know anything,
all these impostors?
Don't they know
they can't get away with this,
Treating people like a fast-food meal
over which they're too busy to pray?
5 Night is coming for them, and nightmare—
a nightmare they'll never wake up from.
God will make hash of these squatters,
send them packing for good.
6 Is there anyone around to save Israel?
God turns life around.
Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
turned-around Israel sings laughter.
THOUGHTS:
The Message is Eugene Peterson's interpretive translation of the Bible in an attempt to capture the vitality of the scriptures. It isn't a study Bible, and it isn't the most "academic" of translations. Yet, sometime I find it to be incredibly thought provoking -- especially after reading the same passage in my New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). It encourages me to look at the passage a new light. This Psalm is a great example of this:
I can easily plow past verse 4 in the NRSV which talks about evildoers "who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?"
The Message phrases this as impostors "treating people like a fast-food meal over which they're too busy to pray?"
That got me to stop and think about the ways I have treated people as a means to an end, such as the cafeteria workers who serve my food.
It forced me to recognize that I am sometimes too distracted by my agenda to fully listen to the person with whom I'm conversing.
I recognized how impatient I can be with telemarketers and salespeople who come knocking at my door to try to sell me things I don't need.
It got me to realize that sometimes I am the impostor.
Take some time today to think a minute to be honest with yourself and with God as you think about the ways that you might treat people like a fast-food meal over which you are too busy to pray. Then, repent of these ways, and celebrate by skipping rope, singing, and laughing.
PRAYER:
Lord God, we confess that we can become distracted and inward focused. Open our eyes to the beauty and dignity of all that you have made, and enable us to fully appreciate it in the moment. We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, AMEN.
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These devotions for young adults are provided by:
Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheranLutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/--Feel free to share them with your friends!View or subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com
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