Sacred Sunday

For the following passage, if you are unfamiliar with The Message, a modern translation of The Holy Bible, please read along in your prefered version.  Typically, I use the NIV, but this parallet just really touched my heart today.

Psalm 14 

14 Bilious and bloated, they gas,
“God is gone.”
Their words are poison gas,
fouling the air; they poison
Rivers and skies;
thistles are their cash crop.

² 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 their fellow.

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?

^5-6 Night is coming for them, and nightmares,
for God takes the side of victims.
Do you think you can mess
with the dreams of the poor?
You can’t, for God
makes their dreams come true.

⁷ Is there anyone around to save Israel?
Yes. God is around; God turns life around.
Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
turned-around Israel sings laughter.

 

As Christians, we know that we are not sheep without a shepherd.  We are led by the Good Shepherd.  Still, we see the world in turmoil as we see the leaders promising "freedom" taking away more and more while the people around seem deaf to the lies, even as they are shouting praise of the ones lying to them!

 

We see this passage in action around us everyday.  What we need to focus on is verse 7: "God is around!"  He is still with us.  He still cares.  He still holds us!  The challenges we face in the society we live in is remembering to pray for the sheep without a shepherd, and to live in such a way as to draw them to our Shepherd.

 

God bless you this week!!!