Our wonderful Pastor, who I will refer to hereafter as the German Shepherd, has been leading us through his study on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). You know, the blessed are the (fill in the blank) for this is what happens. When he looked at the word "blessed" in Greek, he found that this kind of blessed was used only in referring to the Most High. Therefore, changing the meaning from the stoic "you shall be bless-ED" to the "this is the highest coolness that will happen."
This morning, I couldn't seem to get very far in Psalms because I kept asking the Lord questions about the words. In Psalm 1:1, David says, "Blessed is the man who..." I had to see if it was the same blessed. It was not, this one only refers to man and really means "bliss." What does that do to this familiar scripture? The following is a paraphrase of mine after I looked up the key words in Hebrew...
A man who doesn't take counsel from people who are evil, doesn't go along the same journey as those who don't love the Lord and who stay out of assemblies led by folks who mock and aren't genuine will be happy, blissful even.
That sounds about right to me. It's great advice. It's not a tale Psalm that I memorized in ninth grade anymore, it's God telling me that if I want pure bliss, then I should be pleased with the way, manner and custom of the Lord. If I really want true joy, then I should get to know him so that He's on mind like an old sweet song.(Psalm 1:2 Classic Paraphrase.)
3 comments:
I just read Psalm 1 this morning...how cool is that? I like the Classic paraphrase, and am hoping to read more of them!
P.S. I not only ask God questions as I read, but I write the questions in the margins of my Bible. It's getting a little crowded in there. :)
Hey, I like to here the Classic version of Numbers 5:11-29. I asked God a big question about that one this morning!!!!
Pastor D. sure inspired us last night didn't she!! You will have to show me how to use Scott's bible(it's a NS-somthing,something Word Study) with all the numbers and words. I tried but I get all messed up and end up with a word that is not the right one at all.:)
So Cool!!!
Good word for me today. Got embroiled in a bit of a word play with a non-believer who was being hateful about something and I kept responding. When I read your paraphrase, I realized that I was destroying my own peace. And that we were speaking two different languages in our word play. How could I expect this person to understand what was bothering me about her premise? Her foundation was built on faulty premises to start with. I backed out and realized I was in an assembly of folks who mock. . . That was the root of her issue with me. But it took me reading this during a break from my word play with her to even realize it. Thank you for the timely word. Good stuff.
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