Monday, March 22, 2010

Like A Child

I did a translation of Psalm 116 from the Hebrew. Even though it’s basically the same, it came out a little different than some of the published translations. See what you think...

Psalm 116:1-8

I love Yahweh because he heard my cry for pity
I will call to him all my days because he listened to me
The suffering of death overwhelmed me
The power of the grave found me
So I found hard times and sorrow
Then I called on the name of the Lord
“Oh Lord, rescue me.”
The Lord is merciful and good
Yes, our God shows mercy
The Lord protects those with a childlike heart
I was humiliated and he delivered me
Be still again, my soul
The Lord does you good


I especially love that line, “The Lord protects those with a childlike heart.” The Hebrew word there is a little hard to be clear on. It can mean a child. It can mean a simple minded person. But it’s not meant to be negative at all or just about a child. It’s talking about a heart that trusts in God like a child trusts someone to take care of them. Jesus uses this same imagery in the New Testament of the Bible and it gives us so much to think about.

Does your heart look like this:



Or this:




So why is that? What are you letting in? What are you not letting out?


Peace to you.

© LW Publishing 2010

4 comments:

  1. My heart looks like the child. But my brain literally looks like the first guy

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would say my heart sometimes looks like a cranky teenager. And I think it's definately due to what I am holding on to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your observation was very powerful and hits close to home, so I think I'll say something off the wall to alleviate the need to think about it: "Wow, that old man looks very much like one of those Sharpei dogs."

    ReplyDelete

All comments are subject to my approval. All profanity and disrespectful comments will be deleted. Be nice or I will pretend you are not there.