Where I Run For Dear Life ... to My GOD

 

I was reading the biblical account of David's story this morning. (You remember him, right? He's the one who hurled a stone from his "shepherd's sling" and killed the giant Goliath. Eventually, he became a great King of Israel.) I was captivated by the way Eugene Peterson translated this passage of scripture in The Message.

David prayed to God the words of this song after God saved him from all his enemies and from Saul.

 

2 Samuel 22:3-4, 21-29

My God—the high crag
    where I run for dear life,
    hiding behind the boulders,
    safe in the granite hideout;
My mountaintop refuge,
    he saves me from ruthless men.

I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,
    and find myself safe and saved.

God made my life complete
    when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I cleaned up my act,
    he gave me a fresh start.
Indeed, I’ve kept alert to God’s ways;
    I haven’t taken God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works,
    I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
    and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
    when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

You stick by people who stick with you,
    you’re straight with people who’re straight with you,
You’re good to good people,
    you shrewdly work around the bad ones.
You take the side of the down-and-out,
    but the stuck-up you take down a peg.

Suddenly, God, your light floods my path,
    God drives out the darkness.