The Pilgrim Path---Psalm 6---THE MESSAGE

Please, God,no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed.

Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved for affection.

Can't you see I'm black and blue, beat up badly in bones and soul?

God, how long will it take for you to let up?

Break in, God, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here.

I'm no good to you dead, am I?

I can't sing in your choir if I'm buried in some tomb!

I'm tired of all this---so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights on the flood of my tears.

My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.

The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope.

Get out of here, you Devil's crew: at last God has heard my sobs.

My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered.

Cowards, my enemies disappear.

Disgraced, they turn tail and run.

Well, I've always appreciated the work of the late Eugene Peterson in THE MESSAGE. It is a "paraphrase"---but it really makes me "go back" and take a look at the text of Scripture. Now, don't be fooled. Peterson was no dummy- he was a Fulbright Scholar---and he ended up teaching with J.I. Packer, out at Regent College- in Western Canada for years. Before he got to Regent, he was pastor at Christ Presbyterian in Bel Air, Maryland for 29 years. What struck him in ministry there, was that people in his church told him they "barely" read the Bible---because they could not understand it. Peterson took it upon himself to paraphrase the Bible a chapter at a time---until he did the whole thing: thus THE MESSAGE! One of my very favorite possessions is a parallel Bible I have with the New American Text on one side of the page and THE MESSAGE--on the other side!

Here are some notes to consider:

---Chastening --is what God does to folk He loves--not in anger --David pleads be merciful LORD...

---Choose grace, O LORD---every time YOU- use the Rod

---Children of God almost always think:" When will this be over? "How Long O LORD" ---verse 3

---Come LORD---"deal aright"

---"Can't I stay in the world a while longer and serve you?"-hope that's why I want to remain here...

---"Crushing circumstances" --crying my eyes out---what a picture---you "feel" it...cannot "see"-- it has been So Bad

---Crew of Evil---Depart---"I Know the LORD has heard!"

---"Cowards"---- God is going to deliver!

"God allows chastening on the back of some-- for so long a time---because they have been so long sinning." ---Thomas Case

----Just the opposite of the above: Some know the long walk of affliction that they might testify to the world of the amazing power of Jesus Christ to "sustain" His Own---please consider II Corinthians 12: 9, 10---"my grace is sufficient for YOU..."

---A lesson learned will often "drop" the rod sooner (I Peter I:6; Lamentation 3: 33---again Thomas Case).

Great Quote: "The weaker I am, the harder I must lean on God' grace; the harder I lean on HIM, the stronger I discover HIM to be, and the bolder my testimony to HIS grace." Joni Eareckson Tada

Grace & Peace in Jesus Our LORD, Pastor Jason