The Designer’s Psalm
A few days ago, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all the work on my to-do list. That morning, I was reading in 2 Samuel 22 a song that David wrote, praising God for helping him in battle. He said:
You are my lamp, O LORD; the Lord turns my darkness into light.
With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall…
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle…
You give me a sheild of victory; You stoop down to make me great.
When I’ve read this in the past in the book of Psalms (where it is recorded as Ps. 18), I had “spiritualized” the content; thinking of these words as metaphorical. But seeing this in the context of the narrative of David’s life, it dawned on me that in this song, David was talking about actual, physical battle—which was a big part of his job and his life’s work.
So I decided to paraphrase these verses to apply to my work. Granted, I’m not the leader of God’s chosen people as David was, but I still need equipping from God to do my job. So here is…
The Designer’s Psalm:
You are my inspiration source, O LORD. You give me ideas when I have none.
With your help, I can make headway on my workload; I can put checkmarks all over that to-do list!
It’s You who gives me ability to do my job. [Why should I fear my own inability?]
You train my mind, my eyes and my hands for creativity and excellence.
You gift me with a little bit of You, The Creator; the lowest, smallest bit of Your creativity is above and beyond all of mine.
David adds,
“The LORD lives. Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!”
To which I can only say, “Amen!”
I really like your rendition, Jana. Way to get “down to earth” (and real!).
Posted by Sarah on 10/19 at 10:54 AM
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