Psalm 91 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge,[a] the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation. This episode talks about how we can take scripture and add our name, or our problems to it and make it our own, make it more personal. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Making Scripture Personal
Psalm 91 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,[a] the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Have you ever personalized scripture before? Have you ever replaced the word Israelites for your name? Have you ever just inserted your name into scripture to make it more personal to you? What do you think about this idea? If you haven’t done it before, why haven’t you? Is it because you never thought of it before? Is it because you think it is wrong to add your name to the holy scriptures. Is it because you can’t see how the Bible and the scriptures apply to you in your life? Take a moment and really think about this idea of personalizing scripture. I will be honest with you, I have not done it a lot. I have heard of this idea before and I though it sounded like an awesome idea, and then I just never really did anything with it. I did an episode awhile back #107 I will be Joyful in God my Savior. It was about Habakkuk 3:17-19 and how I read a story in Dave Hollis’ Book titled “Built Through Courage,” that his friend had rewritten that verse to fit her particular circumstances. It was powerful for him to hear this and then he rewrote it to fit his particular circumstance as well. If you would like to hear how they rewrote that verse you can check out that episode, #107.
Today I want to talk to you about why personalizing scripture can help you grown in your faith. The Bible is not just a collection of words, or a collection of stories that are nice to read. The Bible is one of God’s way of communicating with us. Using the Bible God is teaching us how to act, how to interact with each other, what to do, what not to do. He is also teaching us about Him and His ways. He is teaching us about His love and His forgiveness. He is communicating with us and if we can make that communication more personal then we will connect to it more. When your were in school did you pay more attention when the teacher was talking to the whole class, or when she was talking to you individually? What about at a work meeting? Would you pay more attention if your boss said your name before he started talking, or if he was addressing the whole audience? I think we can all agree that we would pay more attention if someone was talking to us directly. It is the same with the Bible. If you put you name into the Bible verse you will pay more attention because it will feel as though that verse was written directly for you. I will now read today’s verse except I have I personalized it. Listen and see if you connect with this one more than the other?
I dwell in the shelter of the Most High, I abide in the shadow of the Almighty, I will say to you Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; it is you, in whom I trust.” For You will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; You will cover me with your pinions, and under your wings I will find refuge; your faithfulness is a shield and buckler. I will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand; but it will not come near me. I will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because I have made the Lord my refuge, the Most High my habitation, no evil shall befall me, no scourge come near my tent.
For you will give your angels charge of me to guard me in all your ways. On their hands they will bear me up, lest I dash my foot against a stone. I will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent I will trample under foot.
Because I cleave to you in love, You will deliver me; You will protect me, because I know your name. When I call to you, You will answer me; You will be with me in trouble, You will rescue me and honor me. With long life you will satisfy me, and show me your salvation.
Did you find this more personal? Instead of saying it the original way, I replaced the “he’s” with I. What did you think? Could you tell the difference? Did you feel any different after one more than the other?
You can also personalize it by taking out the troubles that are mentioned in the verse and adding your own troubles. For instance you could change it to say:
For You will deliver me from all my anxiety
and from my insecurities. You will cover me with your pinions, and under your wings I will find refuge; your faithfulness is a shield and buckler. I will not fear the uncertainty of the future nor the stresses of each day, nor the loneliness of the world, nor the welfare of my family.
A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand; but it will not come near me. I will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
This is just an example to show you how you might want to change the scripture. There are many ways you can personalize scripture. Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life, suggests that we can replace any pronouns or nouns in scripture with our name. For example, if he were personalizing John 3:16, He'd write something like this: 'For God so loved Rick, he gave his one and only Son so that Rick would not perish but have everlasting life.” Or, "Or, for Philippians 1:6: 'He who began a good work in Rick Warren will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’" Warren went on to note that if one uses the "personalize-it method," the results will "strengthen your faith and encourage yourself. Do this, and many passages of Scripture will literally bring tears to your eyes. You'll start to read the Bible as God's love letter to you," continued Warren.
There are article out there that can give you more examples of how to do this. I just wanted to introduce you to the idea today. If you think it sounds like something you would like to try I say you just go for it. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Take a scripture verse and see how it can apply to your exact circumstances. Instead of reading the Bible as if it is a collection of stories completely unrelated to your life, start reading it as if God is talking to you, right where you are, in the circumstances that you are in. I bet the Bible will come to life in a whole new way. Give it a try, if you don’t like it, no worries. However, what if you do try it and it is life changing? Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to read your scripture more. Put it on our hearts and give us a greater desire to read your Word every day. Help us to read it as if you are talking directly to us, because you are. Open our eyes and help us to see that your Word is not just for the Israelites that lived over 2,000 years ago, it for us as well. Lord we love you and we are so grateful that you love us enough to give a your Word so we can get to know you. You are amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you on Monday. Have a blessed weekend.