now home is always with me [a psalm 23 re-take]

by Lindsay Ellyson on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 10:58am

You are my Shepherd. You feed me, You guide me, You shield me. I will not lack what I need.

You bring me to fresh, tender green pastures. Which means You don’t lead me to dried up crusty barren fields.

You lead me beside still and restful waters. Which means You don’t lead me to murky stale mud puddles.

You have my best in mind. You refresh and restore my self.

You lead me in way of right relating. You point out to me how to relate rightly to You, to others, to myself, and to creation. You do this because that is who You are, not because I have to attain a certain level of uprightness to be okay with You.

Yes, I will and do walk through deep and sunless valley, full of shadows of death, full of threats to my well-being, but I will not walk with fear. I will not walk with a sense of dread over the evil around me, because You are with me in this sunless, low place. Your protection is my comfort, Your guidance is my reassurance. My enemies are all around, but You do not abandon me to their taunts. Rather, in the midst of them You spread out a feast for me. I do not walk with my head down in shame and fear, but You lift my head, You dignify me, and You anoint me as royalty before them all.

I am brimming with hope, so full of courage that it spills out of me. Absolutely only goodness, only mercy, only unfailing love fill the path around me all the days of this journey.

Your presence is my one constant. Your home is my home, for all my days. Now home is always with me.

[Inspired from Psalm 23 (Amplified Bible)

A Psalm of David.

1 THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.

2 He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters.

3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him--not for my earning it, but] for His name's sake.

4 Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.

6 Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.]