Post # 23 -- The Wrap-around Presence

You’ve experienced it —a verse jumps off the page of your Bible and grabs your heart in a memorable way.  That recently happened to me,  Let me tell you about it.

But I need to first give you the short back-story.  For lots of followers of Jesus, there are times when the thrill and anticipation of Scripture seems to become a bit less exciting, somewhat ho-hum and rather dull — and one’s prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling and go no farther  This recently happened to me and I did what I normally do in situations like this — I immerse myself in music and/or switch to a different biblical translation.  

Good music has always been very inspiring and comforting to me.  I get caught up in the passion of the musician and again get excited about my time with the Lord.  For example, a friend recently sent me this song which has been very meaningful to me.  I thought you might want to enjoy it with me.  I Speak Jesus, by Charity Gayle.  In fact I keep a list of my favorite songs on my iPhone and can listen to any one of these songs in a moment of need.

In this particular case of the doldrums however, I also switched Bible versions.  I tapped into The Passion Translation (TPT) version.  Before going further, some explanation might be in order.  Though called a “translation”, according to most biblical scholars, The Passion Translation might be more properly called a “paraphrase” — just as the more-familiar “Message” is a helpful paraphrase of Scripture.  

“Translations” attempt to convey as accurately as possible the thought of the original text, whether they lean towards the word-for-word rendering of the original text as does the KJV or the thought-for-thought rendering as NIV.  As does the Message, The Passion Translation seeks to make the text easy to read like your morning newspaper while preserving the central thought of the passage in question.

I say all this to say that it’s always best you use one of the normal translations like the NIV, NLT, NKJV, or the ESV when doing serious Bible study.  However for a change of pace, I find it refreshing and helpful simply to enhance my morning devotional time by also exploring paraphrases like The Passion Translation or the Message. 

If you are not familiar with The Passion Translation (TPT) and have the YouVersion Bible app on your phone, you can easily open into the TPT.  I did this and was captivated by the verse that thrilled my heart and fed my soul —

“You’re my place of quiet retreat, and your wraparound presence becomes my shield as I wrap myself in your Word.” (Psalm 119:114, TPT)

The psalmist here is expressing a heart of thanks to God for the relationship he’s enjoying — and as I meditate on this I find myself doing the same thing and growing in my passion to love Him even more. 

Let’s look at each phrase of this verse in turn.

You’re my place of quiet retreat …

What a privilege we have in this super busy, demanding, chaotic world of ours, to slip away to a place of quiet retreat for comfort, peace, and restedness!  God invites us to come to Him.  It’s there we find all that we’re looking for in life!  I’m reminded of another passage of Scripture where Jesus invites us to come to Him for a sense of restedness:“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion? Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll teach you how to take a real rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 Msg)

Jesus invites us to come to Him.  He’s our place of quiet retreat!  He’s our hiding place!

and your wraparound presence … 

Wow!  What a thrill it is to visualize God wrapping Himself around me.  Awesome!  Recently my walking exercise seems to be becoming more difficult due to my labored breathing, but I’ve found great comfort in sensing Jesus’ arm around my shoulder as I’m walking.  Even then I can experience His wrap-around presence!

By the way, this idea of God’s wrap-around presence becomes very rich in numerous other Psalms passages as rendered by the The Passion Translation (Ps 7:10, Ps18:25, Ps 84:10 Ps 84:19, Ps 89:13, Ps 89:18, Ps 125:2).  What a privilege we have to simply rest in His wrap-around presence. 

becomes my shield …

God’s wrap-around presence provides comfort and warmth, but we also have the blessing of it becoming a shield protecting us from all kinds of unhealthy distractions and dangers.

I’m amazed at the number of times that the image of God as a shield appears in Scripture.  It appears at least ten times in the Psalms, in addition to Ps 199:114.

3:3 — “But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”  NIV

5:12 — “Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” NIV

7:10 — “God is my shield, saving those whose hearts are true and right.” NLT

18:2 — “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” NIV

28:7 — “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.” NIV

33:20 — “Our soul waits for the Lord, for he is our help and shield.”  NKJV

84:11 — “For the Lord is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor.” NIV

91:4 — “He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and ramparts.”  NIV

115:9 — “O Israel, trust in the Lord!  He is your helper and your shield.”  NLT

144:2 — “He is my shield and I take refuge in Him.” NLT

When God our shield, we are safe.  He’s our refuge and our protector.  And because He is our shield we have dignity knowing that He accepts us as His very own.!

as I wrap myself in your Word.

We need to be careful not to let this last phrase slide by us too quickly.  It is critical. The psalmist obviously found that it was as He immersed himself in God’s Word, he enjoyed that place of quiet retreat and the wrap-around presence that became his shield.

We too can enjoy the same relationship as we immerse ourselves in God’s Word while resting in that place of quiet retreat!

CAN ONE THRIVE?

Can I thrive in that place of quiet retreat while enjoying that wrap-around presence that becomes my shield as I wrap myself in God’s Word?  You bet I can!  In fact I believe this may be the perfect antidote to discouragement, fear, confusion, anger, and depression in the midst of chaos — and the answer to moving from surviving to thriving!