Psalm 18:30  As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18:30‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://psalm.bible/psalm-18-30

         What a God! His road
                 stretches straight and smooth.
                 Every GOD-direction is road-tested.
                 Everyone who runs toward him
                 Makes it.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ps 18:30.

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Some of the best verses in the Book of Psalms are found in this chapter. This is a psalm best read aloud. The Message paraphrase gives it a bit of extra bounce. Try it. You’ll like it. 

The occasion for this song of praise is the end of a long, brutal period of living on the run. David was a man without a country. The king, his father-in-law and the father of his best friend, was trying to kill him. He had been trying to kill him for a long, long time. 

Now the king was dead. So was his best friend. They died together on a hillside because of the king’s pride. He was a man who was unstable in all his ways. Add to his impulsiveness the determination to everything his way and you find a ruler increasingly concentered all in himself. His favorite song was, It’s All About Me. 

Isolated leaders are dangerous. They are a danger to themselves. They are a danger to those close to them. They are a danger to everyone they influence. 

Saul’s self-determination did not serve him well. It did not protect him. It could not defend him. It could not save him. 

Saul was tall. Saul was handsome. Saul started well. 

Saul finished sadly. 

This song is about relief and redemption. David did nothing to harm Saul. He could have taken his life on more than one occasion. He could have seized the crown and won the game of thrones. Instead, David waited. He waited on God’s timing. What God had promised, that he would be king, God would fulfill. David did not have to devise a clever plan to make it happen. 

David no longer had to fear for his life. For the first time in years, he could exhale. He let his guard down. 

Here is what David discovered and what he wants you and me to know:

God’s path for our lives is often steep, often more exciting than we prefer, and often crisscrosses other paths offering diversions or shortcuts. When we stay on God’s path laid out for us, we get where we not only need to go but want to go. Sometimes we do not realize this is the way we really wanted to go until we get there. 

My favorite part of Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase of this verse is the last sentence: “Everyone who runs toward him makes it.”

In the words of Ginny in Forrest Gump, “Run, Forrest, run!” 

Or in the words of singer Chris Rice,

Run to Jesus
Run to Jesus
Run to Jesus and live.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWq4vpMJp24]
(Songwriters: Rice Christopher M
Untitled Hymn lyrics © Clumsy Fly Music)

The New International Version provides a nice three-point outline:

1. God’s way is perfect.
2. God’s word is flawless.
3. God shields all who take refuge in him.

You needed this verse yesterday, didn’t you? You need it today as well. It will also come in handy tomorrow and, in fact, all of our tomorrows. This one is worth writing down and committing to memory. 

Where are you in your journey? 

What’s your story? 

If you want to get to where you really want to go, get on God’s path. Listen and learn God’s words of truth and life. Trust God to protect and to provide as you trust in him. 

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I will take the entrance ramp to God’s perfect way for me.

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Our Father, steer my life. Take charge of the accelerator and the brake. Determine when it is time to refuel. Get me where you want me to go however you see fit. Amen.