Do you ever read a verse in the Bible and without realizing it find it subtly changed in your mind? Here’s one I read this morning:

The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

I found myself thinking instead—The Lord does whatever pleases me...

The gods of our age inspire this second translation. I’m promised by both secular influencers and TV preachers a god who exists to bless me. As a result I’m free to pursue the lifestyle I desire, the sexuality I crave, and the self-indulgence I’m told is good for me.

But read the line from the text again—The Lord does whatever pleases him…

I’m afraid god is not an app I open up when needed. If the Lord exists, and indeed does whatever pleases him, then it makes sense for me to spend time investigating what he finds pleasing. And only a few minutes of reading my Bible reveals it’s not all about me.

The Lord is a wild, unpredictable, unmanageable force, a loose cannon on the deck of our lives, a being we bow before in reverence and fear. He struck down the firstborn of Egypt—how does that sit with the image of a god we use as we please?

My advice? Be careful when you read, and don’t get verses like this mixed up in your head.

Psalm 135 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Viktor Forgacs