Unconventional understanding

2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Have you ever lost your way? It’s scary when you don’t know where you are, how you got there, or how you’re going to get out. It’s happened to me before, and sadly, it’s probably going to happen again. I know, when I lost my way, it wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t wake up one morning and think to myself, “Hey, while you’re on your way to Boston today, why don’t you make a left instead of a right and see how lost you can get?” I just made a mistake, and the next thing I knew, I was lost.

I know you’re probably assuming that this is going to go into depth about “God’s plan for your life.” Conventional teaching is what caused you to think that. But, in case you weren’t already aware, I’m all about being unconventional! Let’s look at this scripture under a different light, shall we?

I’ve stated it before, but just for clarification, I’m going to state it again. I believe that the Bible is not only an historical account of the world and a teaching tool for gleaning everyday life lessons, but I believe that the Bible is God’s photo album of Jesus Christ. Every story, every lesson, every word holds in it a snapshot of Jesus. It’s just a matter of finding the right light to read by.

That said, why don’t we dissect this scripture? What is God’s way? The best way to answer that question is with scripture. “God’s way” is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). What about the word of God? Again, the word is Jesus (John 1:1).

Before we go any further, let’s clarify: what does it mean to say, “the word of the LORD is proven”? Well, another way of saying this would be, “the word of the LORD is tested and true”. But looking further at the verse, we see that the word “is” is in italics meaning that it didn’t appear in the original Hebrew text. It’s an implied word; for all we know it could be “was” or “will be”. “Is” is just what was printed. (Incidentally, the word “is” also appears in italics earlier in the verse as well as the words “and for”; it also appears at the end of the verse.) So I’ll ask the question: was Jesus tested? Was He proven to be true? The answer to that question also lies in scripture. The Pharisees tested Jesus (John 8, Mark 3), not just on His knowledge of the law, but on His ability to effectively use it. Pontius Pilate tested Jesus; He had him scourged and interrogated only to declare that He [Jesus] was without fault (John 19:4). So, we know that the word of the LORD is proven.

What about the shield? Is Jesus our shield? Of course He is. Not only does He protect us though faith against the attacks of the Devil (Ephesians 6:16), but He has also protected us from the wrath and judgement of a righteous God (1 Peter 2:24, 1 Corinthians 5:21).

To sum up: while I am well aware that this scripture was written by David near the end of his life and career as king of Israel and that He is talking about the life he has had, I believe that it is also a snapshot of Jesus Christ. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) The key is “in righteousness”; we are made righteous because of His righteousness and we live in His righteousness. It’s all about Jesus.