Misconceptions

There’s a Psalm of David neatly tucked away in 2 Samuel 22. In studying the chapter, I found out Psalm 18 duplicates 2 Samuel 22 almost word for word. However, some of the common words used in verse 33 of 2 Samuel (and verse 32 in Psalm 18) meant something different than I have thought in the past. I’m going to look at the 2 Samuel verse (and compare it to a familiar verse in Proverbs (3:6).

“God is my strength and protection; he makes my way go straight” (2 Samuel 22:33 CJB). The question I had was what does “my way go straight” mean. Does it mean that He will never let me take the wrong path? Does it mean that everything in my life will go smoothly? After looking the words “way” and “straight” up in a Hebrew concordance and dictionary (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible), the definitions gave me new insight into the passage (and Proverbs 3:6).

“Way” does not mean a path or direction. The Hebrew sense of the word means a course of life or mode of action. Another description of it said, “manner and behavior.” This is not a physical pathway to be followed, but a moral and spiritual manner of living.

Straight (or in the King James Version, perfect), means having integrity, truth, and being without blemish, and undefiled. More simply it means “true, without deception or fault.” Again, this is not a physical, easy, not difficult pathway, but a set of character qualities that He desires to develop in us.

So I rewrote 2 Samuel 22:33 and Proverbs 3:6 to use these explanations of these words that we have taken for granted that we understood:

2 Samuel 22:33: “God is my strength and protection; He makes my manners and behaviors go true and without deception.”

Proverbs 3:6: “In all your behaviors and manner acknowledge Him, And He will make your spiritual journey on this earth true and without deception.”

Both imply an ongoing process of growth and change in those committed to following His teachings. It’s not a “get out of jail free” card. There’s a cost for us to live the way He desires. Kris, my Bible study partner, put it this way: “If you honor Him, He will help you to honor Him more.” This happens as He teaches us exactly what character traits He wants to develop in us.