Psalm 132:16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
    and her faithful people will ever sing for joy.

Reading the Bible in different languages gets really interesting at times. This is a passage I’m quite familiar with, because verses 14-16 have been put to music in a little chorus I learned years ago. However, there are two differences in the Japanese that catch my attention. The first is that where the KJV and the ESV say “shout,” the Japanese says “sing,” and the second is that where the KJV and ESV say “saints,” the Japanese says “devoted ones.” I then checked the NIV, as printed above, and discovered it agrees with the Japanese! It is very dangerous to get dogmatic about Bible terminology, because we don’t have the emotional or linguistic or social context of when it was written. That said, all the translations agree that the priests will be clothed, or wrapped, in salvation. This is in direct contrast to verse 18, that says Zion’s enemies will be clothed with shame. As I have written before, salvation can have many different meanings to different people, and even to the same person at different times. After all, it’s the noun form of “safe,” which can be as casual as making it on base without being tagged or thrown out, in baseball. At the other extreme, of course, it means eternity with God, rather than being separated from Him forever in hell. In context, the usage here is much more on the lines of eternity in heaven. When the priests, those charged with being intermediaries between God and man, are properly “wrapped in” salvation, people who earnestly seek God have every reason to sing for joy! Sadly, there are people in religious office who don’t know God themselves, so at best they merely parrot words, rather than impart life. Everyone who is charged with shepherding God’s flock needs to examine himself or herself to see if their own relationship with God is worthy of emulation. We can’t generate that on our own, but we can choose to receive what God offers us, in all humility and gratitude.

I was ordained by human hands as a minister of the Gospel on April 1^st, 1979. I’ve always said it was appropriate that it was done on April Fool’s Day! What is more important, though, is that God chose me and commissioned me, and I chose to respond. When we were in conflict with what was then called the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission board, my wife very wisely said, “We’d rather be Lord sent than Board sent.” As it turned out, He indeed sent us out, without any human organizational backing. However, I’m never to rest on past experiences, but keep pressing in for more of my Lord. I don’t want my “salvation robes” to get dirty or tattered! Peter makes it clear that every believer is a priest before God, (1 Peter 2:9) but God has installed me as a gift to the Body of Christ, (Ephesians 4:11-12) and I must never back down from that.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do need to be reminded of my commission from time to time! Help me indeed fulfill all of Your purposes for me, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!