Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: God

  • Qoph

    Qoph

    HELP! Save me, O Lord!

    1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

    Habakkuk’s Complaint

    2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
    Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
    3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
    Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
    4 So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
    For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

    The prophets, the psalmists, the righteous men and righteous women of God cry out with our whole heart: Save me, O Lord!

    קָרָא

    qara’

    Cry out!

    Cry out in prayer to the Lord your God.

    Psalm 119

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet 

    Qoph [KOPH]

    145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
    I will keep your statutes.
    146 I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.

    I cried out with my whole heart. I cried out , “save me.” (Same Hebrew word: quara’) with a primitive root meaning: to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner.

    147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
    148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.

    The KJV states: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word. This, the same context as David’s song of deliverance in 2 Samuel 22.

    The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented H6923 me… They prevented H6923 me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. – 2 Sam. 22:6,19

    149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.

    150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
    151 But you are near, O Lord,
    and all your commandments are true.

    152 Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.

    The prayer is the Psalmist’s personal plea to the Living God, in whom we trust. And one more thing of the Lord, who IS near, nearer than our evil enemies who draw near to us:

    It is the Lord we ask to be our Savior.

    “Save me,” in Psalm 199:146 is the action of one who can save: a Savior.

    יָשַׁע – yasha`

    The place of those near is subtly different than the nearness of relationship, especially our relationship with God our Savior.

    Jesus IS Lord. Draw near to Him.

  • Ayin

    Ayin

    Psalm 119

    English Standard Version (ESV)  Another brief review:

    • Zayin: Remember your word to your servant
    • Heth: The Lord is my portion
    • Teth: You have dealt well with your servant
    • Yodh: Your hands have made and fashioned me
    • Kaph: My soul longs for your salvation
    • Lamedh: Forever, O Lord, your word
      is firmly fixed in the heavens.
    • Mem: Oh how I love your law!
    • Nun: Your word is a lamp to my feet
      and a light to my path.

    Continuing now from v.121

    Ayin

    121 I have done what is just and right;
    do not leave me to my oppressors.

    The KJV, once again is more to the point:  I have done judgment and justice:

    Is man supposed to judge?

    Yes. And we must judge rightly, as God judges, executing justice and showing mercy.

    Isaiah speaks of justice more than any Prophet. Hear what he says of the One to come:

    Isaiah 62:2 The nations shall see your righteousness,
    and all the kings your glory,
    and you shall be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the LORD will give.

    Here the Psalmist pledges loyalty to do good and asks God’s protection.

    122 Give your servant a pledge of good;
    let not the insolent oppress me.

    Malachi [4:1] says of these:

    “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

    123 My eyes long for your salvation
    and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
    124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
    and teach me your statutes.

    Again, the KJV states it a little differently.

    Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy.

    Have you considered how God’s steadfast and unfailing love for us is so often demonstrated by His mercy? Should we not also have mercy on our fellow sinners?

    125 I am your servant; give me understanding,
    that I may know your testimonies!
    126 It is time for the Lord to act,
    for your law has been broken.

    These testimonies are the witness of God’s several written laws. It is a call to justice. The laws have been broken and the offense is against the righteous. What will the Lord God do?

    127 Therefore I love your commandments
    above gold, above fine gold.
    128 Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right;
    I hate every false way.

    I esteem the precepts of God. God’s laws are right, pleasing and agreeable; therefore I hate what is NOT right.

    Is it OK to hate? Yes. The Psalmist hates lies, deception, disappointment, falsehood, deceit, fraud, and anything wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

    Should we?

     

  • Samekh

    Samekh

    Depart from me…

    Picture the stoic traditionalist teachers of the Bible venturing out from the mega-cathedral to a far from urban valley of the Jordan and encountering a crowd that should be in church.  They are listening to an unkempt man with uncut hair and rags of animal skins and leather. As they descend the dirty hillside toward the river in their custom-made finery, he acknowledges their addition to the crowds.

    “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance…  – Matthew 3:

    Pretty bold talk from a Nazarite to esteemed teachers of the Law from the Temple. Could John have had Psalm 119 in mind?

     Psalm 119 – English Standard Version (ESV)

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    Samekh

    113 I hate the double-minded,
    but I love your law.
    114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
    115 Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.

    Although the EST statement ‘I hate the double-minded,’ brings hated hypocrites like the Pharisees, Sadducees, certain preachers and christians to mind, the KJV stated: ‘I hate vain thoughts.’

    Indeed, the Psalmist is not condemning (yet) those with double-minded thoughts.  John, as he baptized and cleansed into repentance those in the crowds with ears to hear was not hiding in the Jordan valley; rather his hiding place was in the Lord and in the hope of God’s word.

    All of us must take heed to vain thoughts and ideas of our own (not of God). Vain thoughts are ambivalent, divided and half-hearted. Of course we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind (not just some of it). Hypocrisy, like that frequently demonstrated by the Pharisees is the intentional action of a double-minded believer.

    John continues his warnings to his audience:

    10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    This same double-minded, half-hearted faith comes to mind in Jesus parable in Matthew 7:

    17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    Christ Jesus was also most critical of this half-attitude of belief. In these last days, the axe is at the root of the tree of the church.

    The Psalmist continues his plea to God:

    116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
    117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!
    118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
    for their cunning is in vain.

    119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
    therefore I love your testimonies.
    120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
    and I am afraid of your judgments.

    Again, we did not receive the baptism of repentance and the cleansing of the Cross of Christ to appear as dross to a world that looks to the church and christians for every defect and impurity.

    “Be holy, as I am holy,” says the Lord.