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Tag: God

  • 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.

     

  • Mem

    Mem

    Psalm 119

    A review from the King James Version:

    • ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way
    • BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
    • GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant
    • DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust
    • HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes
    • VAU. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD
    • ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant
    • CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD
    • TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD
    • JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me
    • CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation
    • LAMED. For ever, O LORD

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet –

    Mem

    97 Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.

    Do you see the respect and relationship between the one who prays and the Lord?

    He loves the Torah (law) of God. It keeps pure, cleanses, and reveals God’s mercy.  His meditation, defined as reflection and prayer, is continual all the day. This continues to be command of the Lord. Hear Paul’s First Letter to Thessalonians from the New Testament:

    • 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
    • 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
    • 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
    • 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
    • 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
    • 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
    • 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

    And Paul confirms by closing his list with an affirmation sounding much like the teaching of Psalm 119.

    1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
    This prayer is a relationship with the LORD. His ways are higher than our ways. (Isaiah 55:9) This we must acknowledge as servants of the LORD.

    98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
    99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
    100 I understand more than the aged,
    for I keep your precepts.

    101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
    in order to keep your word.
    102 I do not turn aside from your rules,
    for you have taught me.
    103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!

    Are God’s words of scripture sweet to your mouth?

    104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.

    Yes! We should hate sin. Yes! We must hate every lie, deception, disappointment and falsehood. Yes! We must hate the wide way and the crooked path that leads to sin and death and destruction.

    We must hate most of all our own sin. We must hate all the ways we have transgressed the law and commandment of the Lord.

    Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus said:

    “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:41