Psalm 119: You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. This verse is another reminder of why I need to learn to read Hebrew. In the Blue Letter Bible, it uses the word towb for “You are good” and for “do good.” I can’t tell from looking at the actual Hebrew, whether the word towb is actually repeated (which would mean the author is emphasizing this particular point) or not. And there’s a word in the phrase that doesn’t correspond to any of the words given in the concordance, so I don’t really have any idea what it means. Sigh. Anyway, towb is good, right, pleasant, benign, appropriate. And God is these things. These things aren’t a part of Him, they are Him. Take them away, and God ceases to be. Take away God, and towb ceases to be. Therefore, every thing He does is also good… including His Torah, His statutes. And speaking of statutes… The word “to teach” is lamad which means to exercise in, train in (it’s an active learning process, not a head-knowledge thing). And statutes (choq) means: 1) statute, ordinance, limit, something prescribed, due a) prescribed task b) prescribed portion c) action prescribed (for oneself), resolve d) prescribed due e) prescribed limit, boundary f) enactment, decree, ordinance 1) specific decree 2) law in general g) enactments, statutes 1) conditions 2) enactments 3) decrees 4) civil enactments prescribed by God Notice some familiar things in there? Like portion, decrees? David asks to practice, to train in God’s specific laws, civil enactments, prescribed boundaries. We think of these things as bad and limiting to our happiness and “freedom,” but God and goodness cannot be separated, and His statutes are good, too. Learning to live by them takes practice. God doesn’t sit us down in a celestial classroom and dump knowledge into our brains. But, He did give us His words. And He does provide hands-on training. The question becomes, “Am I willing to learn?” Remember Isaiah, who prophesied, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying “This is the way walk in it” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.” (Is. 30:21) Ready to walk?
As I’m listening to Skip Moen’s Living the Biblical Worldview and my world is being shifted from under me, I found this article about Biblical translations called “Reading the White.“ Ultimately, it says, it doesn’t particularly matter what translation is being read. The point is to “read the white,” letting the Holy Spirit express the meaning of the text. Instead of focusing so much on the black, printed words that time and translation have touched and changed, read the white – let the Holy Spirit speak Truth into your life because Jesus is the WORD of God. It’s a long article, but it’s an interesting read. One of the things Skip talks about in his teaching is the 22nd Psalm. This is the Psalm that Jesus referred to when he cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” What Skip notes is that, because we don’t know our Old Testament as well as the early church and the Jewish society, we don’t realize that this is part of a longer Psalm. When Jesus mentions this part of the Psalm, the Jews of this time would immediately know and recall the rest of the Psalm… which mostly speaks about victory over judgement… and is one of the prophetic chapters that foretells the death of Jesus. So, he’s not asking why His Father turned away, but rather proclaiming the beginnings of victory. Very cool. Also, the first two verses ask God where He is when the author is going through a difficult time. The response is, as Skip points out, quite typical for a person who thought in the Hebrew manner: “Yet you are holy. The praises of Israel surround your throne” (vs. 3). No matter what the circumstances, God is holy. Truly, that’s the beginning and the end of the argument. He is Holy. He is Righteous. He is perfect. He is Good and Trustworthy. All these things are to keep me aligned with Him and to mold me into His likeness. So, even in my current circumstances, Yet God, You are holy!
The last few days have been hectic so I didn’t get a chance to write. I did, however, read about the destruction of Israel at the end of Jeremiah and begin reading Lamentations, a book of mourning for the destruction of Israel. Kind of depressing, right? There is hope buried in the tears though. Jeremiah 3: 21-26 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Words penned in the midst of disaster, death, and despair, yet they are filled with such hope! This would be good for me to remember when I feel overwhelmed with the problems of this life. The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! There is hope in His plan because He is wonderfully good to me! But I do have to wait for Him and seek Him. Waiting quietly has never been easy since I’d rather be doing something. But, here that’s what Jeremiah says to do. Hope in the middle of the storm. A nugget of gold in the middle of the charred embers. God is good!