Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: Psams

  • Psalm 119:116 – Supported

    Psalm 119:116 – Supported

    Support me according to your word that I may live
    and don’t let my hope fail.

    As a note on translation, this verse is simply and sparsely expressed in Hebrew, which leaves some work to the translator in choosing precisely how to translate. Yet the overall result doesn’t change that much. Try comparing a number of translations. The words will vary, but the overall meaning remains similar.

    Sometimes we stress too much about translation details. It’s quite possible to get so hung up on precise words that we miss the message, which is unfortunate. I keep quite a collection of Bible translations and editions, and I deeply appreciate the vast majority of them.

    This verse fills an important role in the tapestry of Psalm 119. We find the psalmist grateful, determined, confident, hopeful, and fearful. We find him claiming accomplishments in one verse and calling for God’s help in another. The overall effect is a powerful picture of a person of faith carrying out life as one of God’s own.

    Our verse today covers much of this ground in one poetic couplet. The psalmist calls on God’s support that he may live. He recognizes the dependence on God for his very existence. If the creator and sustainer of the universe doesn’t sustain him, he can’t live. It’s as simple as that.

    At the same time he is expressing confidence. God’s sustaining power will provide life, and let him attain to his hope.

    Sometimes we have that kind of dual feeling. Confident, but feeling the need of support. Sports teams feel it with supportive crowds. The professional athletes are not underconfident. They know what they’re doing, but they’ll still acknowledge the value of that support.

    Sometimes we separate our efforts and what God does, but they are not so easily divided. If we hold that God is the creator, and that God’s creative power upholds the universe (Psalm 104 comes to mind), then we also know that our existence is dependent. At the same time, we know that those laws that God created are reliable enough that we don’t need to be concerned that the will end.

    For the believer, this covers everything, both physical and spiritual. The connection is there. Support me, and I will live. I hope, but I know that you, God, are the real hope, because you are the source and foundation of all hopes.

    Today, try to feel the support that God gives you. Look for ways in which he is taking you toward your greatest hopes.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:86 – Valid

    Psalm 119:86 – Valid

    All your commands are valid,
    Yet they persecute me with falsehood.
    Help me!

    In most translations you will find a word like “truth” describing the commands. I think that “truth” with reference to a command can understood as validity. The commands are fitting, appropriate, and right. I could also change the term in the second line from “falsehood” to “invalidity.”

    How does one persecute with falsehood?

    Yesterday, discussing verse 85, I discussed made up or misapplied rules. Those ideas could apply here. I suspect the psalmist is talking about the use of rumors, careless and inaccurate reports, and vague accusations. I think people have used these things as long as there have been people. Currently we use the term “disinformation” to talk about stories that are intentionally false in order to pursue some goal of the writer.

    But a more common form of falsehood that harms is careless inaccuracy. I see this regularly on social media. People post or repost rumors and those rumors grow and morph as time goes on. It is nearly impossible to root them out, because they fit with someone’s view of the universe. They are used to run down other people or groups.

    There are various excuses for the use of falsehood, such as not having time to check, or just posting/repeating to see what people think. But the bottom line is that people’s reputations are harmed and it becomes harder and harder to communicate. We wind up living in fantasy worlds made up of the falsehoods we have absorbed.

    It’s easy to deceive ourselves that this is a strictly modern phenomenon, brought about by the presence of the internet. But these sorts of things have been passed on for millennia. The internet and social media have just made them more convenient. Their nature hasn’t changed.

    Any time we repeat or post things that are false, we bear false witness against our neighbors. You may be thinking I’m primarily talking about the political landscape, and I am concerned. Fact-oriented exchanges of ideas are of great value. But I’m also greatly concerned with what we do to one another in our churches and in our local communities.

    Paul was concerned enough about this to list “gossips” and/or “scandalmongers” in his various famous sin lists. I’m looking at Romans 1;29-30 right now.

    But there are verses about this closer to home, i..e. in Psalms and Proverbs. For example:

    “Gossip is sharp as a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Proverbs 12:18)

    “A scoundrel takes up evil gossip; it is like a scorching fire on his lips.” (Proverbs 16:27)

    Or the complaint in Psams; “Those who sit by the town gate gossip about me; I am the theme of drunken songs.” (Psalms 69:12)

    A good strategy would be to fight falsehood with truth, fight the invalid with valid. Don’t believe and don’t repeat anything you can’t be certain is true and useful.

    What can you not repeat today to help make the world a more “valid” place?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:72 – Value

    Psalm 119:72 – Value

    I value instruction from you
    more than thousands of gold or silver coins.

    If I were to write a list of things Christians say, but don’t really mean, this would be near the top. We like to say that we’re interested in what God has to say, but in practice, it’s not that high on our priority list.

    Psalm 19 says that God’s laws (after using a number of the same terms found in Psalm 119) are more to be desired than gold. I once suggested to a class that a good experiment would be to put a Bible and a gold bar on a pew and see which disappeared first.

    But that was not one of my smartest suggestions. The point is not having the book, but consuming God’s word in various forms.

    I was once invited to speak to a group of visiting youth who were accompanied by their youth pastor. At the end I invited questions, and once we’d discussed such deep theological issues as where Cain got his wife, things wound down. The youth pastor asked if he could put in a question. His question: “I’ve been studying the New Testament for around five years now and I think I’ve pretty much got it. What do I do next?”

    That one pretty much stunned me. I’ve been studying the New Testament, and the whole Bible, pretty much my whole life, and there’s no end in sight. There’s always something new. I’ve heard people who have been in the church for years say they don’t need to study or attend Sunday School class, because they’ve really got it all covered.

    So let’s change the question. Can you give up the money you’d earn in an hour of work in favor of learning from God? In this I include more than reading scripture. I include time spent meditating, listening to God. I include time spent in nature or studying science. Anything that is dedicated first and foremost to learning the truth.

    Is that truth more important than your bottom line? Will you give up money in order to know that truth? Will you practice truth, that is integrity by practicing what you know, even at a financial cost?

    This could be a serious question for someone who does not believe in God. Do you believe in learning truth and having ethics over your own living?

    We talked about hardship in yesterday’s post. The fact is that while hardship drives learning in many ways, most times we’ll skip the learning if we can cheat reality and dodge the hardship. Often this is accomplished my making others take our hardship for us.

    What will you prioritize today? Will it be absolutely genuine?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

    Some Books on Bible Study