Give ear, O God, to my prayer, and do not disdain my petition. Psalm 54:2 LXX Do not disdain – Unless you have a copy of the LXX, you’re version of this Hebrew psalm will be a bit different. First, the English Bible registers this as Psalm 55, not 54. Secondly, most English Bibles treat…
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! Isaiah 45:15 NASB Hides Himself – Have you experienced the desert of purposelessness? Have you cried out to God when your spirit is empty and abandoned? Have you felt the despair when your pleas return vacuous? Then perhaps Isaiah’s statement reflects your emotional distress…
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? Psalm 13:1 NASB Hide Your face – I understand the absence of the Landlord when the tenant deserves judgment. Feeling the brokenness of relationship is a powerful incentive for repentance and restitution, as every parent knows. Children who need to…
You hid Your face, I was dismayed. To You, O Lord, I called, and to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?” Psalm 30:7b-9 NASB Hid – “In a world where God hides His face, human life seems to…
Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9 NASB Where – As you know, Hebrew has two words for “where.” The first is a question about geographical location. ‘ephoh, that is, “Where is such and such place, person, thing?” If I’m lost in Jerusalem, I might use this…
Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Psalm 51:9 NASB Hide – What does God know about you? Everything. That means He knows all your faults, all your sins, all your rebellious acts. Since God knows all these, do you think it possible for Him to stop knowing them? Can…
He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Genesis 3:10 NASB Was afraid – Nahum Sarna points out that this Hebrew statement can be read as irony because the declaration, “I heard the sound of You” can also be translated…
You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; we have finished our years like a sigh. Psalm 90:8-9 NASB Secret sins – OK, so how do you want to end? It’s coming, you know. Every day a bit…
He that conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Proverbs 28:13 NASB Conceals – This Hebrew word is kasa. It is used in poetic contrast with the word for “forgive” (nasa’). The root meaning of the word is “to cover.” It is used to describe a…
For in the day of evil He hides me in His booth; in the covering of His tent He hides me; Psalm 27:5 Hides – Have you ever wanted to run and hide? When you were a child, it was a game. Now it’s real. Sometimes the world just comes unleashed, shows up at your…
