Turning Up The Volume
The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied Psalm 16:4
Multiplied – Life without the Lord is increasingly miserable. That’s the biblical message. It sometimes doesn’t appear that way. After all, the systems of this world support rebellion against God, rewarding those who actively engage in disobedience. But, as the Bible says, the wicked will not prevail. Their end is assured, and it is assuredly terrible. The psalmist warns us not to envy the wicked for they have no future. In this verse, God speaks about judgment. Serving false gods will result in turning up the volume. Sorrows will be multiplied.
If you read this in Hebrew, you would quickly see that the first word in the phrase is ravah, a verb that means “to be many, to be abundant, to increase.” This is the emphasis of the sentence. “Many” more sorrows follow idolatry. We might notice that absence of sorrow isn’t in the picture. Everyone has sorrow. That’s what it means to be in a broken world. Atsav was introduced into this world with the original decision to determine life’s direction without God’s input (Genesis 3). Sorrow is a part of our existence. In this poem, the word is ‘atstsevet. It isn’t about anxiety or toil. It’s about anticipated pain! Derived from atsav, this word is only found in Hebrew poetry. It implies the grief that comes from fear of punishment. It isn’t about the actual pain itself. It’s about the emotional suffering and torment that comes from knowing you deserve to be disciplined. The distinction is important.
In this world, both the wicked and the righteous struggle with atsav. Life isn’t right. In its broken state, bad things happen to everyone. We all toil. We all suffer. We all fall under the grist mill of the enemy. God does not promise that the righteous will somehow be exempt from life on this planet. But He does promise redemption, reinforcements and deliverance. And He promises justice.
Not so for the wicked. Those who serve other gods can expect the sorrow that we all experience to be increased. Why? Does God say, “I’ll get you?” No, God weeps over the lost and desires all to turn to Him. The reason that sorrows are multiplied is built into the consequences of idolatry. An idol cannot hear me. An idol cannot respond to me. An idol offers me nothing but mute frustration. Being left to fend for myself is a natural and inevitable consequence of serving a dead god. The living God does not have to take any steps to actively increase the emotional stress and fear of those who refuse to obey Him. They do it to themselves.
Notice that this verse does not say, “I will increase their sorrows.” All that is required is that God withdraw His grace and mercy. The broken world will do the rest. Whenever men and women are out of alignment with God, the world has its way with them. And in this world, fear holds all those captive who do not serve the living God.
Perhaps you know someone whose sorrows are being multiplied. Perhaps a word from the psalmist is what they really need. Life is broken, but God’s people are not.
Topical Index: atsav, atstsevet, ravah, multiplied, broken, sorrow, Psalm 16:4
Great word, Skip. I have come to realize that sin and punishment are coexistent. I recently read an article by E. Stanley Jones that said, “These laws which are written in us are self-acting. The action and the result are one. (That sounds Hebrew, huh?) The result is not something imposed by God from without. It is something inherent. Sin and its punishment are one and the same thing. Sin literally is ‘missing the mark’, the thing for which we are inwardly made; and to miss the mark is, by that very act, to sin against oneself.” Living day in and day out, missing the mark of what we were created to be, surely does multiply sorrow, even for the elect.
I’m with you in spirit, but isn’t “missing the mark” a metaphor, ie not to be taken literally 🙂
You’re right, of course, it’s a metaphor. But don’t get down in the dumps over a metaphor. Ride the crest of the wave into victorious living on the shoulders of the Lamb. Enjoy being a part of the branches connected to the vine and fruit will be yours. 🙂 🙂 Metaphors still provide meaning, don’t they?
Skip
Yes they do, and isn’t most of the fun also in the metaphors 🙂
I couldn’t resist responding to “missing the mark” because at my company we literally get an email entitled “Message from Mark” every couple of months.
I comes from the President and COO, who is very focused on “values,” and I suspect very aware of the metaphorical implications of his name 🙂
Mike
Thanks for your response. The only response I could think of was “Yes”. The metaphor of “missing the mark” took on a whole new meaning for me when I realized that the “mark” is God’s original intention for mankind – to walk with Him in the cool of the evening in a perfect, unbroken world. What a comfort to know that the world is not evolving, but moving toward redemption and restoration of His original plan.
Skip and all readers, We have been gone to CA for Easter, and I am trying to read my e-mails. I am responding to April 10, ” The Angels Have Waited”, under this one, as I do not think many people go back after a day or so to read the comments. I would like to give my recent impressions of the Pacific Ocean, and recall 56 years ago that our married life started out in that area. Uncle Sam pointed his finger at Ed as soon as he graduated from college, it was during the Korean conflict. Now our youngest daughter, 45 and her hus, 48, and two sons: 14 & 11 years old live an hour south of SF. He is a PhDu ofCA, Research Chemist, and is currently working with # 4 for him, a new start up company. His first one became public, and #2 was getting ready and was approved, but did not go public before the past year’s economic downturn, # 3 had offices in Palo Alto, and Shanghai, China. For three years he traveled over the Pacific Ocean, and or was in China or Europe, far more than he was at home.
L.B. continuing: Our hearts were broken for all of them. Our daughter had earned a CA teaching certificate, and is very busy running the family and teaching school, since the last boy entered third grade. We have prayed regularly for our son-in-law to have a job near their home. We rejoiced in late Dec. 2008, when he was hired by the 4th research co. and his work place is only five minutes away from their home. We still rejoice although he had only one day off, Christmas, in three months there and works about 13 hours or more per day. But recently things seem to get some better in the work place. Saturday, the day we arrived in SF, he did not come to meet us, but was at the church practicing with the band, he has played the keyboard, in years gone by, and was welcomed back. All the rest of us were sitting together on that glorious Easter morning. I was weeping seeing this son-in-law playing in the band, as I was giving praise and glory to God for all tha He had done and is doing for His people. Yes, too many men, and some women, too are often on the jet air-ways, and family life is not what it should be! When I remember history, though, men being gone, and wives left behind to run large families and grow crops, defend themselvs from evil people, has been the norm for as long as we know. All because of fallen humanity, but Jesus came to bring us HOPE, and provided it for those who are willing to seek Him with all our hearts, souls and minds. Because of the travel miles earned by our son-in-law and given to us for this trip, we revisited the SF places that were dear to us in the early 1950’s: the Presido, where Letterman Miitary Hospital once stood, and where our first child, a boy, was born in 1954, over looking Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, and Alcatraz-when it still held prisoners, along with the long 15 mile Bay-Oakland Bridge. What a delightful place to start married life, especially for two young people who grew up in the Panhandle of TX, where water was not part of the view! Friends from our little S.Baptist Church in Almeda, entertained us the day we visited them. Their parents had taken us under their covering in those early years, and the parents old home, built in 1940’s for about $6,500. had been inheirted, and moved a few feet over (CA loves earthquake laws), and completely redone by them. It is near the Bay where once during WW !! ther was a large Navel Base, and ship were built. We lived in those military apts. Now our friends inherited house is valued at $575, 000. It is still just a small sq. footage home, but very neat. Of course, seeing our own grandsons in their habitat, with their friends, sharing birthdays–one born on Ed’s, and one on mine, and going to SF with them on a 70 mile windy day _they loved it–barely could walk around the Golden Gate Bridge, ate our picnic lunch on the sandy beach near Alcatraz, Our daughter actually drove down Lombard St. in her Expedition-it did not look possible & on up Telegraph Hill and Coit Tour! working in the their yard one day, and going to Alameda( an island) another day, driving through the tunnel going to Oakland, that Ed drove in and out of to Berkley Hills each day of his military service, seeing our deceased friend’s redone home near the Bay, and seeing our son-in-law be able to play the keyboard twice on Easter Sunday morning, and get to eat one meal with him there on Easter Sunday were truly gifts from the Heavenly Father. We all are such a blessed people because of Jesus coming up out of that grave. He is risen indeed!
“Gentle” “tread softly”, with kindness I looked up on the web, Stevie Ray Vaugh–never heard of him before Skip mentioned him a number of years ago. I had not mentioned this in years gone by, but feel that I must gently speak now. I do not need such a person in my life: after reading of his demons of drink & drugs, and his open living with a woman he was not married to the last few years of his life. I read nothing about his repentance and turning to the Lord. If I am wrong on that let me know, I will apologize. Thank you kindly for praying about this kind of “role model”. Let us in all ways, walk out what Jesus has worked in with His Holiness. Yes, I think it is time to move on. I pray God’s love & protection over all of us. Sincerely, L.B.
Dear L.B.
Stevie Ray is no role model. He is just an amazing guitar player.
Skip
Dear L.B.
Thanks for allowing us to share in your look behind to see where God has been in your lives. It was a true gift to the community.
Wayne
PS – I agree with Skip on Stevie Ray Vaughn — a very poor role model but a fantastic guitarist. Maybe we can pray that someday, he will see the Way.
My apologies for the last comment. I had forgotten that Stevie Ray was killed in a helicopter accident in 1990. Sad.