The Last Word
But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord takes thought for me; you are my help and my savior; delay not, O God. Psalm 40:18 (Hebrew World)
I am poor – Back up one verse. “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You, let those who love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified.’” Doesn’t it seem to you that this is the proper ending? Don’t we want the climax of this psalm to be a declaration of victory? Then why does the Psalmist add this decidedly negative sentence? After the shout of rejoicing, why add, “I am poor and needy”? Why turn apparent victory into defeat?
The Hebrew phrase is va-ani ani. Phonetically it’s the same, but the consonants are different. Va-ani is Vav-Aleph-Nun-Yod while the second ani is Ayin-Nun-Yod. The first ani is “I am.” The second is the word “poor.” This particular kind of “poor” is “oppressed,” not necessarily economically strapped. This poor person is the one who has been stripped of freedom, who is abused or constrained, usually as the result of war. The picture reveals the complaint: “to experience life as work.” Perhaps there are a lot more ani (poor) than we first imagined.
The psalm doesn’t end with the victory verse because the victory verse isn’t today’s reality. Today’s reality is life as work. Victory will come. The psalmist assures us that the sovereign Lord of creation is gracious and compassionate. The sovereign Lord of creation is bringing about redemption and restoration, a time when life will be about the intersection of passion and production, when we will serve (avad) out of joy and fulfillment. But now the world is broken. Now ‘atsav has infected our efforts. What was intended to be both work and worship is sorrow and toil. That’s why we are poor. We are prisoners of life out of alignment.
What can we do about this imprisonment? Well, we could throw up our hands in futility. We could just wait for the return of the King. We could pray to be raptured out of this terrible place. We could sing, “This world is not my home.” But that’s not the choice of the psalmist. He chooses to recognize his present condition. He knows he is ani. That leads him to declare that YHWH cares. YHWH takes thought of him. He is not abandoned to this valley of tears. Even here, in the world of ‘atsav, Elohim is our help and our deliverer. Both nouns imply the arrival of reinforcements in the midst of battle. We are not waiting at the station to be ushered out of this world. We are waiting at the battlefront for the arrival of His provisions. The psalmist calls upon the Lord for speedy delivery, not evacuation.
Look around you. Do you see them? The hundreds, the thousands who are prisoners of a life of work. How will you be part of their rescue if all you want is a way out? Are we not called to restore and renew? Do we know the difference between ‘atsav and avad? Does it show?
Topical Index: poor, ani, work, toil, ‘atsav, serve, avad, Psalm 40:18
Do we know the difference between ‘atsav and avad?
Does it have anything to do with worshipping, or giving ourselves to another besides YHWH?
Thx for the word Skip, sometimes we forget this and we buy into the atsav of the world.
“Love is not a victory march, it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen)
A point best embodied IMO by Mother Theresa and sung by Rufus Wainwright
Hallelujah – Rufus Wainwright
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you;
She tied you to a kitchen chair,
She broke your throne, she cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Maybe I’ve been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time you let me know
What’s real and going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you,
The Holy Dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Maybe there’s a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you;
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Just got back from walking my dog Max
Something of a pain in itself
But what would I do without him?
And I was thinking about Mother Theresa
How she has no fear
In a very dangerous environment
She simply does the right thing
She cares for other less fortunate people
So much to say concerning atsav and avad. “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Corinthians 7.10)
– the kind of sorrow G-d wants us to experience?- what’s up with that? Yeshua said, “In this world you will have tribulation..” This world? This (temporary, temporal testing) world which is but a blip on the radar screen of eternity? Our sorrow serves a purpose? G-d does have a way of getting our attention. These are the words of King David (I’m thinking it took him a while to “get it..”) “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.” (Psalm 119.71) Nothing like a little bit of pain to (*ahem*) gather our focused attention. Are we (now) hearing these words? Ever had a “tune-up” when you were a kid? Ahh.. -now we have “ears to hear!!”
For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12.6) Nothing like a trip to the woodshed to improve our “hearing skills..”
But now, for “the rest of the story..” In this world (this world?) you will have tribulation (amen?) *but* (love those Bible buts!) be of good cheer, take courage – I have already overcome the world..
Since I don’t really have anyone else to say it to, may I wish everyone a Blessed Sabbath!!!! May our time with Him be sweet and refreshing.
Since I don’t really have anyone else to say it to, may I wish everyone a Blessed Sabbath!!!! May our time with Him be sweet and refreshing.
Shabbath Shalom to you sister and all the mishpocha
with Ahav
Psalm 40 sung by Sons of Korah 6 MIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZTYE1MAo68