The God of Long Ears
Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me for I am afflicted and needy. Psalm 86:1 NASB
Incline – English translators have a tough time with the Hebrew verb nāṭâ. “The 215 occurrences of this verb, excluding derivatives, are translated some thirty-five different ways in the KJV alone. The ASV and RSV add other renderings to this wide range of English expressions.”[1] Wilson goes on the say:
But most usages are figurative. One’s heart may “turn away” (i.e. shift its loyalty, apostatize; cf. I Kgs 11:2–4, 9) or “be swayed” (II Sam 19:14 [H 15]). On the other hand, one’s heart may be “inclined” to God and his commands (Josh 24:23; I Kgs 8:58; Ps 119:36). Also common is the expression “to incline the ear” (i.e. listen obediently) in reference to men paying heed to God (Jer 7:24, 26; 11:8; 17:23 et al.), [2]
What we learn is that nāṭâ can be applied to both men and God, like this psalm where the author pleads that God will listen with concern. Figuratively, this poet wants God’s ear to be stretched out toward him. Don’t we all feel the need to have God pay attention to us? Abraham Heschel made this point when he wrote that prayer was not so much conversing with God as it was attempting to get God’s attention. But perhaps nāṭâ adds an element that we might overlook with a single translation. Since the word can be used in both divine and human actions, perhaps both parties need longer ears. Perhaps our pleading with God to hear us with deep concern should, at the same time, be an expression of our need to turn our ears toward Him in order to hear His voice and His concerns. Perhaps the God of long ears is hoping for children who have the same look—long ears toward Him.
The psalmist pleads for God’s attention when he is “afflicted and needy.” That’s usually what happens, isn’t it? We put God on pause while things are sailing smoothly. Then we run into life’s unpredictable storms, and suddenly we need His attention. Don’t you wonder if we would plead with the same intensity if we had been inclining our ears toward Him while the days were sunny and calm? Perhaps we need nāṭâ in our control vocabulary so that He will use it in our uncontrolled vocabulary?
Topical Index: nāṭâ, incline, pay attention, concern, Psalm 86:1
[1] Wilson, M. R. (1999). 1352 נָטָה. , Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (573). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
Yes we are patently self centred and how much we suffer from that locus of inconsequence for our meaning is found in the Centre. In Whom all life exists. And without our selfish desire to locate ourselves in our insignificance by attaching ourselves to Awe…. In our bleating & our pleadings of selfishness; we perhaps wouldn’t even have a start along this road so narrow. The road that is actually becoming other aware,. Surely we are exceedingly irrelevant except for His condescension to impart meaning again. Extending breath to those who don’t breath in His rhythm. The Repairer of the desperately ill, dying but crying to live. This is a patient Love . Truthful distances of grace He measures, so wonderfully Shalom to all. FJ
The storms of life only catch us unprepared if we aren’t listening to the Control Tower in the first place.
The easiest changes to make are the small repairs to ship or tiller at harbor or between waves; “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
It’s the hole in the sidewalk all over again: we eventually learn to avoid it. We avoid the holes and fearful surprises of life by learning how far back we need to be standing to be able to ‘see’ trouble ahead.
I can only see the future with Someone Else’s eyes; the eyes of faith. How do I employ those? Faith is a servant of love; faith only serves love. If we are not serving love, we have no access to faith (trust in the future), in fact. If I anticipate the future – the present of the split second just beyond my mortal horizon – with faith, I am correctly aligned with it; no, to be more precise, because that liquid future is made up of choices, the choices of faith are the type of choices that sway that future towards order and back out of chaos. If chaos still occurs, the choices of faith will still have aligned us correctly to continue to keep our bow into the wind and on course because not only do the choices of faith determine the future; they determine our relationship with it.
Life is an interactive dance. To dance correctly, we have to know when it is our turn to initiate the next step, and when it is our Partner’s turn. Sin is about getting those turns confused; we initiate when we should be following and asking, and we slack off when we are supposed to be exercising the responsibility of right choosing (faith).
Its about timing, for the present (the real life that we are saved back into) is about our relationship with time. Righteousness (connection) is about recognizing and acting within our proper relationship (love) with the rest of reality. The righteousness of Christ that we have been promised (His correct alignment with reality) keeps putting us back there whenever we repent for being out of line, but the next step of our salvation dance will still be up to us. This is why the process of sanctification is never finished until we get to the very last step; we are always free to choose. May those choices always be the choices of faith, for it is that “faith that works by (is employed in the service of) love” that keeps us where the right relations of our Saviour keeps putting us back to. May we stay there this time! Halleluah!
FJ and Laurita your comments bring back interesting memories.
Many years ago one of my spiritual leaders taught me that the Greek word for heart is LEB the centre point of our existence. What man focusses on man will become.
Then
Laurita you come and remind me of the pot hole in the road. The only time it really becomes a danger is when we get used to it and start taking chances when we approach it. Then Wayne Dryer reminded us in one of his seminars Wishes Fulfilled… When we only really miss our life inhibiting ditches when we choose to take another road… A new road and start writing our new desired future by being the change we wish to see…
The analogy of the dance steps let’s me think of Jethro’s advice to Moses in Prince of Egypt… We must become part of the dance of life not just observers thereof.
Keep refreshing my memory as what needs to be said has been said a thousand times. It will only become ours as FJ reminds… We must make them our own actions, not just our thoughts.
If we paying attention, He will teach us how to swim BEFORE allowing the waters to rise around us.