Life Insurance
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Psalm 121:3 NASB
Will not allow – Wouldn’t it be nice if the Psalmist’s claim were true? Wouldn’t it be marvelous if God really did this: not allowing our feet to slip? Oh, maybe you thought this only applied to the Messiah. But then, even he refused to accept the implications when Satan confronted him with the possibility. Maybe there’s something else going on here other than a divine insurance policy.
When we examine the verb (nātan) we discover the sheer complexity of its uses. Harris notes:
Considering the extensive use of this verb, some 2,000 times (mostly in the Qal stem), it is not surprising to find a great variety of meanings given in translation. In addition to its basic and most frequent sense of give, we find in the KJV such renderings as set, commit, put, lay, fasten, hang, make (to be something), appoint, suffer (=allow), bestow, deliver, send, pay, turn, thrust, strike, cast (lots); passive uses adding be taken/gotten.[1]
The three broad areas of meaning of the verb nātan are 1) give, 2) put or set, and 3) make or constitute. [2]
We should also notice that the negative particle is the weaker form ʾal. The Psalmist does not say that God will never allow your foot to slip. He says that God will conditionally not allow it. It’s not a whole life policy; it’s a term life policy with conditions. Under certain circumstances, God intervenes and prevents a fall. But not always. The point of the verse is not that God superintends our daily walk so that we never make a mistake. The point of the verse is that God knows all of our circumstances. He doesn’t sleep.
We are encouraged to take the divine perspective of this verse, not the human one. Perhaps it would have been better for us if the Psalmist had written the phrases in reverse (“He who keeps you will not slumber. He will not allow your foot to slip.”), that way we would have understood that the emphasis of the verse is not on the outcome for us personally but rather on the sovereignty of God’s watching. We serve a God who never sleeps on the job. That means he is intimately aware of our circumstances, and sometimes, but not always, He provides the slip-insurance we need. But no matter what the result, God knows, and that is really quite enough for us to be confident that His choice to put traction under our feet rather than ice is His choice based on His assessment of our conditions. Is that good enough, or were you expecting continual smooth sailing?
Topical Index: will not allow, ʾal nātan, slip, insurance, Psalm 121:3
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 608). Chicago: Moody Press.
A Prayer Request
I don’t like to ask others to pray for me. It seems rather egocentric, I guess. But I am asking. Here’s the situation. I have developed an infection in the surgical incision made to repair my torn Achilles tendon. The surgeon has looked at this already, but it is not really getting better and I will see him again tomorrow to decide what to do. I don’t even want to contemplate the possibility that this will require opening the area again. Recovery has been very slow. Old age and poor circulation in this part of the body both contribute, but something is wrong and I certainly do not want it to get worse. So, I’m asking. Please offer a prayer that God, who really is the only One able to immediately do something about this, will show mercy to me and promote healing. It’s okay not to write back as I would probably find it difficult to answer all of you who will take a moment, but I want you to know that you matter to me. Thanks for caring about what happens next.
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