Evidence (1)

I certainly believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.  Psalm 27:13-14 NASB

Living – We looked at Psalm 27:13 before, some time ago.  CLICK here.    But it’s worth reconsidering because the claim seems so impossible!  We are all in “the land of the living” and it’s pretty damn hard to see the goodness of God these days.  The world is a mess.  Maybe the poet’s words are just wishful thinking.  Maybe his advice (“wait for YHVH”) is just eschatological pie-in-the-sky.  Maybe the translation really doesn’t communicate the Hebrew idea (see the aforementioned previous study).  But somehow the psalmist seems to think waiting for God is going to give us a different perspective on life today, so let’s take another look.

First, we can pretty much dismiss the idea of an eschatological projection.  The poet isn’t writing about relief in the next life because for the audience of the tenth century B.C.E there isn’t any “next life” worth waiting for.  Whatever comes next (and there’s really no guarantee about it) it’s a place of weakness, silence, and disconnection.  Goodness doesn’t apply.

Second, “I certainly believed” is a conjugation of the Hebrew verb ʾāman, in the Hiphil, “to believe in,” but not the way we think of “believing in” something.  We think believing in means assenting to a cognitive truth.  “I believe in the Bible” means that I find its statements to be true.  It doesn’t mean I actually live by them, as is quite clear from the rejection of the Torah by most Christians.  ʾāman “In the Hiphil (causative), it basically means ‘to cause to be certain, sure’ or ‘to be certain about,’ ‘to be assured.’ In this sense the word in the Hiphil conjugation is the biblical word for ‘to believe’ and shows that biblical faith is an assurance, a certainty, in contrast with modern concepts of faith as something possible, hopefully true, but not certain.”^[1]  But this requires action.  To believe is to do something, not simply mouth it.  Belief in Hebrew is practical involvement.  “We will hear and we will do,” as the people responded.

What does the psalmist say is the result of his practical action?  The verb is rāʾâ, “to see,” an infinitive construct.  “I see,” no future hope projection.  In fact, now we need to revise the opening verbal translation.  “I believed” puts the action in the past, but the Hiphil is causative.  It should be “I am caused to believe,” or “Something makes me believe.”  Whatever it is that makes this happen, that brings about this certainty, it results in seeing the goodness of God.  So the verse really reads, “Since I am caused to believe, I see.”  Perhaps the previous verses explain the source of this causation, but whatever it is, it isn’t wishful thinking or end-times hope.  It is now!  Here!  The context of this psalm is praise for the God who has always been the rescuer.  Such a God gives the poet no reason to be afraid.  The poet has alwaysexperienced the protection of this God when everyone else has abandoned him.  Now we know why he can write, “I am caused to believe that I see.”  He has a personal history of grace.  And he stands on it.

“I see the goodness of God in the land of the living.”  I see it now.  Why?  Because I am alive!  I am here because God provides, God protects, God sustains.  If this were not the case, my life would be over.  Yet here I am.  No matter what else might be happening in the circumstances surrounding me, my very presence confirms the goodness of God in the land of the living.

This is not a poem about blissful conditions.  The world is broken—significantly so.  But the chaos of life is still the chaos that comes with being alive, and that is a sure sign of God’s grace.  I see His goodness, not good things.  Paul said it another way, to the same effect:

“‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’” (Acts 17:28 NIV).

As long as I am here, I can say with utter confidence, “I see the goodness of God.”  The evidence is me.

Topical Index:  land of the living, goodness, Hiphil, ʾāman, rāʾâ, to see, Psalm 27:13-14

^[1] Scott, J. B. (1999). 116 אָמַן. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 51). Chicago: Moody Press.