Shut Up (Times Two)

And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place.  Psalm 31:8  NASB

Not given me over – What does it mean to fall into the hands of the enemy?  Pay attention to David’s parallelism and you will understand just how much Hebrew is a language of the land.  The idea of “not given over” is repeated in “set in a large place.”  We discover that falling into the hands of the enemy is experiencing restriction, confinement or imprisonment, either physically or psychologically.  The Hebrew verb, sāgar, is about feeling fenced in, bound, unable to move freely in God’s great world.  This can be the result of physical captivity.  Israel knew this experience through the long years in Egypt and the experience indelibly changed the public consciousness of the people.  But the same experience can happen individually, as David’s cry illuminates.  We can each feel the fetters of the enemy, the dungeon of destructive choices, the grip of imposed expectations.  There are invisible prisons of the soul waiting to incarcerate each of us.

Once again David relies on the character of YHVH.  “You have not shut me up,” he exclaims.  Instead, David feels the release of ʿāmad, “to stand” in a wide and open place.  He is not walking through the narrow valley of the shadow of death.  His Shepherd had led him to the open fields and the still waters.  Fear is no longer an issue.

Perhaps that’s the real contrasting measure.  When I experience sāgar (confinement) I am afraid.  I am afraid of not finding my way out.  I am afraid of being overwhelmed.  I am afraid of the future.  I am afraid, as Adam suggested in his response to God, of myself, of what I have become in a constricted world.  Perhaps the true measure of deliverance (another meaning of sāgar) is release from fear.  Perhaps the parallel question to “Where do you feel safe?” is “Do you feel afraid?”  The answer to both questions is the same.  The safe place, the place where fear is no longer my jailer, is under the care of the Shepherd.  If I am not in that place, imprisonment is only a matter of time.

One final note concerning David’s poetic revelation.  “You have set my feet,” is a joyous admission of incapacity.  David didn’t consult a self-help book to find this broad and open life.  He didn’t determine a long-term plan or take a better grip on his present circumstances.  He submitted.  He gave oversight to God and God set his feet on safe ground.  No credit to David.  No entitlement.  Just recognition that his life was not safe, not free from fear, until he let God take complete control.  That doesn’t mean the decision was easy.  Adam discovered the decision was nearly impossible.  It just means the decision was sane.  The creation cannot function independently of the designer for long without serious, detrimental consequences.  Human beings are mistake-making entities, not self-correcting AI robots.  When we finally come to terms with that fact, we will be ready for David’s declaration.  You, Lord, delivered me.  You, and no one else.

Topical Index: sāgar, deliver up, give over, ʿāmad, stand, fear, safe, Psalm 31:8