Forced Joy?

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.  Psalm 119:35  NASB

Make me – What do you suppose would happen if you asked God to make you do something?  If He responded to that request, do you think there is any chance it wouldn’t happen?  Could you resist the ultimate omnipotence of the Lord should He decide your plea is worthy of action?  Not likely!  Ask Pharaoh if you have any doubts.

“Make me” seems to erase the fundamental principle of created humanity, that is, the free choice of the agent.  Oh, we could argue that in this case the man has made a free choice.  After all, he freely chose to ask God to make him do something.  So, while the action itself might be the direct result of an overriding divine decree, the initiation of the action was freely chosen.  Does that count?

Well, it might.  But it might not.  What if I prayed, “God, make me revile my enemies and dash their heads against the stones.”  What do you think God would do?  What if I prayed, “God, make me be obedient to You when You ask me to sacrifice my child?”  What would you say to that?  Don’t we discover that the freely chosen initiation must still fall within God’s purposes?  And how do we know what those purposes are unless He tells us?  Did Abraham know the request to sacrifice Isaac was only a test?  Humm.  Maybe forced compliance is confusing at any level, initiation or execution.

Or maybe that isn’t the point of the psalmist at all.  Maybe we’re reading this Hiphil verb in the wrong way.  Let’s consider Wolf’s insight: “When the verb occurs in the Hiphil stem, it consistently refers to God as he leads the righteous in straight paths.”^[1]  The verb, of course, is dārak, here in the imperative, second person with the suffix ʾănî (הֲבִינֵנִי ).  If the Hiphil tense always involves God’s direction to a righteous path, then the implied imperative isn’t quite as odious as it might seem.  In fact, the second part of the verse offers another clarifying insight.  The poet claims that he “delights” in precisely what he is asking God to do.  This reminds me of Boaz’ blessing to Ruth.  He proclaims her virtuous act and asks God to provide for her, and then he immediately fulfills that request on his own, doing precisely what he asked of God.  Perhaps that’s what this poet is really saying.  “Make me” is really his way of telling God that he delights in doing God’s will.  It’s not a matter of compulsion at all.  It’s the fulfillment of his deepest desire, and dārak happens to be the verb that expresses the connection between my choice and God’s involvement.

Topical Index: dārak, choice, desire, delight, Psalm 119:35

^[1] Wolf, H. (1999). 453 דָּרַך. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 196). Moody Press.