The End of the End

I have wandered about like a lost sheep; search for Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.  Psalm 119:176 NASB

Lost sheep – This is not the verse we expected!  After 175 verses of praise for the Law, of reiterated commitment to obedience, of line after line extolling God’s graciousness, we expected this verse to be the master stroke of exultant glory to God.  We did not expect a statement that the poet is like a lost sheep, wandering in hostile territory.  In fact, this is the last thing we would have expected.  How can we arrive at the end of all this praise only to discover our sense of abandonment?  It’s almost as if this line doesn’t belong, like the last few lines of Ecclesiastes that attempt to rescue the dour consequences of the previous eight chapters.  What happened?  How can the poet end up here?

The truth is, reality bites!  Even after glorious acknowledgement of God’s governance, even after staunch commitment to His oversight, even after recognizing our debt, we still make mistakes.  We still go astray.  The verb, tāʿâ, still describes us.  “The verb tāʿâ means ‘err, stagger, stray, wander’. . . The most familiar passage in which tāʿâ appears is Isa 53:6, where the physical and spiritual nuances blend beautifully: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray …’”^[1]

In the end, we are still human.  We are not spiritually elite transformers.  Our feet are still anchored in the dust.  The psalmist provides us with the reality of living.  The magnum opus of Psalm 119 isn’t some angelic ecstasy, raised to heavenly places far above our pedestrian plodding.  The true end of it all is in the dirt, wandering, hoping that God will search for us and pull us from the mire.  We have not forgotten His miṣwot.  They are the framework of our lives.  But unless God finds us, even that framework cannot sustain us against ourselves.  The Hebrew is very strong.  “Lost” is ʾōbēd—destroyed, perish.  Not just misdirected and confused.  Rather, ruined, dead!

The poet appeals to God to seek him.  The verb is bāqaš.  “Our root basically connotes a person’s earnest seeking of something or someone which exists or is thought to exist. Its intention is that its object be found (māṣāʾ) or acquired.”^[2]  But note the nuance.  “Unlike dāraš (q.v.) its nearest synonym the activity of bāqaš is seldom cognitive (but see Jud 6:29). Other words that are parallel (and hence, synonymous) are rādap ‘to pursue,’ šāʾal ‘to ask,’ pāqad ‘to visit,’ bāḥar‘to choose,’ etc.”^[3]  This is not a theoretical exercise.  The psalmist calls upon God for emotional connection.  It’s the aching heart that motivates the search.  God is the great hunter, searching for His lost creations.  In the end, this is what matters.  In the end, God must find us or else we are lost.

Topical Index: tāʿâ, astray, err, bāqaš, seek, search, Psalm 119:176

^[1] Youngblood, R. F. (1999). 2531 תָּעָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 977). Moody Press.

^[2] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 276 בָּקַשׁ. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 126). Moody Press.

^[3] Ibid.