Eraser
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation. Psalm 40:10
Not Concealed – Have you concealed God’s covenant commitment and truth from the great assembly? It’s easy to do so. All it takes is a little change in words and deeds. Let me give you an example.
At my last job interview for a position with a commercial company, the employer asked me what I offered that made me different than the other candidates.. I could have told him about my background and past successes. But God gave me a nudge. I said, “If you employ me, your business will be blessed, because I will act like Joseph in the Old Testament, and God will bless you through me.” That’s about as up-front as you can get. I had no idea if this man was a believer. In fact, I am pretty sure that he was not, but it didn’t matter, because what I told him was the truth. I am not like any other candidate. I am a servant of the King.
And so are you!
How much easier it would be to just give the usual explanation. No controversy. No confrontation. But that would conceal God’s covenant commitment with me, and since I believe that God is sovereign over all life’s circumstances, including job interviews, I knew that listening to His gentle suggestion would serve Him, even if it meant that I did not get the job (and, by the way, I didn’t). I want to stand with David and say lo-khikhadti (I have not concealed). The verb, kakhad, has other nuances that expand the thought. It is used to describe destroying or making something disappear. In Zechariah, it is used to describe effacing and scattering. Kakhad is more than simply covering up something. It is about erasing something.
Once we realize that the idea behind kakhad is to erase or eliminate, then we see that concealing God’s goodness can be accomplished in many different ways. It’s not just choosing words that leave God out of the picture. It’s also acting in ways that ignore or deny His sovereignty. When the leaders of a nation exhibit behavior that ignores or denies God’s sovereignty, grace and truth, all the people suffer. Sometimes the suffering goes on for centuries (to see just how deep this goes, take a look at what happened in the translation of the King James Bible here http://inthebeginning.com/books/ecc.htm). We can participate in erasing God’s truth without ever knowing it. I am quite sure that God forgives such transgressions before we ask. But there are others that are not overlooked. Endorsing a lifestyle of indulgence, ignoring the cries of the weak, overlooking the needs of the desperate, acting as if life is about possession and accumulation, denying responsibility to the community – all of these and more erase the image of God in the world.
David was an eraser more than once. You and I have done our share of removing God from His rightful place. It’s time to change all that. Make God’s mark on your life indelible. Say it and show it in front of the great assembly.
