Coming and Going

Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry!  Psalm 88:2  NASB Let . . . come before You – The first thing you should notice is the change in syntax.  In Hebrew the verb comes first.  So, it reads, “Let come before You my prayer.”  The action is the important thing.  What…

Walking Backwards

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.  Exodus 8:1  NASB Go – We all know that Hebrew is backwards.  After all, it reads from right to left.  The “proper” way is to read from left to right,…

Not There Nowhere

He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”  Genesis 37:30  NASB Not there – In this verse, the words “not there” are not there.  The translators have added an explanation to the text, implying that Reuben declares Joseph is no longer in the pit. …

Breathing Room

Hear my prayer, Lord!  And let my cry for help come to You.  Psalm 102:1  NASB Come to You – “‘There are three ways in which a man expresses deep sorrow: the man on the lowest level cries; the man on the second level is silent; the man on the highest level knows how to turn his…

Correct but Insufficient

The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22  NASB Brought– When I wrote Guardian Angel, I thought the title would be The Perfect Enemy.  My thinking was this: God brings into the lives of husbands precisely those wives who act as polishing stones, grinding away…