Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him For thehelp of His presence, my God. Psalm 42:11 NASB Despair – There is no word for “doubt” in biblical Hebrew, but there is a word for “despair.” It’s šāḥaḥ. Well, kind of. …
Make me understand the way of Your precepts, and I will meditate on Your wonders. Psalm 119:27 NASB Make me – Not many of us would willingly ask God to do what the psalmist asks. He uses the Hebrew bîn which means“understand, consider, perceive, prudent, regard.”[1] That seems pretty tame. The verb and its derivatives are…
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1 NIV Teach us – Heschel provides an amazing collection of thoughts about prayer. Here’s the one we will deal with today: “Prayer cannot live in…
A [a]Maskil of Asaph. Psalm 78 title Maskil – Another case where the Hebrew text isn’t included in the English psalm. Here the introduction tells us that this song is from Asaph. But this is a special kind of song. It’s a מַסְכִיל (maskîl), a poem intended to promote insight. The word comes from the verb…
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. . . Matthew 28:20 ESV Teaching – No, we are not going to investigate the obvious connection between this commandment and Torah. It’s so obvious we just won’t even mention it. What we want to ask ourselves is this: “What does it mean to teach?” …
