Lead me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are the God of my rescue. In You do I hope every day. Psalm 25:5 Robert Alter translation Rescue – When Michael W. Smith sings, “I’m lost without You,” I don’t think he has Torah in mind. But he should. Our popular Christian culture is…
Yet I was always with You, You grasped my right hand. Psalm 73:23 (Robert Alter translation) Grasped – Does Asaph reach out and grab hold of God? No, he doesn’t. When you and I are in the midst of herd mentality, when we are caught in group-think, when we act by addictive instinct, we can’t…
Return, O LORD, rescue my soul, save me because of Your lovingkindness. Psalm 6:4 NASB Rescue – The word translated “rescue” in this verse is halats. In its various forms it can mean “to draw away, to take off, to withdraw, to plunder.” It means “to rescue” only in one form found only in the…
For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says “Do not fear, I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13 NASB Help – It takes a long time to get to the place where we ask for help. We often know we need help but there is something in us that continues…
And the salvation of the righteous is of YHWH; He is their strength in the time of trouble. Psalm 37:39 Salvation – What time is it in your life? Is it a time of trouble? If it is, then the psalmist has a perfect word for you: teshu’ah – deliverance! Let’s slow down for a…
YHWH, in Your strength the king rejoices and in Your deliverance how he rejoices greatly! Psalm 21:2 (Hebrew text, my translation) Strength / Deliverance – It’s Oz, but there’s no wizard. It’s deliverance but there’s no background music. Of course, you have to be “old” to understand these allusions. I won’t apologize for that. Age…
