Today’s Word
A Bridge Too Far
You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place. Psalm 88:18 NASB You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign. This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction. Therefore, even if…
God the Problem
They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encircled me altogether. Psalm 88:17 NASB They – Suddenly, a change. Through seventeen verses the psalmist has decried God’s absence. His lament holds God responsible for the sorry state of his life, for the nearly impossible burden he must carry, for the approach of death. But now,…
Slow Train Coming
I was miserable and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I grow weary. Psalm 88:15 NASB From my youth – Some things stick. Some experiences you had early on just remain, buried away in the subconscious of your worldview, coloring how you look at life. Modern psychological theory, removed from the divine,…
A Stinking Mess
Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? Psalm 88:14 NASB Reject – The Hebrew zānaḥ has two root meanings. The first is as it is translated here: to reject, spurn, cast off. But the second adds a bit to our emotional understanding of this word. zānaḥ II means, “to…
Defining Moments
But I, Lord, have cried out to You for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before You. Psalm 88:13 Help – English spells it out: “have cried out for help.” But all of that is really a single Hebrew verb— šāwaʿ. “The intensity of the action conveyed by šāwaʿ is aptly illustrated by the fact that…
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