|
King David prayed to God, "Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation!" (Psalm 38:22). David expresses our common condition in this world as we stand in desperate need for God's help and deliverance from what assails our very soul. "My iniquities are gone over mine head, as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me" (Psalm 38:4). The sages have said that the only prayer really we have is "help, Lord," and I use this one on a daily basis, that is, whenever I am once again confronted with the truth of my condition....
The Hebrew word translated "make haste" comes from the root word "chush" (ΧΧΦΌΧ©Χ) which means to hurry, to act quickly, or to come quickly. The Psalms often open the lips our our need: "O make haste to help me!" (i.e., chushah l'ezrati: ΧΧΦΌΧ©ΧΦΈΧ ΧΦ°Χ’ΦΆΧΦ°Χ¨ΦΈΧͺΦ΄Χ).
|
An old Jewish prayer says, "O LORD, I know that you will help us;
but will you help us before you will help us?"
|
Although God sometimes tarries, he assuredly does so for our ultimate good. He declares, "I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it" (Isa. 60:22). But still the anxious heart sighs, "Is it time, LORD? Will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?" But as Yeshua has said, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority" (Acts 1:6-7). We are therefore left waiting for God's ultimate answer: His glorious coming to fulfill our salvation.
Living in the "already-not-yet" state of redemption is a soul-building venture that helps us to acquire the precious middah (quality) of patience: "In your patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19).
In Modern Hebrew the word teshuvah, often translated "repentance," also means "an answer." It is the mind's turning to a shelah, a question, attending to it with honesty in the pursuit of truth. Often the trials in our lives function as God's question to us, and we are asked to answer with the teshuvah of settled faith.
 |
The last words recorded of Yeshua in the Bible are: "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20) which is immediately followed by the last prayer of the Scriptures, an "antiphon" expressing our hope in him: "Even so, come, Lord Yeshua!"
Suffering produces endurance (Rom. 5:3), but God has promised "to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." May He come speedily, and in our day. Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 38:22 reading (click for audio):
<< Return
|
