Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Psalms 119:86: “All thy commandments are faithful, they persecute me wrongly; help thou me.”
I was recently listening to one of the talk radio shows where a person from an inner city called in and expressed his concerns. He said in the last presidential election he wanted to vote Republican, he was a Republican and always voted Republican but he did not in the last election because Senator McCain used as his theme: “Country first.” This old boy who grew up and lived in the inner city could not vote for someone who would put the country people before the city people.
Now this gentleman was not telling a lie, he was telling a falsehood. A lie would be intentionally telling something that was not true when you know the truth. A falsehood is to tell something that is not true while really believing it is true.
This is important in this verse because in Hebrew the word for “wrongly” is “sheker.” That word means “falsehood” and not lies as some translations will render this. The word “wrongly” is also misleading as it suggest a malicious intent. The word “sheker” does not indicate any malice. There could be malice behind the falsehood, but that is not the emphasis of the word. This simply means, “something that is not true.”
David is showing a poetic contrast here. He is saying that God’s commandments are faithful. The word “commandments” that is used here is “matsat” which has more of the idea of instruction. The instruction that David receives from God is “faithful.” Here the word used for “faithful” is “aman” which is the word for truth. Thus what David is saying is that the instruction or counsel he receives from God is truth, whereas those who persecute him speak falsehood.
The word “persecute” is “radaf” which has the idea of “chasing,” “following” or “pursuing.” Actually the word fundamentally means “to follow.” David is saying that those who “follow” him are speaking falsehoods.
Back to my story of the old city boy. He was a follower of the Republicans and wanted to vote for McCain but because of a falsehood, not a lie, he did not vote for him. David had many followers who were giving him some good advice. But often that advice was in conflict with God’s instruction. David probably offended many people by not following their advice in lieu of following what he knew was God’s instructions. He may have lost their support by following God’s instructions.
One of the harshest criticism leveled against the presidential candidates is that they will say whatever they have to to please the people just to get their support. Yet we may do the same thing. We have friends, relatives, spiritual leaders who are always giving us advice. Sometimes we just follow that advice out respect for that relationship. No problem with that but if we fail to check that advice with the Word of God we may be following a falsehood. The advice may be well intentioned, it may be given out of love, but if is contrary to the Word of God it is a falsehood. The Word of God is “sheker” or true. The advice of those who “radaf” us that is who follow us may not be true. We can trust God without question, the word of a “follower” needs to be tested against the Word of God.
To go against that advice from a “follower” may result in persecution as David discovered, but he stood firm on the Word of God. The Assyrian army had chariots pulled by horses that took 20 years to breed. The army was invincible. David was receiving advice to strengthen his army, build better chariots, but he replied, “Some trust in chariots, but we will trust in God.” That did not set well with many powerful people in his administration such that David’s own son stood up and said: “Follow me, I will listen to you. That old man who calls himself a king says we should just trust God, but I say let’s build a better army and a better defense.” He almost succeeded in overthrowing his father from the throne, but David still trusted in the Word of God.
David ends up by saying: “help thou me.” David knew that going against his advisors and simply saying to trust God would cause a lot of problems and destroy many relationships. David asked for God’s “help” or “’azar.” Azar means to help or be a helper, but in the sense of being an ally. Sometimes were forget that God is a “helper” but He is also our ally.
There is the old story of man who lived in a flood zone. When the water rose the local National Guard came by and told him to leave his home and get into their truck as they were evacuating the area. The man said; “I don’t need to leave my home, I am trust God to protect me.” The man stayed and the floods came and water entered the man’s house. A rescue team came around in a boat and encouraged the man to get into the boat as the water was still rising. The man said: “I don’t need to get in your boat, I am trusting God and He will protect me.” The water continued to rise and the man went to the roof of his house. A helicopter flew over and a rescue worker came down in a harness and tried to get the man to board the helicopter. Again the man refused, saying he was trusting God to protect him. The rose higher and the man drowned. When he entered heaven he asked God: “Why didn’t you save me from the waters, I was trusting you and you didn’t do anything.” God replied: “What do you mean I didn’t do anything, I sent the National Guard with a truck to rescue you, a team in a boat to rescue you and I finally sent a helicopter to rescue you but you turned them all down.
God may be a “helper’ and snatch us out of our trouble, but much more common, he is our ally and provides a natural way of escape. During World War II a platoon came under rocket attack. All the soldiers jumped into their fox holes except the chaplin who stood out in the open watching the attack. A soldier in a fox hole called up to the chaplin: “You’d better get in a fox hole Padre’ before you get hurt.” The chaplin answered: “Oh, the Lord will protect me.” The soldier replied: “The Lord will protect me too, but I just like to make His job easier.”
As a Bible College teacher, I saw many of my former students venture out on faith to establish a ministry. They often said: “If the Lord is in this, He will make it work.” All the while they just sat back and waited for the phone to ring. It never rang. They would come to me and ask why nothing was happening. I would usually take them to the offices of a world famous evangelist and teacher, one whose name is known all over the world and someone they hoped the emulate. I would show them one small room where there were three elderly women busy doing phone work. I told them, “You would think a man who is know over the world with a TV ministry, radio ministry, book ministry etc. would have no problem lining up churches to speak at. Yet, he depends upon these three women who work full time, forty hours a week, doing nothing but calling churches throughout the United States and the world asking if they would like to have this man come and speak to them. The phone does not ring off the hook, even for a man who is well established in the ministry. Even if God is behind you 100% he has given you a mind and body that is made to work and He expects you to use it.”
Sometimes God waves His hand and things just happen, often He is our ally who works with us. Like David, we need to discern when to sit back and let God work and when to let Him be our ally.
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