Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Psalms 42:8: “Yet, the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”
Last week we had a beautiful fall day and my study partner suggested that rather than go to the indoor gym and work out we walk around the zoo. In our zoological travels we happened upon a stork which opened up a discussion. I began to think about Psalms 42:8.
Before I discuss this stork business, I need to examine the word “command.“ Normally when you think of a command you are thinking of an order. An order is given under the assumption that the one receiving this order may not really want to carry it out, but as a command it must be carried out or a penalty will be paid. That is what makes this translation a little confusing. Is this to suggest that maybe there are times God just does not want to show His lovingkindness and so He must order it?
The word for command is “suh” which means to appoint or establish. The translators use the word “command” because this is in a piel form. Logically, if you are going to intensify the word “establish,” “command” would seem to be the best word to use. But when we say a piel intensifies, that does not necessarily mean to make it more it powerful. It could also mean to make it more complete or certain. Thus the Lord makes certain that His lovingkindness is well established, He does not miss a trick. We look around and see all the pain and suffering in the world, or maybe in our own life and think: “Well, the Lord’s lovingkindness sure did not make it into my corner today.” But, soft, according to this Psalm, His lovingkindness is shining as brightly as ever.
Now to get back to our friend the stork. The word “lovingkindness” is “chasad.” This is also the same word used for a stork. So what in the blazes does lovingkindness have to do with a stork? Do you ever wonder where the old wives tale about the stork delivering a baby came from? Brookfield Zoo seems to have experienced a baby boom this past year with numerous animals giving birth. On previous visits to the zoo I observed the mother’s caring for their young and in some cases what appeared a lack of caring. The ancients also made this observation. They noted in the animal kingdom how the mothers tenderly cared and protected their young, but they also noted that when they considered the degree of care and protection, the stork mother ranked above all the other animals. In fact they will care for young that is not their own and even not their species. Thus, who better to entrust the delivery of a baby than to mother nature’s number one mama. Lovingkindness expresses the ultimate in maternal care. The Lord’s lovingkindness is assured during the daytime. The daytime is when we are facing our greatest dangers. Yet, it is not just His protection that David is talking about, but His lovingkindness. Protection is given in maternal care, but maternal care also provides even more, it provides comfort, warmth, caring, and nurturing as well as shelter.
So we have this great maternal care during the daytime but at night we get “His song.” The word for song is “surah.” This is a sacred song, shin – peace, yod – messenger from heaven, – resh – power of God. It is a song of peace from heaven filled with the power of God. My study partner once brought up a good point. “Why does a song have to be musical?” There is nothing in the word “surah” that would require this message of peace to involve music or singing, just vibrations. Sort of like heavenly vibrations that are so in tune with God Jehovah that the enemy can not penetrate because those vibrations are just not in sync with the enemy. Chew on that one you quantum physics people.
At night the enemy can so easily attack to fill us with fears and terrors. It is at night when all our worries and fears reach it’s climax, That is a good time for God to fill us with His heavenly vibrations to shut out the enemy’s planned attack against us. I remember someone telling me that he felt the presences of evil spirits in his house so he started to play worship music on his CD and the presence left. Perhaps that is because the vibrations or wavelengths of the worship music were so in sync with God and so out of sync with the enemy that the enemy had to flee. James 4:7: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” How do you resist the devil? You start by picking up on the vibrations of God through praise, worship, prayer, Scripture, testimony etc. and not the vibrations of the enemy; unholy music, negative speech, degrading entertainment, evil thoughts etc. He will have to flee for he will be totally out of sync with you when you are in sync with God.
Maybe there is something to the old saying: “Tune into God.”
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