Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Psalms 48:14: “For this God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide, even unto death.”
I drive a bus for the disabled and senior citizens. The other day I drove someone down to Cermak and Damen Ave. After I helped my passenger off the bus I found the door was slightly off track and I had to keep opening it and slamming it to shut it properly. If it did not close tight enough the bus would scold me with buzzers and lights as I try to drive away. After a few attempts of opening and closing the door I became aware of the fact that I was being observed. I turned around and saw a pigeon standing on the sidewalk intently watching me with his head cocked to one side. By this time I was at the point of extreme frustration over this door and I turned to my feathered observer and said; “Look, if you a have better way to close this door then just tell me.” Then I became aware of the fact that I was being watched by a fellow Chicagoan. So I turned to him and said: “What, you haven’t lived in Chicago long enough to be talking to
pigeons?” He just shrugged as if to say: “Sure I talk to pigeons, but I don’t ask them for advice.”
You know, for most Christians, God is as passive as that pigeon. He just sits back and observes our behavior, taking careful note and building his case for the final judgment. To David, God was not a record keeper; God was His guide, someone who he would go to for advice and actually get it.
Most of us would go to God for advice but I suspect we would not expect Him to answer us any more than I expected my head tilting, feathered friend to give me advice. Which brings me to Psalms 48:14. David is calling God his guide. A guide has to communicate with you in some way, yet David does not give any clue as to how God communicates his advice and direction. Or does He?
Every word in the Hebrew explains itself. As my study partner would say, God builds his own commentary into the Hebrew language. So we will take a look at God’s commentary on this word for “guide.”
In the Hebrew the word “guide” is Yinahaginu from the root word nahag. This is found in a piel imperfect form. It is a continuing action with great intensity. The word itself has a double meaning which is to lead, or conduct, but it is to lead or conduct with a sigh or a simple breath. Hence we know from the traditional usage of this word that this leading is something very subtle, something that is so common, like breathing, something you would not pay attention to unless you were looking for it. In nursing school (CNA) I was taught that when you take a patients vital signs you are to count his breaths while taking his pulse. You are to do this while he is unaware of it so his breathing will be natural. You are to watch for that ever so slow rising and lower of the chest and count the number of times he breaths. It is so subtle that you have to actually practice it on many patients to really be able to accurately count it. That is what
nahag (guide) is, an indicator that is so subtle that must really pay close attention and avoid any other distractions to read it accurately.
Even the word itself explains this. It is spelled Nun which represents an effortless flowing up stream, moving along with the currents. The next letter is a Hei which represents a still small voice. I need to pause here to explain this still small voice. We find that sill small voice in I Kings 19:12 with the story of Elijah. The phrase still small voice in Hebrew is Qol (voice, audible sound), dimamah (stillness, quietness, and calmness), daqeh (tiny, scattered, thrashing, breaking into small pieces). This phrase is actually a picture of looking into a large crowd of people, like in a market place, hearing many scattered voices and focusing on just one voice. I picture it like going to a baseball game and sitting way up in the stands behind the umpire and batter. There is a lot of talking, cheering and shouting all around you, a lot of scatter voices, but if you focus all your attention on that umpire, block out all the other noises, even way
back in the stands you can still hear him call “out” or “strike.” That is the picture of a still small voice. Blocking out all the distractions and just focusing your attention on God and God alone.
When I was a student at Moody Bible Institute, I heard the story of some students who took a Native American student into the Loop area of Chicago. This Native American student spent his whole like out in the country on the prairie. This was his first time in a big city. As they walked along Michigan Avenue with all the noise of traffic and crowds of people, this Native American student suddenly said: “I hear a cricket.” The other students watched in amazement as this Native American walked to the end of the block where there was a tree in a planter and he dug down into the mulch and pulled up a cricket. The other students asked how he could hear a cricket in the midst of all that noise. He said it was all in what you are listening for. He then took a quarter from his pocket, dropped in on the sidewalk and suddenly a dozen people ahead of him turned their heads to look. That is the idea behind the “still small voice,” the word
“nagah” (guide); it is all in what you are listening for. Are you listening for God’s will or your own? Have you focused your complete attention on Him and not on the issues of life?
Oh, there is one last letter in the word nahag (guide). I spoke of the Nun as flowing with the current, the Hei as listening for that still small voice and the final letter is the Gimmel which represents God’s lovingkindness. God will only lead you or guide you with lovingkindness, never with fear. You will know you are being guided by God when you feel His Gimmel, or His pleasure, peace and lovingkindness. It will be so natural that you will just follow the Nun and flow with His Hei or breath as you relax in His Gimmel or His lovingkindness.
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