Psalms 25:16: “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am alone and afflicted.”
“Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.” Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich was probably the most influential theologian of the twentieth century. He believed the philosopher asked the questions and the theologian found the answers. He developed a Systematic theology in which he attempted to answer the problems of human existence that was being raised by contemporary existentialist. He believed the questions raised in the philosophical study of ontology (the study of being) could be addressed through the revelation of Christianity.
Paul Tillich would have made a great linguist because he was always breaking down words into their smallest context. For instance he used to say, “God does not exist.” That would startle most people until he explained that existence meant a beginning and an end and God has no beginning.
Psalms 25 was written by David when he was fleeing from the palace because his son has risen up against him and seized the throne forcing David to flee into exile. David was not alone, he had a battery of servants and faithful followers with him. He was surrounded by his true friends, not the fair weathered friends who were friendly only because of his office and offered their loyalty to whoever could give them their status in life. Yet when he cries out to God he says that he is alone.
The word alone in Hebrew here is yachid and is truly contextual in this passage. You not only need to define this word in its context but also from an emotional context as well. Translating a word in an emotional context is rarely done within our English language because we in this Western world are very unemotional people as compared to the Semitic people. We are scientific and technological in our thinking and therefore judge according to our minds where the Semitic people make their judgments according to their hearts.
In other words we must examine this passage with our hearts. We must try to understand what it feels like to be removed from your office, but not only that to be a wanted person with a price on your head. On top of that the one who wanted him dead was his own son. I mean what kind of suffering was David going through at this time? You put that all in that context and you have your definition for the word yachid. You lexicon will tell you that yachid means to be united, to be one, or solitary. Those definitions do not fit the context here. Solitary, maybe, but Paul Tillich puts the chabash on that one as he explains solitude expresses the glory of being alone. There is one other English word that is used for yachid and that is forsaken. Yet David was not forsaken, he was still surrounded by his best friends and devoted followers. So that does not fit.
There is only one other English word used for yachid that comes close but no cigar. It is the word lonely. Even there how can that apply that when he was in a situation which revealed who his true friends were. For only those who followed with him into exile would be his true friends, they were putting their lives on the line for their king, their leader, their friend. No not even the English word lonely fits. The best definition of yachid comes from a friend of mine.
Her husband of 25 years passed away a year ago right about this time. He took care of all the financial affairs. One day she had security, a home, and an identity. Then practically overnight her home went into foreclosure and she ended up homeless, living out of her car. Finally, after finding a temporary place to live on the eve of the first anniversary of her husband’s passing when her grief would be most pronounced she is then in a car accident. She is now forced to deal with police, insurance companies and people, things her husband used to handled. I believe the night after the accident as she reflected on her husband’s passing the prior year, she defined the word yachid. This was not solitude and not loneliness, it was a loneliness that expresses the sorrow and pain of loneliness. It was at this point that her heart cried out like David’s, “Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me.”
Turn thee unto me is panah elay. Panah has the idea of presence or to make an appearance. David did not say, delivery me, or rescue me, but only that God would make an appearance to him. He just wanted to be reassured that God was still with him. If He knew God was still with him, he could endure whatever was thrown at him. Sure my friend would love for God to deliver her from her situation but most important to her was just the reassurance that God was there. Her words were, “his angels protected me.” This little lost lamb knew that her Good Shepherd was there to watch over her.
In time of ministry I have many people asking me to pray for their healing, their deliverance, a financial miracle or God’s protection. Yet when I look into their eyes I can see that they are scared, lonely and all they really need is just the reassurance that God is with them. In times like that I ask if they would not mind if I just pray silently for them as I want to pray with my heart. I don’t want them to know what I am really praying and the prayer of the heart is often a quiet prayer. I know at that moment what their heart is crying out for is just to feel God’s pani, His presence. As I pray with my heart, I feel my heart joining with the heart of God’s whose heart is joined with that person I am praying for. I suddenly feel that person’s loneliness, that pain and hurt and I being to weep. The word for weep in Hebrew is beki which has a numerical value of 32. The word for heart, lev, also has a numerical value of 32, weeping comes from the heart. I know I have touched the heart of God when I weep and at that moment I just invoke the presence of God that I feel onto the that person for whom I am praying and almost invariably that person also weeps. Suddenly the healing, the financial miracle, the deliverance does not matter, the only thing that matters is just God and knowing He is there.
I spend a lot of time weeping, praying with my heart. I pray with my heart for people I have never met. Often I do not know who I am praying for, I am just suddenly called by God to enter a season of prayer and weeping from my heart as He allows me to share His heart that is joined with someone who is feeling yachid, lonely. Tonight as you try to fall asleep bathed in tears of loneliness, be assured that God is ready to share His heart with you and if you allow yourself, like David, to share your heart with God, God will find another believer in this world, wake him or her up, it might be me and He will say, “Will you share your heart with us, will you weep with us?” If I say yes, if you say yes, if you are the one God wakes up to share your heart with Him and another who is lonely and you say yes, then that lonely lost heart will no longer be yachid, alone.
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