Psalm 139:5: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”
I suppose you could translate this verse a number of ways. What I find interesting in this verse is the word for beset which is sur. As a noun this is what Moses struck to get water – a rock. It is also used for a fortress, or fortified city. The word ‘achor has the idea of behind or past, and the word qedem means to go forward. That word ends with a closed Mem indicating the hidden or unknown, as is the future. This expression ‘achor vaqedem expresses past and future. Thus in my past and future God is sur (beset) me or He is a rock or fortress.
The word sur is used as a verb here and is in a qal perfect form. It is best expressed as “you have entrenched me or fortified me.” In my past and in my future you have already fortified or entrenched me.
As David looked to the future, it looked pretty terrifying. There was unrest in the nation. Indeed one generation later there would be civil war in the land. There was the threat of the Assyrians and there was the threat to the very throne as happened when his own son revolted and sent David running from his kingdom with a price on his head. Day after day David faced the mounting pressures of being a king and the terrors that were looking at him. Yet when David woke up in the morning facing the dread of what lay ahead, he was reminded that God had fortified him, entrenched him or another expression for sur is hedged him. That hedge or fortress was around him in the past and it was around him in the present and will continue to be around him in the future.
Then David says: “You laid your hand upon me.” The word laid is tasheth which is actually in a future tense and means to place or set. “You will set me in your yapap (hand). Oddly you would expect the word yad to be used for hand. Actually yapap is built upon the word yad, but this word is more specific. It means the palm of the hand. The verse literally says: “You have set me in the palm of your hand.” As the old timers like to say, “We are sheltered in the hollow of His hand.” But remember the ancients believed one’s heart was in the palm of the hand. Thus, David was saying that he will not fear or live in dread of the future, for he is sheltered in the heart of God.
People today are terrified of the future. Israel has now been in an extended war with Hamas, we are again getting involved in the Iraq war, our national debt is climbing to unheard of heights with the fear of bankruptcy, the dreaded Ebola disease with a 60% – 90% fatality rate is beginning to spread. There is the fear of terrorist with weapons of mass destruction, destroying our water supply or releasing a biological weapon and you can spend all day worrying and fretting over the uncertainty of the future. Men’s hearts are failing them with fear.
In a sense we are getting a taste of the fear and dread that David felt, the realization that within 24 hours our comfortable life style, our abundance of food, water, and health could suddenly change. Perhaps we can reach down through the centuries, 2,500 years and see what David did to cope when fear and terror approaches from all sides.
Perhaps David is teaching us the mindset that we are to have in these troubled times today and that is to look up to God and says: “My past, present and future is entrenched in you. If disaster hits, I will be sheltered in the hollow of your hand or I will be resting in your heart.
I have been on a quest to discover the heart of God in my study of the Biblical languages now for almost seven years. Have I really found the heart of God? Do I really know what the heart of God is? How would I recognize the heart of God when I find it? These are questions that I am still seeking answers. I may not have the answers yet, but I have come to understand its dynamics. I realize my search for the heart of God has not gone unrewarded for I have found His Word; the Bible has become very precious to me. A friend gave me a CD of John Michael Talbot who simply sings the Word of God and I wept as I heard him sing from the Psalms. I weep when the Red Alert App on my I PAD sounds the tone indicating Israel is again under rocket attack or when I see people on a street corner with signs demonstrating against abortion, or when… well any number of things that I normally would just gloss over and not think about as I am more focus on my personal problems, yet, I find I am suddenly drawn to tears. I know and recognize that at those moments God has granted me the privilege of entering His heart. I realize that when I am sheltered in the palm of His hand or in His heart, I am no longer fearful, I am no longer concerned with my personal matters. My only concern is for the broken heart of God and keeping my promise that if He would weep with me when my heart is broken, I would weep with Him when His heart is broken.
You see being shelter in the heart of God is not always a time of dancing and singing, although it can be and many times it is, but it can also be a time weeping, weeping with God over His broken heart.
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