Psalms 103:4: “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;”

 

Do you ever have one of those days that you could sure use a good dose of being crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies? I tell you the way things have been going for me lately I could use a little of that lovingkindness and tender mercies.  Right now I haven’t the foggiest idea how this lovingkindness and tender mercy is expressed or even what it is or how I will know if I get it or not, but it sounds good and I could some of it.

 

So if you are like me and your soul and been battered, beaten, struck down  and you can feel the enemy about to deliver his coup de gras then I welcome you to join me on this journey to find out what this lovingkindness and tender mercies is or are before we are out for the count.

 

First I notice that he is going to crown me with lovingkindness and tender mercies. After a day like today if God doesn’t crown me with lovingkindness and tender mercies then the enemy will crown me with something else.  That word for crown is a long one in Hebrew, with lots of prefixes and suffixes.  It is the word hame’atereki.  It comes from the root word ‘atar all those extra letters tell us that this word is a Piel participle. Hebrew participles are verbal adjectives. They function like an adjective but are really a verb in disguise. So this word ‘atar is describing the word lovingkindness and tender mercies in a verbal way.  There has to be some activity here particularly if it is in Piel form. So the tender mercies and lovingkindness being worn like a crown just doesn’t cut it.   I don’t want to wear this lovingkindness and tender mercies of God anyways,  I want to experience it.

 

So let’s see what other English words can apply to this word ‘atar.  Actually, if you trace this word back to its Semitic origins you find it is a military word used by the Assyrians, a warlike people speaking in Akkadian. It expresses the picture of encircling for the idea of protection.  Like in the game of chess if you capture the king, games over.  Same in ancient warfare, you capture the king, war is over.  So the armies would ‘atar their king, form a circle around the king and if the ‘atar is in a Piel form they will use their most skilled and  brave warriors.

 

So as the enemy gets ready to give his final blow we can call out to God to encircle us with lovingkindness and tender mercies to protect us. But soft, remember He just does not encircle us, this word is in a Piel (intensive) form.  This protection encircling us is shatter proof, it is a barrier the enemy cannot enter.

 

But now wait a minute.  I mean I will gladly take the tender mercies and lovingkindness but I think if there is any surrounding to be done, I would rather it be done with a legend of angels.  Let’s take a closer look at this word  lovingkindness.    Lovingkindness here is the word chasad  in Hebrew.  It means goodness, kindness, faithfulness and fidelity.  Oddly, it also means a reproach and being ashamed.  So what is the relationship between these two opposites?   One rabbi expressed it this way.  The lovingkindness of God is so beautiful, kind and gentle that anything less that God’s love approaching it is under reproach and put to shame.  You know, I think I might take the ‘atar encompassing of chasad lovingkindness  before a legend of angels after all.  If I am being attacked by the enemy with his fear, discouragement, hurt, pain, heartbreak, and depression when God surrounds me with His lovingkindness then all these things become a reproach to the lovingkindness of God that it cannot get past the ‘atar and reach me.  When the enemy comes in for that knockout punch God gives me a weapon, lovingkindness which will repel anything the enemy can throw against me.

 

But say, God also sticks another weapon in my other hand, it is called racham.  Most translations render this as tender mercies, but that falls short of what racham is.  Racham is love, love that has been given and returned. When we love God and He returns that love we are racham which is really like a loving embrace with God.  If the enemy hits me with discouragement, guilt, shame, remorse, heartbreak and fear, he is also hitting God with the same thing because God has me in a racham a loving embraced and believe me not amount of discouragement, guilt, shame, remorse, heartbreak and fear is going to touch God and if it does not touch Him, it will certainly not fall on me, I am just resting in His arms.

 

Racham is like a romantic love.  It is what I would see when I performed weddings and I said: “I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride.”  When that bridegroom lifts veil from his brides face I look into the faces of this newlywed couple I see – racham, love that has been given and returned and has now come with a commitment for eternity.  That is racham.  I remember as a minister watching a new mother being handed her new born baby in the hospital and I saw in that mother’s face and eyes – racham.  That baby looking at its mother in total dependence and love, nothing else in the world matters to that baby than its mother and as the mother looks at her baby nothing else in the world matters but that little red scrunched up bundle – racham.  I saw a picture on the internet today of a prisoner, a harden criminal, who spent one year raising a dog from a puppy, training it, loving it and caring for it for a year.  At the end of the year he had to give it up for the purpose it was trained.  Somehow that dog knew he might never see his beloved master again and the video of that parting goodbye between the hardened criminal and his dog was – racham.

 

Let me tell you, I believe one of the most hated Hebrew words by the enemy is racham.  For if we experience racham with God, the battle’s over, he can only tuck his pointed tail behind him and walk away defeated.  That is why he wants to make you believe God is very far off, very standoffish, that He is a distant God who, yes, loves us, but  he is still an angry God ready to strike you down with punishments and lightning bolts if you cross Him up. The enemy does not you to realize that God  loves us with a tender, gentle, sweet, caring, tear filled eyes love.  Because if we love Him the same way in return, you can bet the enemy is going to have ten cat fits.

 

“Say hey, God, it’s me Chaim Bentorah,  surround me ‘atar with that lovingkindness chasad and tender mercies racham give me that and pour the blood of Jesus over me and I will stand before the gates of hell for they will not prevail over me.”

 

 

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