Ps 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Say what?  Woo Woo, wait a minute, wait one dog gone minute. Am I reading my Hebrew right?  Is he actually using the word asah here?  And does He also use a Kap before the word chata’ sin?   I know some modern translations will say: he does not deal with us as our sins deserves. I mean that’s cool, but that word deserve is not in the text, it is implied.  I know a lot Christians talk about the difference between a translation and a paraphrase, the paraphrase being a translation that is translated according to the opinion or bias of the translator.  A translation is supposed to be unbiased and very close to the original language.  Let, me set you straight. No matter how you try when dealing with an ancient dead language, you are still going to end up paraphrasing many passages. It is the only way to make some senses out of certain Hebrew phrases.

Here is what struck me when I read this in the Hebrew.  I was not reading that God would not deal with us as we deserve for our sins, but that He will not only hold back any punishment for our sin, but He will not use that sin against us. He will not let us be fashioned into the image of that sin.  Think about it for a minute.  Look at a picture of a cocaine addict before his drug addiction and then look at a picture of him a year or so after his addiction.  You get an idea of how sin can make you into its image.

Here, look at this word asah that we render as dealt.  It comes from an old Persian word to express the idea of forcing a woman to fit a man’s mold or desires.  We can see this even in the Middle East today.  There is a movie coming out about a Pakistani mother who, with her daughter,  becomes a fugitive in her country as she seeks to keep her ten year old daughter from being forced to marry an old gray bearded chieftain.  Half the country ends up searching for her so the ten year old child can be forced or asah into whatever that chieftain wishes. If the marriage takes place the child will literally have her soul squeezed out of her as she is forced into a life of literal slavery with no will of her own.

That is what God is promising will not happen to use with our sins.  He not only forgives our sins, but he also deals with it so it will not force us into the slavery of that sin, where that sin will eventually strip us of all our will, joy and desires.  The enemy will use our sin against us.  Another rendering of the word asah is to fashion.  In other words God will not allow that sin to fashion us into its mold and turn us into what that sin ultimately will turn us into.

I drive a bus for seniors and this disabled. I have driven a number of elderly or disabled who have let their sin asah them.  They have grown cold, bitter and angry.  They have no joy in their life, sin has robbed them of it all. They are now slaves to this sin living a life as miserable as this 10 year old Pakistani girl would have if that chieftain had married her.

Note the word sin is chata’ which is a sin of missing the mark.  These are sins which fall short of God’s ideal for us. In front of this word chata’ there is a Kap which signifies the preposition as or like.  In other words God is going to see to it that we are not fashioned or designed to become like that sin we commit. If our sin is anger, God will see to it that we do not become an angry person. If that sin is alcohol God will see to it that we do not become an alcoholic.

AA is often criticized for their emphasis on the spiritual.  But those in the program will insist that without that spiritual element, without God, they would never be able to overcome their addiction. True, there are those who do overcome their addictions without God, they are few but I will admit it does happen.  Yet, I have talked to a number of former alcoholics and they will admit that they are just too weak to be one of those lucky ones who overcome their addiction. Only their faith in God will bring it about.

When I was growing up my father had a good friend named Tom Hanlon.  I never knew Tom Hanlon in his former life. In his former life he was an alcoholic who stole money from his wife and child to feed his addiction. He ended up homeless on the streets. One day he met Jesus.  Through friends at the mission who led him to the Lord  he managed to overcome his addiction, restore his relationship with his wife and son and soon with the help of my father started a mission himself in the inner city of Chicago.  I only knew the Tom Hanlon, the gentle loving husband and father who had a heart of gold, or God to be more accurate.  I knew him for over twenty years and he never took another drink. Yet, one day as I was working as director for his summer camp for inner city children he confided in me: “You know, I cannot pass a tavern or bar without feeling a strong urge to go in and have a drink. Only the grace of God has kept  me off the drink for over 25 years.”  I never saw a before or after picture of Tom, but one day at his mission he pointed out a man lying by the doorway of the mission, tattered clothes, passed out from too much whiskey, he was unshaven, dirty smelling, barefooted and his face covered with scars and marks from the years of abuse.  As Tom picked the man up to help him into the mission he said: “Take a good look that is exactly what I looked like a few years ago.”

I could not believe this man, this friend of my father’s once looked like that broken man he was carrying through the door of the mission. As I reflect on this scene I can only say that I believe our modern translation that simply says God will not treat us as our sins deserve does not even begin to tell the story of asah.  God will not only keep us from being treated  as our sins deserve but there is more to asah, He will not even let sin fashion us and mold us into its likeness.