Word Study: Binding קרה

WORD STUDY – BINDING – קרה
Psalms 25:3: “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.”

This is really curious. “Let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” What is this waiting business. Just what are these individuals waiting for? Some translations say: “Let none that hope on thee be ashamed.” Other translations say “No one who trust in you will ever be ashamed.” One translation says: “Let those who rely upon you not ashamed.” Most translations, however, stay with the English word wait. No matter what translation I read, I get the feeling that there is a sense of anticipation whether it be hoping, trusting, or waiting, you may end up being ashamed if and when nothing happens. Or maybe it is suggesting that what you are hoping for, waiting for or trusting for will eventually come to pass.

The Hebrew word used here for ashamed is bosh which is the same word used in the previous verse and means to be perplexed, confused or disappointed. So we could say, “Let none that wait on thee be confused, perplexed or disappointed.” That makes a lot of sense, how often have you prayed for something, and prayed and prayed. You followed every rule of prayer, you believed, you trusted, you even followed the pattern of first offering praise to God, then thanksgiving and praying for others before you finally get to the good stuff and start praying for yourself.

The Bible is probably right to call us children because that is the way most of us related to God. God give me, God help me, God protect me etc. But the Bible clearly calls us a bride as well. A bride is not a child, a bride is one who is ready to step away from her own life of selfish desires and share her life with her husband. It is no longer give me, give me but “I love you and want to give to you and make you happy.” Children are too absorbed with making themselves happy but once that mature they realize the greater happiness lies I bringing joy to someone else, particularly to someone you love.

No, I did not digress for this is leading somewhere and that is with this word wait. What do you think of when you wait, hope or trust? You are thinking of receiving something, you are anticipating something. Sort of like a child before Christmas. You made you Christmas list known and now you are waiting, hoping and trusting that you parents will see fit to give you your heart’s desire.

But this word wait in this verse moves us to a higher level than the selfishness of a child. It moves us to the level of a spouse or mate, a bride filled with anticipation not of the gift she will receive but of the gift she is giving the man she loves and seeing his joy and love over receiving that gift.

Some have wrongly considered this word wait to be service. They think of a waitress or waiter who waits on you and serves you. This is not what the Hebrew word used here for wait means. Nor does it mean to be filled with hope and trust. It is the word qarah which in its Semitic root and origin is a word used for making rope. Making rope is a very ancient skill. It is taking hundreds of thin strains of fabric, each strain which is easily broken. These hundreds of strains are tightly bound together and the more they are bound together and the more tightly bound together the stronger is the resulting rope.
The only time element in the word qarah which is rendered as wait is the time spent in binding together. The more time you spend binding yourself to God the stronger you become. This process of binding yourself to God involved many possible disciplines. It could be prayer, contemplative prayer, intercessory prayer. The word prayer in Hebrew is palal. In its Semitic origins palal is used for a tent peg. A tent peg fastens the tent to the ground. Thus prayer is a means of fastening or binding yourself to God. You can also bind yourself to God through a study of His Word. I have spent a minimum of three to four hours a day for the last forty five years studying the Word of God in the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. All this time spent has drawn me closer and more tightly to God.

Some bind themselves to God through fasting or spending time in silence before God. I have found this discipline to not only draw me closer to God but to draw me so close that the distinction between the natural and supernatural starts to blur.

I have found, however, as I followed these disciplines that I start to become bosh, ashamed. Well, more to the Semitic root of bosh and that is discouraged, perplexed and/or confused. I try to spend hours prayer but run out of things to pray about, I start to get bored sometimes when studying the Word and sometimes I find nothing happening when I fast and spend time in silence.

Yet, the Psalmist is saying: “Let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” Or more accurately, “Let none that discipline themselves to bind themselves to you become discouraged, disappointed, perplexed for confused.”

A lot of people turn to direct sales, like selling soap products, vitamins etc. hoping to make a living off of it. I have found few who actually do, but I have also found many who not only make a living off of it but a good living. The difference between those who make a living off of direct sales and those who don’t are those who are successful, never let discouragement, disappointment, confusion, in short bosh stand in their way.

I remember in a business class on the first day our professor asked a show of hands of all those who wanted to become millionaires within five years. Every hand went up. Then the professor explained that out of a class of fifty students, it would be usually that even one makes a million dollars in five years. The professor explained that everyone wanted to be a millionaire, but few were willing to pay the price, few were willing to overcome discouragement, disappointment, confusion, perplexity, in short few could overcome bosh.

When I was teaching in Bible College I would ask for a show of hands of how many really wanted a close, intimate relationship with God. Every hand went up. Yet, many are called but few are chosen. Few were willing to take the time and the discipline to qarah wait or bind themselves to God. You have to want that relationship bad enough that you will be willing to do what Jesus did to get that relationship with us. He wanted it bad enough that He was willing to die on a cross. If you want that relationship that bad, you will find it.