The Weekend Word
There is an interesting textual variant on Psalm 27: 13.
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
(Psalms 27:13–14 ESV)
“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.”
(Psalms 27:13–14 NAS95)
“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
(Psalms 27:13–14 KJV)
“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
(Psalms 27:13–14 NIV)
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!”
(Psalms 27:13–14 NKJV)
The difference is simply between the translations of two different Hebrew texts.
They do change the meaning a bit though.
One set (NIV, ESV) is a declaration of faith, a planting of a flag in the midst of the battlefield. “I am still confident”, “I believe”…
The other set (NAS95, KJV, NKJV)…not so much. “I would have despaired “, “I had fainted”, “I would have lost heart”…
The second set, I believe, actually captures David’s heart…and mine…and maybe yours too.
Some of us are faint from worldly stress and the exhaustion that comes with it…close to losing heart and on the brink of despair.
The solution is to have the faith to believe that (despite what our circumstances may be) we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Here… not after we die, but here.
I’m having a hard time finding that faith right now, but Jesus said something about the power of just a tiny bit of it.
I think I can do that.
Then… we wait.
You may object (as I do) that we’ve been waiting and time is not on our side.
We can wait some more, because we’re waiting on God.
While we wait, pray for the faith you have to bring you to that place of confidence that the first set speaks of.
Let’s pray for each other that we’ll indeed see the goodness of God in the land of the living…soon.
Pray for each other? Amen
The logic of 1,000 years amounting to the blink of an eye with God should help… but sometimes i find that truth a bit discouraging on this side of the timeline
Dear Michael,
Don’t dispair! I have owned a small business for almost 30 years. At times, I have felt like giving up. Customers didn’t pay their bills on time or ever, the IRS hounded me for late payments or for perceived late payments, sales were slow. Yet, God, not me, has always provided. No matter how weak my faith, God has always provided for my employees and my family. Now is one of the times when I am clinging to God’s past provision. I choose to believe the more confident translation, because I believe that is in line with God’s character. Do I believe He always answers “Yes”? No, I don’t. I am reminded of the song “Thank God for in answered prayers”. However, I believe that God honors my desire to use my business to witness to employees and customers. At some point, as He has in the past, He may decide the time has come to change or close the business. When that time comes, I pray I follow His lead.
My feet of lead make me feel like my namesake. I relate to David’s Psalms of Lament. Yet, I believe, also as my namesake, that God will prevail!
Dave,
Thank you for the encouragement.
The last few years have been hard, but we somehow barely made it though.
That is in doubt now…but I’ll have a great story if He comes through…
I like great stories…