Journal for Christ: I Shall Be What I Have Always Been

May 24, 2016

Worship: Hold Me Jesus by Rich Mullins

Well, sometimes my life
Just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

CHORUS:
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart

CHORUS

Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something
I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
Now I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band
Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

CHORUS

You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

Video: https://youtu.be/URh5Ne7V8HM

Witness:

It was a good day. It was a sad day. It was day enjoying time with some of my grandkids. It was a day feeling alone. It was a day when my grandkids hugged me without request or coercion. It was a day yearning to be touched by God. It was a day when I had the opportunity to pray for the specific requests of a friend. It was a day of wondering when my prayers would be answered. It truly was a day when my life just didn’t make sense and the mountains seem so big and my faith seems so small. A day in the heights of joy and a day in the depths of sadness - and when all things are considered- a day unlike most days in my life since my dad passed away and my wife left me. Through it all the Lord patiently shepherds me. He guides me, He leads me, He shows me, He teaches me. He forgives, forgets, feeds, and defends. He comforts, encourages, rebukes, and disciplines. He does all this so that I would take my eyes off myself and focus on Him. He makes much of me not to lead me to glory in myself or find my satisfaction in His gifts to me and His watch care over me, but in order that I find a greater satisfaction and glory in glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever. This being said I must confess as I look at how I live my days I have a long way to go. So, I will continue to pray unceasingly, seek fervently, struggle daily, and listen carefully for the Lord till He calls me home. May I bring others with me in this journey so they too can make much of God and enjoy Him forever as well.

WORD:

Ps 25:6-7

6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,

for they are from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth

and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

for you are good, O Lord.

NIV

Ps 25:6-7

6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.

KJV

Ps 25:6-7

6 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love,

which you have shown from long ages past.

7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.

Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,

for you are merciful, O Lord.

Ps 25:6-7

6 Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your steadfast love remember me,

for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

ESV

These twin attributes (mercy and love) are said to “have been from of old” (ESV). For some commentators, this means from eternity. Thus, David is asking God to act according to His eternal nature.

Spurgeon says:

A more correct translation would be "from eternity." David was a sound believer in the doctrine of God's eternal love.

The JFB Commentary agrees:

God cannot renounce His own essential loving-kindness (especially to His trusting children, such as the Psalmist). His character is not a newly acquired one, but has existed 'from eternity' (Ps 103:17). David pleads. Thou canst not now for the first time cease to be what thou hast always been.

And the Faithlife Study Bible seems to concur:

He contrasts the timelessness of Yahweh’s love and mercy (“they have been from of old”) with his temporary sins (“of my youth”), citing Yahweh’s goodness as his grounds for appeal (23:6).

Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 25:6–7). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Others, however, see this as referring to the activity of God in relation to His chosen people.

The USB Handbook of the OT says:

They have been from of old: see SPCL, "which you have always manifested to us"; NJV has "they are old as time"; NEB "shown from ages past." Something like "which you have always done for us in the past" or "... always done ever since you have been our God" seems to be the best way to translate this phrase.

The pulpit Commentary makes this brief comment:

For they have been ever of old. Not lately only, or to David only, have his mercies been shown, but through all past time, to all his servants, from of old.

If the former view is right (eternal), then the latter view’s reference to the activities of God towards His chosen flow out of His eternal nature. If the latter view is correct, one can still infer that these two attributes are intrinsic to God’s nature.

I prefer the former view and think that Keil and Delitzsch sum it up correctly:

The supplicatory reminiscere means, may God never forget to exercise His pity and grace towards him, which are (as the plurals imply) so rich and superabundant. The ground on which the prayer is based is introduced with ‎kiy* ‎ ... God's compassion and grace are as old in their operation and efficacy as man's feebleness and sin; in their counsels they are eternal, and therefore have also in themselves the pledge of eternal duration (Ps 100:5; 103:17).

* OT:3588 ‎kiy (kee); a primitive particle [the full form of the prepositional prefix] indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent…

Therefore, let all God’s people respond:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles”

2 Cor 1:3-4 NIV

These very attributes and the benevolent actions that flow from them are confirmed by the very name of God as revealed in Exodus 3:14.

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Ex 3:14 NIV

Certainly, this verse speaks of God’s self-existence, but what comfort is that to God’s chosen people who are in captivity at the moment? Of His eternity, most certainly. Yet, what was that to a people who felt that they had been in captivity for eternity? Was there more in this name than what was implied on the surface?

Dusting off an old Seminary textbook which is missing its cover so I can’t give credit to its author; I consulted the passage which deals with this text. It pointed out that the same word for “I AM” used in verse 14 is the same word translated “I will be” in verse 12 when The Lord responded to Moses question “Who am I”. Here is the text in context.

Ex 3:7-15

7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 And God said,

"I will be [eh-yeh] with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM [EHYEH] has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. NIV

Here is what the textbook says about this verse:

3:11 to 4:17. When Moses said, "Who am I?" he was thinking of the man whom charges of manslaughter and treason had been docketed in Egypt forty years before, also the man who tried to help his brethren and failed. His past rises like a specter that 'haunts his present and future. But! -God's answer was this simple word, "Certainly I will be with thee."

“I Am That I Am”

The original word for "I will be" is the same word translated immediately afterward, in 3:14, "I Am." As this word is emphasized by repetition in the statement "I Am That I Am," and then identified with Yahweh, it becomes exceedingly important. Therefore, it is exceedingly unfortunate that the connection between these three uses of the word and the Name has been obscured in our versions. A footnote in the ASV shows that this word can be translated "I will be" as well as "I Am"; yet most of us overlook the significance of that note. That note should make us realize that either the "I Am That I Am" or "I Will Be That I Be" is merely a repetition of the assurance given by "I will be with thee.” God assures Moses that what he has said he will be he will be. He is the faithful one who keeps every promise. This attribute of faithfulness is identified with Yahweh and is a very important step in the making of the Name to be a synonym for the moral attributes of God.

The idea of the eternal, which is often used in the interpretation of this passage, arises from this attribute of faithfulness. It expresses faithfulness unlimited as to time or quality. However, this idea of the eternal is an abstract one which seems out of place in this vivid scene, amid its very practical and simple lessons.

The faithfulness of Yahweh is an answer for every excuse Moses had to offer. When he looked at his past, Yahweh reminded him that he would be with him. When he foresaw the people's question, "What is his name?" he knew they would be testing his knowledge of God, asking him to tell his experience with God so as to prove his knowledge of God.

There is a note written in the margin of the textbook which shares what my OT Professor thought should be the correct translation. It says:

Translation: Imperfect: frequentive force – “I will always be what I always will be.”

[Biblical Hebrew - tells you who & what but not when (no time frame) – or “I will continue to be what I have always been.”

I have ascribed to the second translation just mentioned ever since I took that class. The very name of God found in verse 15 translated in LORD in all caps is a play on the word translated “I Am” or “I Will Be” in verse 12 and 14.

Returning to Psalm 25:6 my contention that “of old” refers to the eternal nature of the attributes described in this verse is further bolstered by Exodus 3:14 and the very name of God – the LORD- Yahweh! Notice that David is petitioning Yahweh in this verse:

“Remember, O LORD, your

compassion and unfailing love”

Summing this all up here, I refer back to the first point in my outline of verses 6 – 7.

I. Remember Who You Are (v. 6)

Who is God? He is the LORD, He is Yahweh. He is the one who said, “I shall be what I have always been.” In essence, David is claiming this as a promise and therefore asks God to be Who He has always been and act towards him with His deep, tender, steadfast love and mercy!

Praise be to our loving God

Full of compassion and of mercy

Praise be to our unchanging God

Ever faithful and ever worthy

Journal for Christ

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

I Shall Be What I Have Always Been

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