Our Text is placed between the ‘ZAIN’ of verses 49-56 and the ‘TETH’ of verses 65-72. In between the Hebraic alphabets ‘Z’ and ‘T’ is the ‘CH’. ZAIN mean Nourish, TETH means Good, Rejoice, and CHETH means BREAKDOWN. Thus, in between being Nourished on the Hope received from God’s Word and the Dancing and Shouting for Joy that comes as a result of realizing that the Lord is Good, there is an Interim of BROKENNESS, A BREAKDOWN.
It seems as if a straight progression from being Fed with Hope to Realizing that the Lord is Good is seldom made; for somewhere in the Interim, there is BREAKDOWN. Between our being nourished with divine comfort and our leaping and shouting for joy, there is a BREAKDOWN! Very rarely do we go from Nourishing Comfort straight to Rejoicing because of the Goodness of the Lord; for somewhere in between the two, there seems to be A BREAKDOWN.
Very rarely do we connect our being Fed with Hope to the Goodness of the Lord. Somehow Pride, Arrogance, Self-Congratulation generally follows being Satisfied, Fed and Filled with Good Things. Very rarely do we connect our being Fed with Hope to the Goodness of the Lord. Therefore, because we do not recognize that our Nourishment is a direct result of the Goodness of the Lord, WE ARE BROKEN BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
That is the dilemma we confront in our Text: we encounter a saint having to deal with that INTERIM OF BROKENNESS. For in the midst of the Breakdown, the writer proclaims HIS PORTION. In the A part of verse 57 he says in the Hebrew Text: “My Portion, O Lord!” It seems as if his Brokenness reminds him of his Lot in Life. He says hw;hyÒ yqIlÒj,. You see, BROKENNESS will remind you of your PORTION.
The word qŸlj² translated “PORTION” was strictly limited in scope to the idea of “SMOOTHNESS,” as Smooth Stones were used for Lots as a means of deciding something. The writer, then, seem to be saying: “The casting of the Smooth Stones has determined YOU, O LORD, to be MY ALLOTTED PORTION IN LIFE. I posses nothing in this world but YOU, O LORD!”
The reference here is to the dividing up of the land of Canaan by Lots. The Lots were cast and all the tribes of Israel were given their land on which to dwell and prosper. But when it came to the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi, no land was left. And so, they were assigned the Tabernacle and its area and certain cities set aside as Cities of Refuge.
So I believe the writer is a member of the Clergy: a Priest or Levite. Looking at the apportionment of the other tribes, he says: “All the other tribes have been assigned land on which they can farm or raise livestock and from which they can acquire wealth, prestige and goods. But as for me, I have no plot of land, nor crops or livestock, no business to support myself, no earthly possession; all I have allotted to me is YOU. MY PORTION IS YOU, O LORD!”
And that is significant because most of us own no land or livestock, possess no stocks or bonds, own no businesses, have little or no credit; all we have allotted to us is the LORD: THE LORD IS OUR PORTION. And we could say with Fanny Crosby:
“Thou my everlasting Portion
More than friends or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey
Savior, let me walk with Thee.”
The One who said to Moses from the Burning Bush “I AM There as the One who Will Always be There” IS OUR PORTION. My Portion is the One who will always be Present with me in my Breakdown. The One who will always be there, Leading me in the way back to Him. The One who will be there, Strengthening me in my Brokenness. The One who will be there, Supplying my Needs and Preserving my Life in the INTERIM OF BROKENNESS.
My friends, when you lose everything, you will find that you have an opportunity to gain everything! Sometimes it takes the ADVERSITY OF LOSS to teach us the ADVANTAGE OF THE LORD. So, BEFORE MIDNIGHT COMES, we ought to confess that “MY PORTION IS YOU, O LORD!”
Sometimes the Words of our Mouth Comes back To Haunt Us! For if you would notice in the B part of verse 57, the writer recalls THE TORMENT OF A BROKEN PROMISE HE ONCE MADE. He says, “I have said that I would Keep Your Words.” This could be a reference to his Bar-Mitzvah when he became a Man, a Son of the Law. At that occasion, he took up the Torah in his hands, kissed it, held it high over his head as he carried it, and promised he would order his life according to the Law of the Lord. Or, it could be a reference to his Ordination. After long and tedious study in becoming skilled in reading and interpreting the Torah, he promised to Keep the Lord’s Words. At that time he had received as “words from the Lord” a total direction of life, covering his words, deeds and attitudes. He understood that the Lord’s Words involved a whole way of life that related him to God and his neighbor.
In either of those two cases, he stated His Intention to be Constantly Realizing in His Life What the Lord’s Words Demanded in His Relationship to God and His Neighbor. HE SAID THAT HE WOULD KEEP THE LORD’S WORDS. And that is relevant because when you and I were a Child, we spoke, understood and thought as a child. But when we became Men and Women in Christ at our Bar-Mitzvah, or our Conversion Experience, we put away Childish Things and declared our Intent to Relate Ourselves to God and Our Neighbor in terms of Love as Our Way of Life. In our Confession of Faith, we declared TO KEEP HIS WORD, TO HIDE HIS WORD IN OUR HEARTS THAT WE MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST HIM!
BUT OUR INTENTIONS ARE SELDOM REALIZED IN THE STUFF OF EVERYDAY LIFE! For we all start out in every relationship and every journey with the Intention that WE SHALL KEEP OUR WORD. You know, when you get married, get a new job, a new car or house, join a new church or get anything new, you say: ‘That’s it; I’m going to Keep my Word, live up to My Promise, do what I said I would do!” We Promise, we Say ‘I do.’ We Confess, Declare, Resolve, Make Resolutions, Swear and Vow. But rarely if ever do we Live Up to Our Word! I wonder, can anyone out there relate?
Someone has said “A man is true when he embodies his word.” Someone else has suggested that “A man’s word is his bond.” But we seldom meet a person in whom his/her deeds correspond to his/her words. Our words ought to be deeds and our deeds ought to be words. But its at this point where BREAKAGE OCCURS!
And that always poses a Problem, because A BROKEN PROMISE CAUSES A BREAKDOWN IN A RELATIONSHIP. And that’s what the writer is dealing with in the next verse, verse 58. He acknowledges that because He Had Broken His Promise that “I ENTREATED YOUR FAVOR WITH MY WHOLE HEART: BE MERCIFUL UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” Now when one party begs the other party for Mercy, that’s a strong indication that something has gone wrong in that relationship. Someone has Failed To Live Up To Their Word! And we know something is wrong with this relationship in verse 58 because of the POSITION OF THE LORD’S FACE. The Hebrew word ‘Paw-Neem’ translated here as “Favor” really means “TO TURN THE FACE.” The Lord’s Face is Turned Away from the writer. The Lord will not Look at him; His Face is Turned Away. And so the Hebrew word ‘Khalah’ translated as “Entreated” implies that the writer had to persuade the Lord to Turn His Face in his direction; he had to overcome the Lord’s resistance to face him. And so he says literally, “I Begged the Lord to Show Me His Face. I got down on my knees, assumed the position of a beggar, and Begged Him.” And he further implies that his Begging seems to have worked, because another connotation of the word ‘Entreat’ is “TO STROKE OR RUB THE FACE.”
Thus after his Begging persuaded the Lord to Turn His face, the writer says HE STROKED OR RUBBED HIS FACE. He Stroked the Lord’s Face with Worship. He Massaged the Lord’s Face with Adoration. He Rubbed His Face with Praise. For when the Lord turned His face to the writer, he saw Disappointment; he recognized Hurt on His Face; he noticed Anger on His Face. So he know he had to deal with the disappointment, hurt and anger that registered on the Lord’s Face; and that’s when he Stroked, Massaged, Rubbed His Face.
He Stroked Away the Disappointment with Worship. He Massaged Away the Hurt with Adoration. He Rubbed Away the Anger with Praise. He told the Lord He was Worthy of Perfect Obedience, of which he had failed, and Repented for Not Having Kept His Word! He confessed he had caused a Break in the relationship, and asked the Lord to STOOP in Kindness toward him: “BE MERCIFUL UNTO ME ACCCORDING TO YOUR WORD.”
I wonder, is there one here who is having a problem in seeing the Lord’s Face? Are you at a loss as to why the Lord will not Look at you? Let me suggest that it just might be due to YOUR BROKEN PROMISE, YOUR FAILURE TO KEEP YOUR WORD!
Habakkuk was right: “Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.” And a broken Promise is Sin; therefore, the Lord has to turn His Face Away from You and I. And to restore the breach in the relationship, WE MUST STROKE AWAY THE DISAPPOINTMENT WITH WORSHIP, MASSAGE AWAY THE HURT WITH ADORATION, CARESS AWAY THE ANGER WITH PRAISE, RUB AWAY THE BREAKAGE WITH REPENTANCE!
Surely His Anger only lasts but a moment but in His Favor is life. Surely is Mercy endures forever. For He has Promised saying, “I will be Merciful to your unrighteousness and your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more.” Surely you can see that We Do Not Keep Our Word, But The Lord Always Keeps His; for He is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. He Will Have Mercy nd Restore the Broken Relationship. Fir it is the Goodness of God that leads us to Repentance!
And that is significant, because in the next verse, verse 59, the writer says: “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy Testimonies.” The Goodness of God leads him to repent. The Lord’s Mercy caused him to think: “I Thought on my ways.” He retraces his steps mentally to find out where the Breakdown occurred. For at some point in his pilgrimage, he missed God’s Road Sign directing him in the way he should have gone. He failed at some point to read the Road Signs. At some point he became cognizant of the fact that there were no signs indicating he was on the Highway of Holiness, no Landmarks testifying to the Deliverance of the Lord. At some point he realized there were no Monuments to the Manifest Presence of the Lord, no Stony-Pillar raised as Altars to the Lord, no City-Gates indicating the towns/villages were under the Lordship of God, and no Mezuzahs on the door-posts testifying that the inhabitants therein subscribed to the Oneness of the Lord God of Israel. At some point he met no travelers or inhabitants who spoke the language of the Covenant People. So, HE THOUGHT ON HIS WAYS!
Think about the Situation, Condition or State of Mind in which you now find yourself, and then Contrast it with your Stated Intent or Plan. And if your Present Placement, Position or State Contradicts Your Intent of Where You Planned or Hoped To Be, then THERE IS A
BREAKDOWN! Think about the Course you have been Pursuing. Think about the Deeds you have been Doing. Think about the Words you have Speaking. Think about the Attitudes you have been Displaying. Think about the Places you have been Visiting. Think about the People you have been Encountering. Think about the Company you have been Keeping. Think about the Situations you have been Facing. Think about the Pattern of Problems you keep on Experiencing. Think about the Emotions and State of Mind which Characterizes you Lately.
Now if all of these Contradict the Will of God for your life; If they Run Contrary to the Word of God; then YOU ARE PURSUING YOUR OWN WAY, And there is a Breakdown! Think about Whose you are, From whence you came and To where you are headed. And if there is any contradiction in the Present, YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT YOUR WAYS!
For IF WE WOULD THINK WITH OUR HEADS, OUR FFET WOULD TURN AROUND! For he says in verse 59: “I Thought on my ways, and Turned My Feet unto Thy Testimonies…” You must understand that this word translated “Testimonies” is the Hebrew word “EDAH” which means “An Appointed Meeting, an Assembly.” Hence a Congregation, a Family, and therefore a Congregation Who Testifies, a Congregation who Proclaims the Precepts of the Lord. He, therefore, went in search of a Church who Testified of the Goodness, Salvation and Power of God!
He gets Excited about returning to Church, for he says in verse 60, “I made Haste-I Hurried Up.” Then he says I “delayed not.” The Hebrew word means “I did not Question the Reason why I should keep Your Commandments.”
But on his way Back, Something Happened. In verse 61 he says “The ropes of the wicked encircled me.” “Your Torah I did not forget.” There he is lying on the ground, stripped of his possessions, tied up. But those negatives did not stop him from thinking of the Positive. He says and yet I remember Your Law.
In verse 62, he’s confessing that God’s Word reminds him of the Significance of Midnight (read). One signification of Midnight is the Turning Point in a Crisis. The Point where the situation will either Turn for the Better or Worse. The other signification of Midnight is the Dawn of a New Day.
So he determines that at that Critical Turning Point in his situation that would signal the Dawn of a New Day, he would Rise! So he says: “I’ve got to get Loose and Get Up from here before Midnight. I’ve got to Get My Hands Free. I’ve got to Free my Feet. I’ve got to get these Ropes Off of me Before Midnight!!!
Its almost Midnight and you are still Tied-Up and Lying on the Ground. Get that Rope off your hands. Get that Rope off your Feet! Because your situation is about to Take a Turn for the Better. A New Day is about to Dawn in Your Life. Hurry-Up and Get Free. ITS ALMOST MIDNIGHT!!!
For At Midnight I will rise TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THEE.
At Midnight I’ve got to free my hands and feet and legs, because with my Knees I Will BREAKDOWN, and with My Hands I Will LIFT-UP!!!
