The Lord Will…

The first paragraph below is from Psalm 138. The second paragraph consists entirely of different renderings of the verse which follows, Psalm 138:8.

Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;
the arrogant he watches from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
Lord, you preserve my life.
You stretch out your right hand against the anger of my enemies;
and you save me.

The Lord will vindicate me;
The Lord will avenge me;
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
The Lord will accomplish all that concerns me;
The Lord will do everything for me;
The Lord will work out his plans for my life;
The Lord will finish what he started for me;
The Lord is with me until the end

Those last phrases are all translations of the same verse taken from different translations of the Bible. These are all a number of different translators’ understandings of how best to express the idea that the Psalm writer included in verse eight. The idea that God will. He will.

It’s the same idea that we see in the writings of the apostle Paul when he says, “I am confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

It’s that idea that God doesn’t give up. He doesn’t give up on us when we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. When we wake up in the morning feeling like failures because of whatever happened last night. God doesn’t give up on the people we love who we are praying for.

Some of us have people we are praying for for one thing or another. God does not give up on them. God does not give up and he will complete the good work that he has begun. God is working, he is active. He is always working on the good thing that he began in us and in Creation.

– Ruth Wilkinson

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Related verse: 1 Corinthians 1:18

He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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In Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary, he looks at verse 8:

The assurance we have that whatever good work God has begun in and for his people he will perform it (Psalms 138:8; Psalms 138:8): The Lord will perfect that which concerns me,

1. That which is most needful for me; and he knows best what is so. We are careful and cumbered about many things that do not concern us, but he knows what are the things that really are of consequence to us (Matthew 6:32) and he will order them for the best.

2. That which we are most concerned about. Every good man is most concerned about his duty to God and his happiness in God, that the former may be faithfully done and the latter effectually secured; and if indeed these are the things that our hearts are most upon, and concerning which we are most solicitous,* there is a good work begun in us, and he that has begun it will perfect it, we may be confident he will, Philippians 1:6.

Observe, (1.) What ground the psalmist builds this confidence upon: Thy mercy, O Lord! endures for ever. This he had made very much the matter of his praise (Psalms 13:6), and therefore he could here with the more assurance make it the matter of his hope. For, if we give God the glory of his mercy, we may take to ourselves the comfort of it. Our hopes that we shall persevere must be founded, not upon our own strength, for that will fail us, but upon the mercy of God, for that will not fail. It is well pleaded, “Lord, thy mercy endures for ever; let me be for ever a monument of it.”

(2.) What use he makes of this confidence; it does not supersede, but quicken prayer; he turns his expectation into a petition: “Forsake not, do not let go, the work of thy own hands. Lord, I am the work of thy own hands, my soul is so, do not forsake me; my concerns are so, do not lay by thy care of them.” Whatever good there is in us it is the work of God’s own hands; he works in us both to will and to do; it will fail if he forsake it; but his glory, as Jehovah, a perfecting God, is so much concerned in the progress of it to the end that we may in faith pray, “Lord, do not forsake it.” Whom he loves he loves to the end; and, as for God, his work is perfect.

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*The term ‘solicitous’ means that which we are most interested in and most concerned about, or perhaps most anxious about

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The verse in Matthew that Matthew Henry refers to is this:

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

It’s the verse which proceeds, “But seek first the kingdom of God…”

Don’t Be Anxious

A few days ago at Thinking Out Loud, I wrote a post called “We’re All Afraid,” and noticed that many of our modern worship songs involve our need to cast our worries and anxieties on God, and that many of these songs are being sung at this particular time in the United States, where weather disasters and gun violence seem a constant threat. You can read that post here, and click through to listen to the songs.

Then I discovered that in addition to BibleGateway.com tracking our verse requests, it’s possible to find out which Bible verses are the most highlighted on eReaders. This appeared on Joel J. Miller‘s blog, and as always, C201 readers are encouraged to read items by other authors at source; this one was titled The Secret Behind The Bible’s Most Highlighted Verse.

The current issue of The American Prospect features a short piece on ebooks and social reading. It mentions in passing that the Bible is the Kindle’s most highlighted book and that the most highlighted verse of all is Philippians 4.6:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

It’s no scientific survey, admittedly, but it seems telling that the most underlined passage in the most underlined book addresses worry, doubt, and disquiet. Maybe we have a problem with anxiety out there. I know I have one in here.

Only half an answer

The passage is a favorite because it offers something for us to do with our worries. We’re directed to take them to the throne of God, and I’m sure that works for some. But the truth is that it’s not a complete answer to our problem.

If we read the simple admonition, it’s easy to see Paul as some sort of Bob Newhart character yelling, “Stop it!” But before you think I’m being flip, let me redirect the blame to the people who first invented our scripture notation system.

Paul obviously did not insert the chapter and verse numbers in his letters as he wrote; scholars in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries did that. And while this system has its merits, it also creates problems, including accidentally altering the meanings of certain passages — or at least the meanings we take from them.

What we miss

Paul’s statement is not merely a blunt admonition (don’t do it). It actually comes with comes with a rationale (you don’t need to do it because…). But the rationale is one we might miss because of the verse numbering.

If you read commentators before the advent of the numbering system, they do something different with the emphasis and structure of the passage. The end of verse 5 says, “The Lord is at hand.” The start of 6 says, “Have no anxiety about anything. . . .” Ancient commentators like John Chrysostom and Theodoret of Cyrus read these as one verse, not two separate verses. Chrysostom quotes it as, “The Lord is at hand, in nothing be anxious.” Theodoret’s treatment is the same: “The Lord is near. Have no worries.”

Let me repeat that: “The Lord is near. Have no worries.”

That’s what the passage actually says, and what Chrysostom and Theodoret commented on. But the verse numbering causes an unnecessary break and distortion in the meaning, particularly if we read the scripture as granularly as verse-by-verse, expository teaching often leads us to.

The full picture

Read instead as the ancient Christians read it, Paul’s statement is not merely that we should take our anxieties to God, good as that may be. It’s that the judge of the universe is near so we can have confidence that wrong will be set right. It’s not about trying to suppress our worries and trust God, which is for many a necessary but challenging effort that contains within it many of its own worries. That’s the wrong focus. It’s about the realization that God will soon wipe away every reason for worry. It’s a reminder of our real hope.

Our eyes are on the wrong thing if we’re merely praying to have life’s worrisome aspects eliminated so we can carry on stress free. Rather, we have no reason for anxiety because the judge of all the earth is already on his way.

To be clear, it’s easier to write these words than live by them. But if we needed to be convinced of anything, it is not that prayer is a means to reduce our anxieties. It’s that Christ is coming.

“The Lord is near. Have no worries.”