Where Are You?

All quoted definitions here are taken from The Strongest Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible, pub 2001 by Zondervan. 

Every word in the concordance bears a reference number, which I have provided for those interested in following along.

All scripture quotes are from The New King James Version of The Holy Bible.

Psalm 25:1-3  

A word study with consideration of the original Hebrew-Aramaic language.

1. To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Lift up - (Strong's #5375 in the Hebrew-Aramaic)

This is one word in the Hebrew-Aramaic, not two words as it is in English.
      
(But it is spelled like nasa in English.. That alone is interesting. :) ...

A verb meaning:

"To bear, to carry, to lift up, to forgive" 

And is used in the following ways --

" to be forgiven, honored, carried, to be carried off, lifted up, 
to elevate, carry along, to cause to carry, to bring, 
to exalt oneself, lift up oneself, ...

From the base meaning of rise in elevation come figurative 
extensions
"to exalt, honor", as the lifting up a person in status, 
and "to forgive" as the removal of guilt and its penalties, 
"to lift up the eyes" means "to look up".   " 

Lord - (#3068) is "LORD (Yaweh), the proper name of the one true God" 

Soul - (#5315) is a noun defined as:

"breath; by extension: life, life force, soul, an immaterial part of a person, 
the seat of emotion and desire;
a creature or person as a whole;
self, body, even corpse"


2. O my God, I trust in You.

In You.

Trusting God over my soul, instead of my soul, besides my soul,
lifting my soul to God -- that needy place in me, 
that impoverished part of me, 
the part of me that can be pulled in directions or can be stubborn and self-dedicated. 

Forgiveness - 
My soul being lifted up, me lifting my soul up to God --
there is forgiveness in this act. 

As I reach out to God, I engage all of me including my soul. 
I cannot be separated from my soul -- my personality, my will, 
my emotions, my thinking --

But prayer -- 

Prayer is not just conversation, 
Prayer is done with faith,
with the belief that God cares, 
that He knows better than me. 

My soul is in need.
It is in need of forgiveness. 
My soul needs God. 

So I put my soul in His trust.

Why would I want to do that? 
O my God, I trust 
in You. 
That's why. 

There's more... 

(First - Please note that the word 'LET' is not in the original Hebrew-Aramaic 
in this verse, so I have omitted it from my quote of the text.)   

So the next line of verse 2 now reads: 

"Me not be ashamed."

Clean up the verb 'to be' and you have - 

"I am not ashamed."  

That's a declarative sentence.

Not - I will not be ashamed. But 

I am not... ashamed. 

Even though it sounds a rejection of my own shame, 
and that may very well be in there...

Here's the rub: 

Trusting God and lifting my soul to Him means 
my soul is in God's care, so

"I will not be ashamed" becomes clearer.
It's an outcome. A result.

Clearer yet - the word ashamed is actually also "shamed".

The Hebrew-Aramaic word (#954) means -

"to be put to shame, be ashamed, 
be disgraced, 
to be delayed, be long, 
to feel ashamed, to bring shame, 
to cause disgrace, act shamefully." 

Most of this meaning is not quite like the American 
English's meaning of just feeling ashamed. 
Looking at this meaning we see the word used is primarily about shame being put on someone, i.e.: being shamed
by an outside source.  

So the declarative meaning of the words take shape as confidence in God! 
"I will not be shamed." 

He doesn't shame us. 
He doesn't. 
We can reach out to Him and there's no shame.

When Adam chose to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God called to him, "Where are you?" 

Where is my soul? Where am I? 
If I lift it to God, I will not be shamed.

And I won't have to (try to) hide from Him. 

And the third line of Psalm 25, verse 2 continues... 
(no "let"):

"Not my enemies triumph over me."

Or -

"My enemies not triumph over me."

And then verse 3 - which confirms this dissection of the language, (using the 
changes as noted above) --

         "Indeed, no one who waits on You is shamed."

Not a questioning,  
but a confident declarative statement! 

Do we realize what we have waiting for us when we 
lift up our soul to God?

Do we believe He cares this much for us?

There's more...
The phrase 'wait on' is one word in Hebrew (#6960) 
and means: 

"to hope in, 
to be gathered, 
to hope for, wait for, 
look for."

To hope in God, to gather myself, all my soul to God, 
to look for God...
NO SHAME!
But instead forgiveness 
and help.  

To count Him faithful, to rely on Him, 
to let Him have my very soul, 
to be open to Him this way, 
will never cost me any shame! 
He holds me in His care
and everything that concerns me,
inside 
and 
outside. 

He is the faithful one Who knows me, Who knows my soul already. 
Nothing is hidden from Him. 
He can see all the way to the depths in me. 

And He wants to 
comfort my soul, 
save my soul from my enemies, 
keep my soul, 
even heal my soul. 

He is trustworthy! 

So how do I do it? 
How do I lift up my soul? 
I hope in Him. 
Because He that comes to God must believe that HE IS 
and that 
He IS a rewarder of those 
that diligently seek Him. 

Where are you?
I heard God calling me. 
I responded. And I will not stop. 

Lastly, for the interested - just for contrast - one more line cleaned 
up and ready: 

"They are shamed who deal treacherously without cause."

Or who - "transgress without cause" per the King James version.

In Hebrew it's a two-word phrase:

1. transgress (#898) - "To be unfaithful, be faithless, to betray, 
act treacherously." 
2. without cause (#7387) - "empty handed, without cause or 
satisfaction"

Unfaithful, faithless, betrayal, no satisfaction.

What is in secret that we all do will be shouted out, openly seen and heard, Jesus said. 

Those who are unfaithful will have shame. 
For what is in secret, will be made known one day. 

And if you lift up your soul to God,
in that day, you will have trust in God and 
no shame!


Come to Me, 
All who are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest.  ~ Jesus from Matthew 11:28 (NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe 
that He is, 
and that
He is a rewarder of those who dilligently seek Him.   ~ Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

But you, when you pray 
go into your room, 
and when you have shut your door, 
pray to your Father who is in the secret place,
and your Father who is in secret will reward you openly." ~ Matthew 6:6 (NKJV)

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy,
For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, 
nor hidden that will not be known.
Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark
will be heard in the light,
and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms
will be proclaimed on the housetops. "       ~ Luke 12:1-3 (NKJV)


Never forget too... :)

But those who wait on the Lord 
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. 
They shall walk and not be weary,
They shall run and not faint.      ~ Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)