PSALM 51:6 - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

PSALM 51:6: “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?”

The other night, I asked the Lord what I should read before bed. “Psalm 51.” I love that Psalm, but there are verses that I don’t fully understand. I know that happens to you, too. But there are easy resources online for doing a quick study or even an extended one. So, I decided to take a closer look and do a word study on verse six:

 

“Behold, you [God] desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part, you [God] will make me know wisdom.”

 

When we look up the words in their original language, we can better understand what the verse really means. It’s a way to meditate on a scripture and let it make a more profound impact, sinking into our hearts, because we take the time to focus on it longer than the time it takes just to read it and move on.

 

David says: “You, God, desire truth in the innermost part of me.” The first word I want to look at is “desire.” The Hebrew word “chaphets” means “delight in, take pleasure in, like.” But there’s more I wouldn’t have known about unless I looked it up: In the definition of “desire” is the idea of bending down toward someone, inclining yourself toward them. So this tells me God actually takes so much pleasure in us having truth that He bends down toward us, delighting in when He sees truth in us.

 

So, what is this “truth” God likes bending down to see in us? The word “truth” is the Hebrew word “emeth,” meaning all kinds of amazing things. Among them are: “faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness, peace and stability.” But again, there is more to it. This is “truth that is spoken,” “truth as it pertains to divine instruction,” “truth in ethical knowledge,” and “truth in judgment.” So, God delights in leaning down toward us to smile at our faithfulness, our trustworthiness, His truth that we are speaking, our receiving the truth of His divine revelations to us, doing the right thing when we have ethical decisions to make, and truth in good judgment.

 

Where does God see these wonderful truths in us? The verse says He sees them in our “inward parts.” The Hebrew word for “inward parts” is “tuwchah,” and it means “the seat of the mind and thoughts.” In other words, these truths are not just flighty thoughts off the top of our heads but come from a deeper place in our minds. If someone took the time to seriously ask you: “What do you really believe?” you would go to this part of your heart and mind and say with the most conviction: “This is what I believe.”

 

God bends down lovingly toward us to see if we have embraced His truths and if they live steadfast and unmovable in the depths of our hearts.

 

The rest of Psalm 51:6 tells us what God does when He sees His truth in our hearts:

 

“In the hidden part, you [God] will make me know wisdom.”

 

The “hidden part” is one Hebrew word, “satam,” which is the ”secret part, storehouse, treasury.” The word “know” is the Hebrew word “yada,” which means to “see and know, to be sure of, discover and know by experience, feel, understand, and be able to teach.”

 

Then, the final word, “wisdom,” is “hakma” in Hebrew. Wisdom is always about applying knowledge. However, the definition of wisdom here is specific to certain areas.

 

It is defined as ‘wisdom in administration, prudence in religious affairs, wisdom in ethical matters, shrewdness or cleverness, and skill in war (both spiritual and physical).’ One example is Matthew 10:16: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (AMP).”

 

In studying the words used in Psalm 51:6, we find that our loving God is inclining Himself down toward us. He delights in seeing what He’s taught us, dwelling in the deepest parts of our hearts. When He finds them there, He can attach the blessing of discovering, experiencing, understanding, feeling, and being able to teach, like David, excellent skill in war (physical and spiritual), administrative skills in all categories of life, cleverness, prudence in religious matters, and godly ways to handle ethical issues as well.

 

Studying the words God gave David to speak in Psalm 51:6 really helps us see the bigness of God’s heart of love toward us. He bends down to us, desiring to see His gift in the innermost part of our hearts and seeing us discovering and knowing by experience His wisdom in ethical matters, religious matters, and skills of spiritual warfare.  

 

Studying a verse is easy to do online. Just go to the link below, put a word or scripture reference in the search box, choose the Bible version, and click the arrow. Then click where it says “STRONGS.” That gives you the option of looking at the definitions of the original words. I found in this resource that I had to use the KJV or the NASB, but there may be other sources if you prefer reading a different version.

 https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/psa/51/6/ss1/t_conc_529006

 

Try this, even if you only look up a couple of words. I think you will really be blessed.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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HOW TO GET A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF A BIBLE SCRIPTURE

HOW TO GET A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF A BIBLE SCRIPTURE

When the English translators read the Hebrew/Aramaic text of the Old Testament or the Greek version of the New Testament, they chose English words that would best express their understanding of the original languages. A good concordance lets us do that too. We can look up the etymology of any word used in the Bible and see the intricacies of its definition. It’s easy now with an online concordance like Strong’s (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3427/kjv/wlc/0-1/). As we read the definition of a word, the Holy Spirit teaches us how it applies to our lives. We get a deeper understanding of the holy scriptures by doing this simple research.

 

As an example, I’ll show you how to do this, using two verses from Psalm 91. First, I’ll show you how to look up the meanings of the words, then make them personal without compromising the integrity or how the scripture fits with the rest of the Bible.

 

Psalm 91:1: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

 

The word “dwelleth” is the Hebrew yashab defined as sitting down with, remaining, settling down with, continuing with, marrying, being still with.

 

“Secret” is cether, a place where you’re covered, a hiding place, a place of protection.

 

“The most High” is El Elyon, the Highest, Supreme, uppermost. There is no one and nothing higher.

 

“Abide” is the Hebrew lyin which means to stop (usually overnight), implying to stay permanently, remaining, continuing.

 

“The Almighty” is El Shaddai. Young’s Concordance defines this as the God of overflow, constant supply, and source of all sufficiency.

 

Take a minute or two to think about those definitions and mull them over. What is God saying to you in that scripture? Put it in your own words without changing the meaning.

 

For example, this is how I would say to myself: “Carolyn, sit down a few minutes and relax. Settle down, be still, and picture yourself snuggled up in the protected hiding place of God, up next to the One Who is the Highest Being ever to exist. He wants you there. You can stay overnight, and then in the morning, you’ll be right by His side and go wherever He goes. You’re close enough that His shadow is on you, and you experience a constant overflow from Him. God is your continuing source of everything you need.”

 

The next verse I want to look at is Psalm 91:4: “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

 

The word “cover” is sakak which means to join together and shut up, entwining as a screen, to fence in or hedge in for protection and defense.

 

“Feathers” are from the root word abar which means to soar or fly.

 

“Truth” is emeth meaning stable, certain, sure, faithful, established and right.

 

“Shield” is a word for pointed hook, prickly like thorns or a cactus hedge. It is a large shield that guards by prickliness. It also carries the definition of being piercingly cold.

 

“Buckler” is translated from cochera, a shield that completely surrounds a person.

 

Again, take a few minutes to think about these definitions and see what God is saying to you.

 

The God of the Bible is our God, and He’s protected His Word all these thousands of years so that when we read a verse, He can speak personally to each of us. It’s great to have people who preach and teach us the Word, but God loves us individually and has made it so that each of us can read the Bible and hear from Him ourselves. God tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  

 

When we study a verse or section of scripture by looking up the meanings of the words, we’ll get a deeper understanding of what our Heavenly Father is saying to us.

 

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7-8).

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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IT'S A CLUE

IT’S A CLUE

In a mystery movie, the screenwriter spatters clues along the way, but it’s only when we watch more of the story, that we flesh out the clues and the whole story comes together to make sense—mystery solved.  The Bible is like that. I’m reading the gospel of Matthew now, and there are so many passages along the way that are like those clues in a movie, and I don’t fully understand their meaning. When that happens, I go to a Concordance to start to flesh out what God is really saying. A Concordance gives me the fuller definition of the original language before it was translated into English. Here’s an example, with Matthew 6:22-24.

^22 “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

²³ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

The first word I looked up was “light” in verse 22. In the original language, it is a portable candle, one that can be lit, or it can go out. The next word I looked at was “eye.” Here it used metaphorically, of ethical qualities.

The candle guiding us is our ethical qualities – our moral standards. Our moral or ethical standards guide our whole body. The “body” is the whole man—body and soul. What we do with our body and soul is maneuvered by our moral standards.

In the second part of verse 22, what does it mean, “if thine eye be single “? The word single means simple, clear, in which there is nothing complicated or confused; without folds (not double-minded). Jesus was saying that if our eyes (ethical qualities) are clear and not jumbled, our “whole body will be full of light.” People think they can take some standards from the Bible, some from Buddhism, some from Hinduism, or Islam, or New Age, or situational ethics, but if those standards don’t jive with what the God of the Bible says, there’s going to be double standards, ethical difficulties, and a confused, jumbled mess. Granted, a person needs to understand what the Bible actually says, and not just blindly believe what’s “always” been taught. Asking questions is perfectly okay with our God, and there are plenty of verses documenting that.

The first part of Matthew 6, verse 23 goes on to say: “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” The word “eye” is again ethical qualities. The word “evil” is “the Evil one,” so this is saying that if a person’s ethics are inspired and motived or manipulated by the evil one, Satan, then the intent is “wicked, actively bad, actively causing sorrow or pain.” They are actively “bringing toil, hardships, annoyances, and trouble.”

If moral codes are so deranged, the whole self is going to be full of darkness. “Full of darkness” is translated from one word that means covered in darkness, like a tent. Things are opaque; vision is blinded. Actions are shady and shadowy. There is “ignorance respecting divine things and human duties.” People whose moral standards begin to deteriorate, become prey to the Evil one’s ethics, or lack thereof. They become “persons in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway.”

And the last part of verse 23 says: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The word “light” in this part of the verse means the light of God. If that gets compromised, the darkness gets “great,” which means great in number, magnitude, and degree.

God has the antidote to going to the dark side. It’s in the next verse, Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

The word “hate” doesn’t mean what we think it does. In this verse, it’s a relative preference. It means a person prefers one over another. He or she cares about serving the interests of one rather than the other, for whatever reason. A straightforward analysis would be if a person has two jobs, two bosses, and both want the person to work on the same Saturday. The worker can’t do both, so he or she analyses the pros and cons, and picks one.

When Jesus says: “He will hold to the one, and despise the other,” it means he’ll “hold fast to, cleave to” one, and not really think much of the other. To “despise” means to” think less of, disdain, to look down on.”

We can’t be disciples (disciplined ones) of the Lord and get all the benefits of God if we play in the devil’s sandbox. The consequences just aren’t worth it.

Let’s come to the feet of our merciful God and learn what it means to truly surrender all to Him.

Love, Carolyn

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