"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." (Psalm 43:5)
I use as my basic translation each day the NKJV, and it, along with other translations I have consulted, translates the Hebrew word, "yesh-oo'-aw," as, "help." The KJV, however, translates the same Hebrew word, "health." Something very interesting here. The same Hebrew word is used in Psalm 67:2 and is translated, "saving health," in the KJV, and, "salvation," in most of the others. Now I know the word contains all of the concepts in the various translations, but why did the KJV translators choose, "health," and, "saving health?" Were they less "sophisticated?" Or, could we say, they were just less affected by the trends over the centuries to "spiritualize" the Scriptures and, hence, remove them farther from our day to day nitty gritty life?!? As a friend of mine would say, "I'm just say'n."
I can tell you that my testimony "bares witness to" the, "health," and, "saving health," interpretation. As our little boy, Stephen Paul, was nearing the end of his all too brief sojourn here 40 years ago, what was going on in my life was simply not healthy. I felt as though I were on a slippery slope to nowhere. I felt weak, not only spiritually, but also physically. You have heard people speaking of walls closing in on them? Well, there I was! Then Jesus, Oh, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ, The Eternal Self-Existing One, the One of Whom the Bible says, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," Whose very Flesh and Blood is my, "food indeed,.. and drink indeed," spoke, revealed, came to me, however one could describe it, and, "brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God...."
He is, indeed, "the health of my countenance and my God," the, "saving health among all nations."
Andrew Murray once said of Jesus, "He is all that God has to give, and is the assurance that it is given."
Father, in Jesus' Name, without You I would be an absolute zero, but I thank You that in You I have Your, "Health," Your, "saving Health." Amen.
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When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
