jIH muS chaH

joH'a', yImev jIH muS chaH 'Iv muS SoH? 'oH jIH ghobe' grieved tlhej chaH 'Iv Hu' Dung Daq SoH?
LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? Psalm 139:21

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Here we we come to an example of Psalms that make humans squirm - the imprecatory psalms. Imprecatory psalms are those which invoke curses upon enemies. (http://www.theopedia.com/Imprecatory_Psalms ) There are passages which may strike us, as CS Lewis said, as devilish, since they seem to revel in the great and horrible judgements they call down on their enemies.

On the other hand - these are words that certainly would catch the attention of a Klingon - after all, as far as we know, they DON'T have a word for to love, but they most certainly DO have a word, muS, for "to hate." (in fact that word has been pressed into services by Klingonists to make muSHa', to love. muS, to hate. plus the "undo" suffix, -Ha', gives muSHa'. so "I love you" becomes "qamuSHa'", literally I don't hate you.)

The Hebrew here is a very basic root, sawnay, and it appears over 130 times in the Bible, from Genesis to Malachai. And it's clear as you look at examples of it in use, that the Hebrew authors are expressing deep feelings, their hate, hate, HATE about the enemies of God:

• Psalms 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
• Psalms 101:3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
• Psalms 119:104 Through your precepts, I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.
• Psalms 139:21-22 O LORD, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

Those are the tame ones - the Psalms don't skip over wishing great and detailed violence on those who oppose God.

There's a tension here - because those aren't the ONLY thing the Bible has to say about enemies, ours and God's.

• Exodus 23:4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
• Proverbs 25:21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; If he is thirsty, give him water to drink: For you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.
• Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

How do we reconcile these? One good piece of advice comes in the old adage, "hate the sin, love the sinner." That is, the Bible's message of redemption calls us to to always seek the redemption of the enemy, to trust the power God used to redeem US to be just as effective on those we count as enemies.

We're also reminded that seeking revenge is NOT our privilege or duty: Don't seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord." Romans 12:19

But one thing is clear through the Bible - whether calling curses or love down on our enemies - there is an agreement in one fact: there ARE enemies in this world. For all the "Good News" the Bible brings (and make no mistake, it brings GREAT Good News!), we err if we forget there is also BAD News. Something is wrong in the cosmos. We live in a sin shrouded world, a wonderful and good creation of God where something HAS gone wrong. That means there ARE enemies. There are things that need to be set right.

When we reflect on that, we may come closer to understanding these psalms - and understand the spirit that recognizes that we have to take sides - not to wreak God's wrath on evildoers, but to share the good news that He can and will set things right. If that's so, doesn't it make sense to be on His side?

joH'a', yImev jIH muS chaH 'Iv muS SoH? 'oH jIH ghobe' grieved tlhej chaH 'Iv Hu' Dung Daq SoH?
LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? Psalm 139:21

Thinking

chay' precious Daq jIH 'oH lIj thoughts, joH'a'! chay' vast ghaH the sum vo' chaH!

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalms 139:17

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There is a challenge - and a delight to believers to realize that God does not hide.

That is, in his creation, and in his word, he has freely shared himself and his thoughts with us. That is why the study of Scripture can be so rewarding - and that is why the adventure of science can be so rich. I like the example of the early scientist, Johannes Kepler, who gave humans the foundation of the astrodynamics used today to chart the motion of the heavens, and plot the course of spacecraft. As noted in Christian History magazine:

Kepler believed that there was an art and orderliness in God's creation and that the more Christians recognized the greatness of creation, the deeper their worship would be. Didn't God himself encourage the heathen to look carefully at creation so that they might come to know God? God created man in His image, and He wants us to recognize and know His design for the universe: The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God and which He revealed to us in the language of mathematics. In his astronomical research, Kepler only wanted to, as he put it, "think God's thoughts after Him."

http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps067.shtml

chay' precious Daq jIH 'oH lIj thoughts, joH'a'! chay' vast ghaH the sum vo' chaH!

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalms 139:17

God doesn't hide. Whether we know or understand creation with mathematical rigor - we have the Scriptures, and in them we have the opportunity to learn of God's thoughts - his care for us, and the path he challenges believers to follow. Psalm 40 notes,

Many, LORD, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, And your thoughts which are toward us. They can't be set in order to you; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Psalms 40:5

This is one of the reasons I've found scripture memory to be so rewarding - I have often found that tracing the course of a treasured verse serves as a way to "think God's thoughts after him," to remind myself and refresh my spirit. So too, has been reading of the lives of the saints, believers in ages past who have provided an example, a model for me of the direction God wishes me to follow.

In the next week, I'd encourage you to seek out a single verse - one that has reassured you - or given you comfort - and commit it to memory. It might as well be a word of reproof - a verse that calls you to account. I don't know which verse you'll find - but memorize it as best you can. Read it in context. Find reference books (you'll be amazed at how many are online) and find some of the background of that one verse. Then, spend the next week rehearsing that - maybe writing it down to test yourself. With that start you'll have a connected yourself to God's word - you'll carry that thought wherever you go.

And then.... do it again! It's tremendously rewarding! Don't worry about whether you are word perfect (though it's a great goal) - the effort of the study and the memory will help you soak this deep into your heart. And you'll have taken another step in the journey of following God's thoughts.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. Jeremiah 29:11

SovtaH

wIj qa' SovtaH vetlh very QaQ.
My soul knows that very well.

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What do you KNOW? Some might start with simple unencumbered facts -arithmetic, geometry and the like. Others might recite details of their personal narrative - the history they know first hand.

In law there is a measure "beyond a reasonable doubt," that ascribes reliability to conclusions. It is the kind of certainty we want when matters of life and death are under consideration. It is that SOLID assurance that this psalm brings us here. But about WHAT is the author so certain?

Here in the middle of Psalm 139 the psalmist brings us the miracle of life - the power of God's creativity at work.

For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. My frame wasn't hidden from you, When I was made in secret, Woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Psalms 139:13-17 WEB

In this description the author catches his breath to say My soul knows that very well. / wIj qa' SovtaH vetlh very QaQ.

My SOUL, or nephesh in Hebrew is rendered with qa', the Klingon word for "spirit." For a Klingon this spirit is that which battle nourishes (the saying is : qa' wIje'meH maSuv. - We fight to enrich the spirit.). The Biblical language is a bit different - in Hebrew the soul - life - is "that which breathes," since obviously when we cease to breath, we cease to live.

As we think about the relam of knowledge, we see that today science seems to tread on God's creative prerogative. From lifelike robots, to artificial life - it might seem that God's majesty is less significant - "we can do THAT ourselves."

Yet, to the person of faith it is quite the opposite. The more details we know of genetics or cosmology - the more we marvel at what God HAS DONE. In creation, in our lives he IS AT WORK - even when we don't see it.

What do you KNOW - REALLY know?

We know the details of our lives. We may master our jobs, the tasks that we do every day.

But what makes us say

wIj qa' SovtaH vetlh very QaQ.
My soul knows that very well?

As I reflect on my life and God's word, it's my prayer that what I really know is not some collection of facts, but that I know God.

As the prophet Jeremiah tells us:

This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken! Jeremiah 9:23,24 NLT

HurghtaHghach

'ach the HurghtaHghach ta'be' So' vo' SoH, 'ach the ram shines as the jaj. The HurghtaHghach ghaH rur wov Daq SoH.

Even the darkness doesn't hide from you, But the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you. Psalms 139:12

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We can't see most of the Universe.

That is, as best we understand it today, the part of the cosmos we see - the people, planets, pulsars and stars - is only a fraction of all creation. The rest is referred to as "dark matter," as Wikipedia notes:

In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter refers to hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter )

It's a perplexing idea - that what we see and understand is only a bare fraction of all that is around us. But to a believer this mystery can be exciting - for with confident faith in the Creator, we can trust that this mystery is part of the beautiful complexity of his handiwork.

The words of the psalmist are worth reflecting on as we think about the pursuit of astronomy. That science is a study devoted to the observation of the light of the blazing stars in the heavens, but a study which takes part in darkness, often in remote places (even in space!) to avoid the light that can obscure our view of the sky. For the astronomer - as for God - the ram shines as the jaj / the night shines as the day.

I've constructed the Klingon word HurghtaHghach for "darkness." It's the word Hurgh (be dark), plus the suffix -taH (ongoing) with the nominalizer ghach: HurghtaHghach. Here it translates the Hebrew word choshek - first heard in Genesis 1:2, "darkness was upon the face of the deep."

What darkness confronts you? It is not surprising that we may face the darkness of the unknown with concern. It might be worries about ourselves and our loved ones. It could be fears for the future, or regrets over some past wrong. But Scripture reminds us that what is murky to our sight is clear and sunny to God:

'ach the HurghtaHghach ta'be' So' vo' SoH, 'ach the ram shines as the jaj. The HurghtaHghach ghaH rur wov Daq SoH.

Even the darkness doesn't hide from you, But the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you. Psalms 139:12

Remember the astronomers? In their study - often in the darkest of night - they have cataloged countless stars. With new technologies they are adding to a growing list of known planets throughout the Universe. And, as they chart the formation and influence of "dark matter," darkness is like light to them.

As we trust in a loving God who made it this universe - with its dark and light - we too, can be confident as we face the "darkness." For God promises to be with us.

For, behold, he who forms the mountains, And creates the wind, And declares to man what is his thought; Who makes the morning darkness, And treads on the high places of the Earth: the LORD, the God of Armies, is his name." (Amos 4:13)