Psalm 25:12-14 – The Honor of Confidences

Here is my literal translation of these verses:

¹²Who is this, the man fearing YHVH? He will teach/shoot him [in] the way he should choose.

¹³His soul shall lodge in good, and his seed shall possess [the] land.

¹⁴The confidential conversation of YHVH [is given] to ones fearing Him, and to cause them to know [His] covenant.

In my last two posts, I commented on verses 12&13. Since the subject continues to be “ones fearing the Lord” I’m keeping the verses together.

This time, so far, there’s nothing about the verse that “jumps out” at me. But there are a couple of thoughts I want to record.

First of all, many versions translate the first phrase of verse 14 as “the secret of the Lord.” As I will relate, that is not a bad choice, but I feel that, up front, it is kind of obscure. When I read “secret of the Lord,” I definitely struggle to put my finger on exactly what that might mean. The word translated “secret” is the Hebrew word “sod” (rhymes with “toad”). Sod properly refers to a couch, then to a circle of friends sitting together talking or discussing, then it means intimate conversation. It can refer, for instance, to the counsel of a king as he gathers his generals and discusses a plan of battle, or the private discussions and advice given by a counselor, or the intimate knowledge shared by a friend. The basic idea of the word is the idea of confidentiality. It pictures discussions or knowledge given only to those within a circle of confidence. No one else knows. One must have some kind of unique relationship with the provider in order to be brought into that circle of confidence. Understanding all of that, as I said above, I suppose translating it “secret” is okay. But I chose “confidential conversation” because I feel that more adequately rounds out the intent of the word.

That also seems to me to be the import of the passage – to add this “confidence” as another benefit to be enjoyed by those who “fear the Lord.” In this case, we are told that those “fearing the Lord” are the recipients of personal knowledge not given to others. It makes perfect sense. Anytime we enter into a personal relationship, it means we will be privy to knowledge unavailable to others. It is one of the honors of genuine friendship or relationship, to be brought into another person’s “confidence,” to have them share their “secrets.” I suppose it is safe to say we know when we have gone beyond mere “acquaintance” when another person starts telling us things they don’t tell anyone else. So it is with God. The rest of the world can go along their merry way, ignoring God, having no desire to know Him, then one of us stumbles along and says, “I want to know You.” We look up to Christ with our dirty emaciated faces, covered in the filth of our sinfulness, barely able to whisper a prayer, and the Captain of our salvation covers us with His blood while His Spirit carries our feeble prayers to the Throne of Grace. There the Father accepts those prayers as a sweet incense, accepts our feeble attempt to love Him, and chooses to count us as someone with whom He can share His confidences. That is, of course, an enormous honor, for which I’m quite sure I am utterly and inadequately grateful. Wow. To be brought into the confidence of the King of kings. Wow. This dirty ignorant clueless peasant invited to sit at the round table of the King of kings. I certainly have nothing valuable to offer Him – except my love. So, I suppose, while others offer the king their sage advice, I’ll just sit here and love Him. I guess if I was a king, I wouldn’t mind that(!). And I will try to listen carefully when He does speak, try to understand the machinations of His fathomless wisdom, try to learn from Him, try to “understand the times” and know what I should do.

Once again, I don’t feel the import of the passage has adequately impressed me. But my prayer at least would be that the Lord would help me throughout my day to genuinely appreciate the privilege and honor I enjoy that the King of kings, my Father, has, is, and will share with me confidences of knowledge hidden from others.

For the record, here are some passages that bear out this idea of the Lord’s “confidences” shared only with His children:

“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit …But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” ( I Cor 2:9-14).

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor 4:3-6).

“The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do You speak to the people in parables?’ He replied, ‘Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them’” (Matthew 13:10-12).

Also, a “for whatever it’s worth,” even the infinite worth of Jesus Himself is naturally hidden from our eyes. Isaiah said, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,
nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). When the Lord directed Moses how to build the Tabernacle, He filled it with gold and silver, embroidered cloths, and covered it with various beautiful colors. Over it all, however, He placed “dolphin skins,” which term is variously translated, but no doubt it was a final water-shedding skin – with no particular color at all. What did that mean? It meant that from the outside, the Tabernacle would have been a very common looking, unattractive “tent.” Only those who cared to enter in could know or experience the fabulous beauty inside. And only the priests themselves could enter in and see the indescribable beauty of the inner court and finally the Holy of holies. Outside, just another old tent. Inside, the matchless beauties of the Lord’s furnishings.

It has always been true that “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” The world may hear His voice as a thunder, but His children lean on His breast and enjoy confidential conversations. To them the veil is already rent.

May I today treasure the personal relationship He offers me. May my heart never leave His breast.