PRÉCIS ON THE CRY FOR ANSWERS: A PLEA FOR HELP IN ABANDONMENT

SCRIPTURE. “You have put my friends far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them. I am shut up and I cannot go out. My eye grows dim with sorrow. O Lord, I have called on You every day; I have spread out my hands to You [in prayer].” – HEMAN THE EZRAHITE, PSALM 88:8-9, AMP

KEY TERM: “AN OBJECT OF LOATHING.” ‘Toebah’ [תּוֹעֵבַה]: “Properly, something morally disgusting or abhorrent; esp. related to idolatry; i.e., ‘utterly abominable;’ unclean [as with a leper or pariah]; sexual perversion; extreme hatred or detestation; hence, defilement, pollution, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements.”

QUOTATION. “‘They were outcasts.’ They were a strange, mixed bag created by war, misfortune and contempt. War, misfortune and contempt had brought them together and thrown them onto the bank, the way a river in flood throws and deposits drifting, black pieces of wood smoothed by stones onto its banks.”
― ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI, Czas Pogardy (Time of Contempt), 1995; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me’ — I can have no more familiarity or intercourse with my friends than if I were in another world; for Thy Providence hath removed, or rendered them incapable, or disinclined, to be serviceable to me. ‘Thou hast made me an abomination unto them’ — They are not only shy, but weary of me; and I am looked upon by them, not only with contempt, but with abhorrence.

‘Reader, do not think it strange if thou should be called to encounter such a trial as this,’ since Heman [a musician-prophet of David’s company], who was so famed for wisdom, was thus neglected when the world frowned upon him, and despised as a broken vessel, in which is no pleasure. ‘I am shut up’ —A close prisoner under the arrest of the Divine Wrath; ‘I cannot come forth’ — There being no way of escape open. He therefore lies down and sinks under his troubles, because he sees not any probability of getting out of them. ‘Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction’ —But though I thus give vent to my grief, my troubled spirit receives no relief thereby: nevertheless, ‘I have called daily upon Thee’ — My weeping has not hindered my praying. ‘I have stretched out my hands unto Thee’ —For help and deliverance, though hitherto without effect, for thou dost not hear nor answer me.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

DK’S TAKE. This is a very Personal Lament, so two things must be stated first: (1) It is not so much a statement of self-pity as a legitimate cry for help toward understanding; (2) I shall be brief so as not to leave an impression of self-absorption. With that in mind, let’s proceed.

Many if not most of you have experienced what Heman did as virtually all of his former brethren and friends abandoned him because of his faithfulness to Yahweh and to His earthly king, David. For this he was treated as in infidel, someone guilty of the most heinous spiritual crimes imaginable in the ancient Hebrew culture. Indeed, he was viewed as the lowest specimen in the Camp of God:

 An Abomination! Defined by NOAH WEBSTER (1828) as: “The object of detestation, a common signification in Scripture. Hence, defilement, pollution, in a physical sense, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements, idols and idolatry, are called abominations.”

THE ONLY REPAIR. You already know but I must restate it in the loudest of terms: Go to the only One who understands your affliction and Who has its sole Remedy, though it may come gradually. David once prayed in similar conditions which he so often experienced:

“David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” – 1 SAMUEL 30:6, AMPC

This is precisely what I did today when my world felt like it was collapsing all around me, and I found quick relief, and perspective, and comfort. So do likewise, beloved, and receive what is due you when all others would leave you unloved.

THE PROMISE. ‘He will never abandon you in your isolation on His behalf.’ Indeed, He is closer than a brother at such moments of deep affliction. He understands this pain most profoundly, friends, as He walked that same lonely path before your feet ever found similar, sacred ground.

So is He terribly proud of you! For being willing to abandon all for Him, and to dare to follow the Prophets, the Apostles, indeed, in the very Footsteps of The Messiah Himself. Many have been Called to this, beloved, but precious few have been fully Chosen.

“THE PROPHET JEREMIAH.” This is one of the seven Old Testament prophets painted by the Italian Renaissance MICHELANGELO (c. 1510–12) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican City. The person of Jeremiah is imagined as lost in anguished meditation. Most critics believe that the painting portrays Jeremiah as lamenting over the Destruction of Jerusalem, though opinions vary, including his lamenting over his own severe and sustained rejection by his fellow Jews (see Lamentations 3).