Saturday, September 9, 2017
Hurricane Irma: Florida governor declares state of emergency as Caribbean brace for impact
Hurricane Irma: Florida governor declares state of emergency as Caribbean brace for impact: Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency for the entire state in response to Hurricane Irma. A number of idyllic Caribbean islands have been warned that they are in the direct path of the Category 4 storm.
Have Mercy ~
Have mercy upon me, O God - Without mercy I am totally, finally ruined and undone.
According to thy loving-kindness - Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, Have Mercy on me, חנני chonneni ; thy Loving-Kindness, חסדך chasdecha ; - thy Tender Mercies, רחמיך rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation.
The first, rendered have mercy or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them.
The second, rendered loving-kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former.
The third, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks called splagcnizesqai, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler.
Blot out my transgressions - מחה mecheh, wipe out. There is a reference here to an indictment: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.
According to thy loving-kindness - Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, Have Mercy on me, חנני chonneni ; thy Loving-Kindness, חסדך chasdecha ; - thy Tender Mercies, רחמיך rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation.
The first, rendered have mercy or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them.
The second, rendered loving-kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former.
The third, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks called splagcnizesqai, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler.
Blot out my transgressions - מחה mecheh, wipe out. There is a reference here to an indictment: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.
Friday, September 8, 2017
" Answer Us "
"Answer us (Aneinu), HaShem, answer us, on this day of our fast, for we are in great distress. Do not pay attention to our wickedness; do not hide Your face from us and do not ignore our supplication. Please be near to our outcry; please let Your kindness comfort us; before we call to You, answer us, as it is said: ‘And it will be that before they call, I will answer; while they yet speak, I will hear.’ For You, God, are the One who responds to His people Israel in time of distress, who redeems and rescues in every time of distress and woe. Blessed are You, God, who responds to His people Israel in time of distress."
Avinu Malkeinu ~
Avinu Malkeinu: "Our Father, Our King...." During the Season of Teshuvah we make extra effort to remind ourselves of the kingship of the LORD and of our responsibility to live before his Presence in the truth, as his royal children. We remember that we are responsible to God for the gift of our lives, and that we shall render account for all we have done (Matt. 12:36-37). The Scriptures declare that each of us passes before the gaze of the Eternal, one by one, as it says: "Th...e LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds" (Psalm 33:13-15). The LORD “looks down from heaven,” not in some general way, but He “beholds” each person individually – he looks directly and personally upon each soul. God discerns each person’s actions and inner intentions with perfect clarity; He completely comprehends every outcome of every action in the entire universe, simultaneously and in all possible states. The LORD is the Mashgiach (מַשְׁגִּיחַ), the personal Supervisor and Overseer of each human soul. And though our God truly is the great King over all, the Master of the Universe and Sovereign on High, his greatness reaches down to the lowest of depths, humbly appealing for any who are willing to turn to him, to choose life, to receive his love and grace.
In The Eye Of The Strom ~
The Lord is my light — My counsellor in my difficulties, and my comforter and deliverer in all my distresses. David’s subjects called him the light of Israel; but he owns he shone, as the moon doth, with a borrowed light: the light which God communicated to him reflected upon them. God is our light, as he shows us the state we are in by nature and practice, and that into which we may and must be brought by grace, in order to our salvation. As our light, he shows us the way in which we must walk, and gives us comfort in walking therein: shows us the hinderances that are in our way, the difficulties, and enemies, and oppositions, we have to encounter, and how we may be enabled to overcome them. It is only in his light that we now proceed on in our Christian course, and it is in his light that we hope to see light for ever. And my salvation — In whom I am safe, and by whom I am and shall be saved. The Lord is the strength of my life — The protector of my exposed life, who keeps me from being slain, and the supporter of my weak and frail life, by whom I am upheld and preserved in being. God, who is a believer’s life, is the strength of his life: not only the person by whom, but in whom he lives.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
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