I hate those who are double-minded,
but I love Your law.
You are my hiding place and my shield,
I hope in Your word.
Depart from me, you who are wicked,
for I keep the commandments of my God.
Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live,
and let me not be ashamed with my hope.
Hold me up, and I shall be safe,
and I will have respect for Your statutes continually.
You have rejected all those who stray from Your statutes,
for their deceit is falsehood.
You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross;
therefore I love Your testimonies.
My body trembles for fear of You,
and I am afraid of Your judgments.
Psalm 119:113-129
In the Psalm 119 – Samekh section, the Psalmist is speaking directly to God. This is an intimate conversation. When you pray to God, is your conversation as intimate, or are you too busy asking God for things to make your life easier? We need to take this section of Psalm 119 and use it as a model for our own prayer lives.
The Psalmist contemplates all God does for him. He really is telling God all that He is to him. He says that God is his hiding place, a place of safety in this world. God also acts as a shield against the attacks of ungodly people. The Psalmist then tells God that as He holds him up, he is safe, and not ashamed for the hope that he has in God. The Psalmist tells God how he keeps God’s laws. It is in keeping God’s laws that the he has learned to live a life of hope and righteousness. He is totally committed to living a godly life.
The Samekh is the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and means support and healing. The design of the Samekh is a closed circle and is analogous to a ring, in that it has no beginning and no end. The meaning of the Samekh is support and healing. According to Rabbi Raskin (2003), the ring is much like that of a wedding ring in that it symbolizes unity and each spouse’s support of one another.
Reading through the Psalm 119 – Samekh we can see how the Psalmist speaks of God’s support for us. God supports His children by giving us unconditional love, refuge – a hiding place, if you will, protection and hope. The ideal relationship that we should have with our Lord is the model for the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. The difference is, God will never let us down. He is always faithful because He is the perfection of love. Because we are human, and are not perfect, we will always make mistakes. Believers are so fortunate though, because 
God has promised us that He will always be there to pick us up and set us back on our feet when we fail, or have been beaten down, or just mess up. God is our ultimate support system.
The other meaning of Samekh is that of healing. Just as God is our ultimate support system, He is also the ultimate Healer. God isn’t just able to heal us physically, but also emotionally, and most important of all, spiritually. When the Psalmist speaks of God being his Hiding Place, this could be interpreted to be a place of healing. Sometimes when we are hurting, we need to retreat and be held. God does this for us when we pray to Him and He listens and answers. We also receive healing from His Word. God is not just a deity who stands over us and can’t relate to our feelings and physical ailments. His Son, Jesus, experienced life as we do and knows exactly how it feels when life and people try to destroy us. When Jesus was about to be betrayed He went off to His hiding place and prayed to His Father for strength to endure what He knew was coming.
We need to make sure we don’t take our relationship with God for granted. Instead, we need to be as the Psalmist and be so excited about how God is all things to us that we actually tremble in awe of Him.
Embrace God as your supporter and healer, as well as your hiding place, your hope and your protector. Be single-minded in your commitment to live as Jesus has modeled for you. When you do, you will see God’s promises to you come alive and His joy and peace will fill your life, even when others try to disparage you, and life becomes hard. Pray daily as the Psalmist did in Samekh, and you will grow your relationship with the almighty Creator, and you will find that your hiding place in His arms will give you strength in life and awe for God beyond measure.
Resources:
Raskin, A. 2003: Letters of Light. (audio book). Sichos Publishers.
Photo Credit: 2021. https://jevtonline.org/
The Hebrew Letter Samekh: https://www.cartoonhebrew.com/samech
