I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord,
I will keep Your statutes.
I cried unto You; deliver me,
and I shall keep Your testimonies.
I arose before the dawn of the morning and cried for help;
I hope in Your words.
My eyes are awake before the night watches,
that I might meditate on Your word.
Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness, O Lord;
revive me according to Your judgment.
They draw close, those who persecute me with evil;
they are far from Your law.
But You are near, O Lord,
and all Your commandments are true.
I have known of old
that You have established Your testimonies forever.
Psalm 119:145-152 (Modern English Version)
Psalm 119 – Qoph is all about don’t be the foolish monkey. Huh? When we think about a monkey, we often think, ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,’ and we see the three monkeys with their ears, eyes and mouth covered. According to Raskin (2003), qoph means monkey. In a way, the monkey, who is a mimic, is the caricature of falsehood, unholiness, and evil. I think the poor monkey gets a bad rap, but the idea of unholiness mimicking holiness points directly to God vs. Satan.
-
The design of the Hebrew letters he and qoph themselves even exhibit unholiness mimicking holiness. The forms of he and qoph are similar, and yet different in very tangible ways.
Both have three lines, two vertical and one horizontal. These three lines, depicting thought, speech and action in the hei [he], are also represented in the letter kuf [qoph], but its three lines represent unholy thoughts, profane speech and evil actions. These negative qualities are illustrated within the actual form of the kuf. Its long left leg plunges beneath the letter’s baseline. It represents one who ventures below the acceptable, an individual who violates the circumscribed boundaries of the Torah.It is also significant that the head of the kuf is a reish (in con-trast with the dalet that comprises the hei). We said previously that the difference between the dalet and the reish is the yud in the right-hand corner of the dalet, representing G dliness. Given this, the difference between the holiness of the hei and the unholiness of the kuf is even more pronounced (Raskin 2003).
The design between the letters he and qoph are similar, but they seem to differ in content very subtly. In the he section of Psalm 119, the Psalmist fervently asks, rather commands God to make him holy. In Psalm 119- Qoph on the other hand, the Psalmist gives us a model of how he is living a holy life, relying on the truths of God and not giving into the lying mimicry of Satan. He never presents himself as holy, but rather, tells God how his actions are seeking God, not only in the early morning, but also in the middle of the night. He is telling God, You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are true. That is, in Qoph, the Psalmist is able to tell God of how he has matured in his understanding of Him, and trained his thoughts, speech and actions to be holy, as God has shown him in the He section of Psalm 119.
Comparing the He (Psalm 119 – He) and Qoph sections of Psalm 119 is a wonderful way to see how a Believer should mature in his/her relationship with God. When we are young Believers, we seek God to help us change our lives for the better. We realize that the falsehoods of Satan are actually destroying our lives. Even though he may give us pleasure for a moment, that pleasure is fleeting and often hurtful. We find that God’s truths, though requiring us to abandon our selfish ways and trusting in His ways, truly give us joy and peace. As we learn to abandon our wills to God and enjoy the life He has planned for us, we can become like the Psalmist and act accordingly, bringing our troubles firstly to God, knowing He is near and listening. We can seek Him and know He will always be found.
One of the great benefits of maturing in faith in God is getting to know Him personally and learn discernment from Him. As qoph shows us, this world is full of Satan’s mimicry and we need God’s discernment daily in order to make righteous decisions that glorify our Father.
I will end this blog with a devotion from Charles Stanley (2014) because he has written about the mimicry of Satan and the righteousness of Godly decisions.
-
When we try to make a decision quickly or without asking God for direction, Satan will be right there saying, ‘Go ahead! You’ll be fine! Don’t worry!’ But he conveniently leaves out any mention of consequences. This is because Satan wants you to fail – his ultimate goal is to destroy you.
The Father, however, is always concerned about the ramifications of our actions. As we look back on our lives, how many of us, if we had considered the consequences of our decisions, would have made the same choice? Surely we all have a few we’d like to do over.
But whenever God speaks, He has your future in mind. This is why He encourages you to ask, ‘If I make this decision, what will happen to my family, to my job, to my walk with the Lord?’ You see, your loving Savior isn’t just the God of today – He also reigns over tomorrow. And when you follow Him, He ensures that your future is bright and hopeful (Jeremiah 29:11), Listen to Him.
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord,
‘Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you
A future and a hope.’
Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)
Resources:
Raskin, A. 2003: Letters of Light. (audio book). Sichos Publishers.
Stanley, C. 2014. Every Day in His Presence: 365 Devotions. Nashville, TN:Thomas Nelson.
Photo Credits: “Imitation.” http://fourier.eng.hmc.edu/e161/lectures/nn/node9.html
Hebrew letter Qoph: https://bje.org.au/knowledge-centre/jewish-languages/hebrew-alphabet/kuf/
