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a girl who's thoughts escape her words.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

hosanna and hallelujah

hosanna... is praise?

it was weird thought i had.

hosanna is a word that translated means: 'save, we pray!' it is a exclamatory plea to save.
hallelujah is a different word made up of two parts that translates to 'praise the Lord!'

it struck me as funny that during the joyous triumphal entry of Jesus into jerusulem (matthew 21), it wasn't 'hallelujah!' (praise you) the crowds were exclaiming... but rather hosanna:

God. save us.

hosanna. it was, perhaps the most basic cry.
the crowds assumed that Jesus, decendant of david, was coming into jeruselem as their king to defeat the romans. Jesus was in fact, coming to save them, but just not in the way they were expecting.

it made me think: in times of distress, turmoil, we often look to a leader, a political figure, or a guide to save us. we have an innate hope of being rescued and we seek that out.

something that i never thought about is that crying hosanna is one of the highest forms of praise.  it is a plea with an assumption: that the listener can in fact, save.

i'll be really honest right now... I ask God to help me so much throughout the day. it's almost embarrasing, goes something like this: 'God, help me get up this morning (ugh!)'.... 'God help me figure out this problem at work',  'God, help me get along with this hard to deal-with person' etc. somewhere in the back of my head, i guess i always thought that prayers like this were not really a "bad" thing per se, but in essence just "tacky". i could be praying elegant prayers of praise and thanksging to almighty God, but instead i'm asking Him to help me as i walk down a spooky alley at night.

i've been reading through the psalms and i'm getting a very different look on prayer and praise. david was called 'a man after God's heart' and so many of his prayers and psalms can be accuratedly summed up by: "God, help me. i really really need help." i'm not trying to be to be irreverent, just honest. take psalm 51 for instance: david's very raw, heart-felt cry to God after he committed adultry with bathseba and murdered her husband:

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

the underlying tone throughout the whole psalm is "help me". i don't think there is anything wrong with this at all. God is not annoyed with us for continually asking for help, He wants us to, we are praising Him when we desperately call out "God save me, hosanna!"




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