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The eleventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and the title of the next eight verses of Psalm 119 is the Kaph. Pronounced (koff), this letter is a pictogram of an open space, symbolizing the open palm or the open hand or an open container along with its ability to receive, give and to cover things. It can also mean to bend or subdue.

This imagery becomes vivid as the Psalmist pours out his heart in prayer to God. He is asking questions as a “hollow cup” or “empty bowl”, even a beggar who has his empty palms upward awaiting the Lord to fill him, to answer him, to be satisfied.

⁸¹ My soul longs for your salvation;
    I hope in your word.
⁸² My eyes long for your promise;
    I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

Every soul who has ever prayed a sincere prayer, where he or she has asked God for help, knows exactly how the Psalmist feels. There is a frustrating tension which arises in us as we know that all things are completely within the power of God to change, fix, or heal, and yet we return to God with “empty hands” so often, asking to be filled. An empty palm seems unfair, and in many cases is perceived as unloving. Many atheists are birthed out of this tension when they pridefully conclude that since they “asked God” and didn’t receive their request, God must not exist or if He does, then He doesn’t care or He’s cruel.

Have you ever prayed: “Please God, just this once…”?

A genuine and secure faith is not grown in a single moment of desperation and a child isn’t born at conception. If we want the “baby”, if we desire God to fill our bowl, to subdue or bend our will in conformity to His, then such a prayer is grown into us, moment by moment, as life brings opportunities for us to surrender outcomes and trust God more than our sight, strength or cleverness. This surrendering of outcomes, desiccates our ambition and pride as we learn God’s love and His rules for living.

⁸³ For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,
    yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
⁸⁴ How long must your servant endure?
    When will you judge those who persecute me?

Since God isn’t a cosmic vending machine, and there is no “secret” ritual, human advancement strategy, word of faith doctrine, or any imaginable ritual or rite, no priest, guru, or Imam who can cajole the “Genie” out of the lamp, and since the absolute and total sovereignty of God necessarily includes all of those over whom we seek our own advantage, then the big discovery within our soul is the recognition that those who harm us are not completely other than us. God is withholding judgement on them just has he has with us. We never see this at first because we feel superior, more righteous, than others.

In these next sections, the Psalmist takes us into this inner transformation. His prayer is lifted from focusing upon how his enemies strive against him, unto the realization of something far greater. While simultaneously asking for God’s help and deliverance from his enemies, he recognizes that God’s commandments and rules for living elevate him out of mere flight or retaliation, and into a patient endurance…regardless of outcomes.

⁸⁵ The insolent have dug pitfalls for me;
    they do not live according to your law.
⁸⁶ All your commandments are sure;
    they persecute me with falsehood; help me!

What appears to be an empty hand at the beginning of this passage is revealed to be an overflowing container by the end. The atheist remains incapable of seeing all that “subdues” and satisfies this vacancy, because the only answered prayer in their estimation is the one that satisfies their prideful will. This opens up a radically larger cosmology to us, namely that the entirety of reality is not limited to solely the physical realm. Concordantly, there exists non-physical reality, where faith, logic, mathematics, and wisdom actually exist, which are very real “not-things“, subjective reality not objective reality.

Because of this cosmological shift from being independent, disconnected objects into integrated subjects, by faith, the psalmist now sees all that is filling his begging hands. He now possesses a satisfaction which only comes from the spiritual depth dimension of true love. Now he possesses “Steadfast Love”, which is the immeasurable, overflowing, perspective, that just missed him at the beginning. So in the small view, his prayer wasn’t answered, but in the cosmic view, it has been granted beyond overflowing.

⁸⁷ They have almost made an end of me on earth,
    but I have not forsaken your precepts.
⁸⁸ In your steadfast love give me life,
    that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.

Because of this fully satisfying filling of his palms with the immense, oceanic love of God, the Psalmist so called “enemies” actually have been overcome from within, and that preserves them in their journey of discovering this love for themselves. The enemy is transformed into a friend who hasn’t perceived the love as the Psalmist has, and compassion replaces vengeance, restoration displaces retribution.

This portal allows us to see the path to redeeming every particle of the universe. Had God simply snuffed out the Psalmist’s enemies, and graced him with all his myopic, surface level wishes, the Psalmist, like ourselves, would never actually experience the love of God as anything but our own personal assistant.

Most prayers are our attempt to subject God to our will, not subject our will’s to God. That’s the lesson here.

Now, by way of our“empty hands,” we are graced with an answer to prayer so satisfying, so transformative, that it grows our faith to a point where we may never pray for our own will again. Instead we lift our needy hands knowing they will be filled to overflowing in a way that makes life far better for all of us.

We can surrender all outcomes, because we know God is good.