Sunday, November 13, 2005

El Gamar Ali, God Who Does For Me

I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.
(Psalm 57:2)
The words “all things” is italicized in the NJKV, indicating that they are not in the original but have been added by the translators as an aid to understanding. So we have: “God who performs for me.” Other versions have:
  • “God who does all things for me.” (Bible in Basic English)
  • “God who holds me together.” (The Message)
  • “God who is perfecting for me.” (Young’s Literal Translation)
  • “God who will fulfill His purpose for me.” (New Living Translation)
  • “God who accomplishes all things for me.” (NASB)
The Hebrew is El Gamar Ali.

The word gamar means to bring to completion, to accomplish, to perfect, to perform. That is what God does for us. He perfects in us, accomplishes in us, brings to completion in us, performs in us. It is found again, and in that sense, in Psalm 138:8:
The LORD will perfect [gamar] that which concerns me.
The Septuagint (early Greek translation of the Old Testament, signified by LXX), translates the Hebrew gamar with a form of the Greek verb euergeteo, which means to do good, to bestow benefits, to be a benefactor. It is the verb used in Acts 10:38, describing the ministry of Jesus, “who went about doing good.”

He is El Gamar Ali, God Who Does for Me.

In the South, when someone takes care of us, we say that he or she “does for us.” That is how God is for us. He takes care of us in every way, as in Psalm 23. He is also the great benefactor, as in Psalm 103: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” (See Six Things the Devil Wants You to Forget.)

Some people think they can make it on their own. They are not thankful for what they have. They think they provided it for themselves, went to work and earned it for on their own. As if they caused themselves to live and move and breathe and have the ability to do anything of themselves.

No, it is God who does for us, and not we ourselves. All the praise, honor and glory belongs to Him.

I’ve given up trying to do for myself—I always came up short. But God does all things well. From now on, I’m calling on El Gamar Ali, God Who Does for Me. What a wonderful name!

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