we give back to Him what is His own, namely ourselves and all we have, day by

day and ask Him to cleanse and use us in the practical working out of this

supreme aspect of service while the day of opportunity lasts.

May every believer whose eyes have been enlightened to apprehend the

Mystery and the high calling of God in Christ Jesus be among those of whom it

can be said with truth that they are wholly consecrated to the Lord.

lf the reader will consult an analytical concordance, he will discover

that the Authorized Version uses the word 'fail' to translate over forty

Hebrew and Greek words.  Some of the passages where the word 'fail' occurs

have no bearing upon either the purpose of God, or the doctrines of grace,

but quite a number will compensate the earnest student for his search.  We

have selected out of this number, seven, not because the number seven is

attractive, for we had made our selection before we counted their number.  We

sincerely hope that the consideration of these seven different words used in

the original by God, will throw light both upon the root causes of human

failure, and of the assurance that we have of Divine success.  It so happens

that we noted down the different Hebrew words alphabetically, and as there

does not seem any reason to start with one passage more than another, let

this order be our guide now.  The word which we now investigate, therefore,

is the Hebrew gamar.  It is translated 'fail' in Psalm 77:8.  Psalm 77 is one

of the 'Sanctuary' Psalms, a group that begins with Psalm 73 where Asaph is

seen to be in despondency and in a critical mood, until he 'went into the

sanctuary of God'.  This group of Psalms extends from Psalm 73 to Psalm 79.

References to the sanctuary are found not only in Psalm 73, but Psalm 74

speaks of the 'enemy in the sanctuary' (verse 3), and the burning up of 'all

the synagogues of God in the land' (verse 8), and calls upon God not to

'forget the congregation' of the poor (verse 19).  Psalm 76 speaks of the

'tabernacle' and 'dwelling place' (verse 2).  The sanctuary is mentioned also

in the Psalm under consideration:

'Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: Who is so great a God as our

God?' (Psa. 77:13).

This reference to the sanctuary, however, does not come in the opening

section of the Psalm, but as in Psalm 73, its occurrence marks the turning

point from doubt to trust.

The Psalm opens with a cry,

'I cried unto God with my voice,

Even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:

My sore ran in the night, and ceased not:

My soul refused to be comforted' (Psa. 77:1,2).

The words 'My sore ran' which we find in the Authorized Version is

altered in the Revised Version to 'My hand was stretched out'.  The

Authorized Version reads the passage as a figure, the hand standing for a

blow struck by the hand, but this finds little or no favour with