Psalm 143:5

Psalm 143:5

5 I remembered the days of old,
I meditated on all your work,
about the deed of your hands I will talk.

TALK TO THE HAND

I happened to misread the last part of v.5 as “About your deeds I will talk with my hands.” It actually made sense to me because I had learnt Singapore sign language before. Learning about our home-grown signs for local landmarks like Marina Bay Sands and for local food like chee cheong fun (rice noodle roll) instilled in me a patriotism I never knew I was capable of, as well as a deep sense of respect for the creativity and resilience of the hearing impaired in our community.

It also made me conscious of how talking comes so effortlessly, but in signing, I had to be aware of “minimal pairs”, signs that look almost the same, except for variations in handshape, movement, palm orientation and location. Semantically unrelated ideas, like chocolate and church, can be easily mixed up by non-native signers and so cause confusion.

When it dawned on me that the psalmist was not talking about sign language in v. 5, I realized that he used three verbs—remember, meditate, talk—a progression from internally reflecting on God’s works, to speaking to oneself in meditation, and then to externally communicating to others.

Since hand signs could be mixed up, I’m reminded that there should also be no discrepancy between what we profess and what we practice in our lives. Faith without works is dead. Yet, the Psalmist admits in Ps 143:2 that no one is righteous before God. Still, he falls upon God’s grace and righteousness in v. 1.

How I live my life springs from faith in God’s grace. So let us remember the days of old, meditating on the truth that whatever good there is in yourself was made by him, and then let us tell out the greatness of our Lord.

Kjelti Koh  
(M.Div., Yr 3)