…Your gentleness has made me great. Psalm 18:35 NKJ
The word gentleness has many different definitions each one of them have great possibilities. In the original Hebrew, the word translated here is anavah. Here are it’s definitions:
Condescension: God bends down from the skies and leans forward to see what the angels are doing. David ascribes all of his greatness to the condescending goodness and the graciousness of his Father in heaven.
Correction: The Anglican Book of Common Prayer renders this verse: “…Your loving correction shall make me great.” Our Lord’s fatherly discipline is designed to better our lot in life.
Help: “…Your help makes me great.” God’s assistance is what causes us to experience greatness. He is soveriegnly and firmly an ally of all the saints, helping them in their service of the Lord.
Goodness: David experienced many deliverances as a result of God’s goodness to him. He always ascribed goodness, not to himself, but to the Lord God.
Lowliness: “…Your humility has mad me great.” To see Jesus is to see the Father. Since Jesus was meek and lowly (not arrogant or conceited), we know that the Father is also lenient, gentle, and condescending. It is the patience, forbearance, clemency, and condescension of God that makes great men and good men all that they are.
Enlightement: The Chaldee language version of this verse reads: “…Your word has increased me.” It is the entrance of God’s Word into our inner man that illuminines to us all the benevolent and gentle attributes of our Creator.
