Psalm 141:3 - Tribulation as the teacher of zeal

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The third verse of Psalm 141 is a reminder that God is always aware of us, and we must therefore constantly cultivate our awareness of him, so that we use setbacks and difficulties as a source of spiritual growth, rather than resorting to blaming others, murmuring about the unfairness of life, or falling into despair. 

Text notes

 Latin and Greek translations

3	V	In deficiendo ex me spiritum meum: * et tu cognovisti semitas meas.
	NV	Cum deficit in me spiritus meus, tu nosti semitas meas.
	R	In deficiendo in me spiritum meum et tu cognovisti semitas meas.
	JH	Cum anxius fuerit in me spiritus meus, tu enim nosti semitam meam :
		ἐν τῷ ἐκλείπειν ἐξ ἐμοῦ τὸ πνεῦμά μου καὶ σὺ ἔγνως τὰς τρίβους μου

 Word by word translation

in deficiendo (in failing/fainting/wasting away/when it failed) ex me (from me) spiritum (the spirit) meum (my), et (and) tu (you) cognovisti (you have known/knew) semitas (the paths) meas (my).

Key vocabulary

deficio, feci, fectum, ere 3 to fail, to be spent, destroyed;to waste away, pine, deficere in with ace, to long for, pine for,

spiritus, us, m.  breath;  wind;  breath of life, vital spirit; the soul; spirit, disposition; Divine assistance, grace

cognosco, gnovi, gnitum, ere 3, to know, see, learn, perceive, be come acquainted with.

semita, ae, f, a path, way; course of life, action, conduct, or procedure

Selected English translations

DR	When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
Brenton	When my spirit was fainting within me, then thou knewest my paths
MD	My spirit is fainting within me, but Thou knowest my paths
RSV	When my spirit is faint, thou knowest my way!
Cover	When my spirit was in heaviness, thou knewest my path;
Knox	My heart is ready to faint within me, but thou art watching over my path.
Grail	while my spirit faints within me. But you, O Lord, know my path.

The words of Christ or us?

Can we really interpret this verse, 'when my spirit failed me', as being the words of Christ?

The various commentaries have different takes on this issue.  St John Chrysostom, for example, puts the phrase in a slightly broader context, which can then be seen as consistent with the Agony in the Garden:

Do you observe him also more aroused in tribulation, taking refuge in God, to a greater degree clinging to him with extreme vehemence, even in the very depths of troubles (this is in fact the meaning of When my spirit fails me), and then most of all proving more zealous?  Now the phrase you know my paths a different translator rendered as “you are in fact aware of.”

The Knox translation perhaps captures this best, saying, implying the experience of human emotions, but not succumbing to them, with 'My heart is ready to faint within me...' 

But the alternative approach, summarised by Cassiodorus, is that Christ is articulating our response, on behalf of the Church:

His phrase: When my spirit fails me, we are to understand as if He were saying: Before him I declare my trouble, when my spirit fails me. He wants us to realise that the troubles which He claims to be proclaiming before the Lord are many and most oppressive. But since we read that on no occasion did His spirit fail, for He fulfilled everything by voluntary suffering, we must interpret the phrase as spoken on behalf of His members.

Against murmurers

Either way, the key message of the verse is that our proper response to times of difficulty is not to give up, not to blame God or others, but to cultivate an awareness that God knows what is happening to us, and wants us to stay on the correct path.

St John Chrysostom's take on the subject fits well with St Benedict's teaching on this subject in the chapter of the Rule on humility, which quotes the same verse of Psalm 118:

 When fainthearted people in particular give up and many utter defamatory words, then the psalmist most of all employs good sense, having tribulation as a teacher of zeal.  So when you see someone despairing as a result of tribulation, or uttering some harsh word, hold not tribulation as responsible but the faintheartedness of the speaker: it is natural with tribulation to have the opposite effect – attention, a contrite mind, an alert attitude, depth of piety.  Hence Paul also said, Tribulation produces endurance, and endurance character.

 

If, on the other hand, the Jews murmured, the murmuring was due not to tribulation but to their folly; for when the saints underwent tribulation, they proved more conspicuous and their values sounder.  Hence the psalmist himself also said, ‘It was good for me, Lord, that you humbled me, so that I might learn your decrees’.  And Paul: Lest I be carried away from the magnitude of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given me, a messenger of Satan, to punish me.  Three times I besought the Lord about it, and he said to me, My grace is enough for you: my power is brought to completion in weakness.  When I am weak, you see, then I am strong.

Psalm 141 (142): Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio	Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave.
1 Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * voce mea ad dóminum deprecátus sum.	2 I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2. Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, * et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio	3 In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
3. In deficiéndo ex me spíritum meum: * et tu cognovísti sémitas meas.	4 When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
4  In via hac, qua ambulábam, * abscondérunt láqueum mihi.	In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
5 Considerábam ad déxteram, et vidébam: * et non erat qui cognósceret me.	5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me.
6. Périit fuga a me: * et non est qui requírat ánimam meam.	Flight has failed me: and there is no one that has regard to my soul.
7. Clamávi ad te, Dómine, * dixi: Tu es spes mea, pórtio mea in terra vivéntium.	6 I cried to you, O Lord: I said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
8.  Inténde ad deprecatiónem meam: * quia humiliátus sum nimis.	7 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
9.  Líbera me a persequéntibus me: * quia confortáti sunt super me.	Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
10 Educ de custódia ánimam meam ad confiténdum nómini tuo: me exspéctant justi, donec retríbuas mihi.	8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the just wait for me, until you reward me.