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What does timshel mean?

Timshel is a Hebrew word taken from Genesis 4:7. The KJV translates it this way, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” But that’s not what the Hebrew says. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, so shouldn’t we go back to the original translation to find out what God is telling us here? The “thou shalt” in the verse actually says “thou mayest.” 

“Thou mayest” rule over sin. It is not a command, but rather it shows that we have a choice in the matter. We have our own free will to decide, am I going to give in to Satan prompts or overcome them? We know the greatest way to overcome Satan’s tempting is with scripture. Jesus is our best example of this in Matthew 4. With every temptation, he responded with the words “it is written.” I heard a preacher by the name of Cliff Goodwin say one time, “write in the front cover of your Bible these words, ‘This book will keep me from sin, but sin will keep me from this book.” The number one way to win the battle over sin is with God’s word.

Mumford & Sons released a song in 2009 titled Timshel. The lyrics are as follows,

“But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

And I will tell the night

Whisper, "Lose your sight"

But I can't move the mountains for you.” 

You are not alone in this battle against pornography, but no one can move the mountains for you. To triumph over pornography is comparable to standing before a mountain trying to get to the other side. We have all seen Lord of the Rings, I hope. We know from these 3 hour films, it is a marathon, not a sprint. You will have setbacks. That is okay. The key is to have your brothers there to help you back up and keep going.