We are commanded not to love the world (κόσμος), nor the things this world values, since doing so embraces a philosophy of life, or spirituality, that is at war with the Father and contrary to the truth of the Eternal (1 John 2:16; James 4:4). The fallen world values “the flesh” and the “desire of the eyes” that is patterned according to the “arrogance of life”; it is a “beauty pageant” that esteems others based on their accidental qualities instead of their inner and essential qualities….
 
The world values other people as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves, and therefore is inherently violent and exploitative. The flesh is the realm of the all-too human, the selfish, the natural, the ordinary, and the tit-for-tat, where love and acceptance are extended solely in conditional terms (Matt. 5:46-47). In this connection, let me quote from the late Henri Nouwen and his book “Return of the Prodigal Son”:
 

 
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“We groan inwardly as we eagerly await our redemption…” (Rom. 8:23). We sigh deeply because we are suspended between two worlds, living in the ambiguity of an already-not-yet expectation, enduring ourselves as imperfect vessels longing for perfection, trapped between what is and what will be, seeing the unseen, yearning for healing, believing that we shall never die, even as we die (John 11:26). We are restless for our eternal home and long for God’s presence as we walk through shadowy vales, facing various temptations, whispering our prayers in the dark. And though we must learn endurance and trust in God’s sovereign purposes, our faith nevertheless compels us to cry out, “How long, O Lord?” and “Come, Lord Yeshua” (Rev. 22:20). Our ongoing challenge is to keep a positive attitude despite the struggles we face, and therefore we inwardly pray: “Renew within me ruach nachon (רוּחַ נָכוֹן) – “a spirit that says Yes” (Psalm 51:10). Surrender means accepting God’s will for our lives — saying “yes” to the promise of love, even if we presently feel empty inside and wonder how long we can hang in there… Saying “yes” implies saying “no” to other things – no to fear, anger and doubt, for example. Tragically there are people who have given up hope for bitterness and despair. Asking the Lord to give us a spirit of “yes” is really a prayer for focus, direction, and the willingness to keep pressing on to our heavenly destiny, especially when the way seems dark and hope seems distant.

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Our Heavenly Father sees in secret… “The deepest thing in our nature is this region of heart in which we dwell alone with our willingnesses and our unwillingnesses, our faiths and our fears” (William James). It is there, in the secret place of the heart, that the sound of the “knock” is either heard or disregarded (Rev 3:20). May the Lord give us the willingness to do His will and the courage to believe in His love. And may God deliver us from doubt and from every other fear. May we all be strong in faith, not staggering over the promises, but giving glory to God for the miracle of Yeshua our LORD. May we all be rooted and grounded in love so that we are empowered to apprehend the very “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of God given to us in Messiah, so that we shall all be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:14-19). Amen.

• Psalm 39:12 Hebrew Lesson Card (pdf)

The sages say the verse, “Blessed is the person who fears always” (Prov. 28:14), means that whenever you want to do something, you should first seriously consider the consequences… If you do not think clearly, you will not fear, and such carelessness invariably leads to sin. The sacred is bound up with care; it sets boundaries between the profane and the holy. The “fear of the LORD” is expressed as vigilance against the lusts of the lower nature (yetzer ha’ra)… We “tremble” before God when we are awake to His holiness and wonder (Phil. 2:12). The Temple was destroyed because of our forefathers did not think about their actions; they first exiled themselves from the Divine Presence and then they “caught up with” the pain of their exile for themselves.

• Proverbs 28:14 Hebrew Lesson Card (pdf)

Teshuvah (“repentance”) is often described as “turning” back to God, though practically speaking it is an ongoing turning, that is, a turning to God both in moments of ambiguity, pain, and distress, as well as in moments of respite and relative happiness… It is in the midst of the ego’s clamor, before the parade of worldly desire or pressure, in the crucible of “everydayness” that we must “come to ourselves” and find true wonder. In that sense, teshuvah is a sort of focus, a direction, a seeking, and a center of life, the place of constant repair for the inner breach we constantly feel. It’s a long road home to finally understand you belong at your Father’s table…

The question may be asked, however, whether you really want God – the Living God – to be intimately present in your life. “Repentance means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into… It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death” (C.S. Lewis). Indeed, “nothing is more certain: coming close to God brings certain catastrophe [to the ego]. Everyone whose life does not bring relative catastrophe has never even once turned as a single individual to God; it is just as impossible as it is to touch the conductors of a generator without getting a shock” (Soren Kierkegaard). As the Scripture says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God” (Heb. 10:31).

It is written in the Mishnah (Avot:15b), “repent one day before you die,” but who knows the day of one’s death in advance? Therefore “seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him when he is near” (Isa. 55:6). “In eternity you will not be asked how large a fortune you are leaving behind – the survivors ask about that. Nor will you be asked about how many battles you won, about how sagacious you were, how powerful your influence – that, after all, becomes your reputation for posterity. No, eternity will not ask about what worldly goods remain behind you, but about what riches you have gathered in heaven. It will ask you about how often you have conquered your own thought, about what control you have exercised over yourself or whether you have been a slave, about how often you have mastered yourself in self-denial or whether you have never done so” (Kierkegaard).

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“This I say then, live by the Spirit, and you will not be enslaved to the compulsions of the lower nature. For the compulsions of the lower nature are against the Spirit, but the freedom of the Spirit is against the lower nature. These principles are mutually exclusive, creating self-conflict and instability, and keeping you from living a life of real freedom and joy. If you live by the Spirit, however, you will be set free from the chaos of the lower nature and its inner conflict” (Gal. 5:16-19). We escape temptation by choosing to elevate our thinking, by directing our focus toward God in prayer and supplication, and regarding ourselves as spiritual beings that bear eternal significance. This is the way of spirituality (רוּחָנִיוּת), for where the Spirit of the LORD is present, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17). When we feel the pull of the yetzer hara (lower nature), we should pray that God would unify our hearts with divine truth, as it is written: רִגְזוּ וְאַל־תֶּחֱטָאוּ – “tremble and you will not sin” (Psalm 4:4), which means that as our eyes open to the awe of God, we will be humbled before the Sacred Presence, and the enticement of the self will flee from us (James 4:7). Resist the temptation to envy or self-pity; rejoice in the godly struggle against the devices of the lower nature: a pure heart sees the truth of God (Psalm 24:4; Matt. 5:8).

• Psalm 86:11 Hebrew Lesson Card (pdf)

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