The Hebrew word for “world” or “age” is olam (עוֹלָם), which is derived from a root verb (עָלַם) that means “to conceal” or “to hide.” God “hides” His face from us so that we will seek Him, and that means we must press through ambiguity to earnestly take hold of divine truth. Centuries before the time of the philosopher Plato, King David proclaimed that there was a “divided line” between the realm of the temporal world and realm of the hidden and eternal world. The temporal world is finite, subject to change, yet pointed beyond itself to an eternal world, which was the source of real significance, meaning, and life itself (2 Cor. 4:18). Therefore King David said, בַּקְּשׁוּ פָנָיו תָּמִיד/ bakeshu fanav tamid: “Seek His face at all times” (Psalm 105:4). Note that the numerical value for the word “fanav” (i.e., “His face”) is the same as that for the word “olam.” When we truly seek God’s face (i.e., His Presence) we are able to discern the underlying purpose for our lives.

• Psalm 105:4 Hebrew lesson card (pdf)

The ancient Greek version of the Torah (i.e., the “Septuagint” or LXX) translates this verse as, “Seek the LORD and be strengthened; seek His face through everything (διὰ παντός).” Unlike Plato, however, who “saw through” the temporal world and regarded it as less than real, King David understood that how we live within the intersection of these two realms reveals our inner character of faith — and therefore our ultimate destiny….

The defining characteristic of our age may be summed up by the word “stupidity,” which may be defined as the impaired spiritual, moral, and mental condition of acculturated people (even seemingly intelligent ones) that has rendered them incapable of honestly evaluating truth claims and thinking logically (Rom. 1:28).  Such “stupidity” has been inculcated by pop culture, scripted by mass media; propagated by the “dumbing down” of our educational system, and disseminated by godless political correctness propaganda for several generations now…  Today we live in a morally insane and lawless culture that is incapable of self-governance — a culture that has become entirely reprobate before the eyes of heaven.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was surrounded by the atrocious evil of Nazi Germany, regarded the stupidity of his age as more dangerous than outright evil, since stupidity is a type of irrationality, a chosen ignorance of what is real and true. Against such willed ignorance we are often defenseless, since logical reasoning that appeals to objective truth for its premises finds no traction, carries no weight, and has no effect.  The devil, then, seeks first of all to stupefy people, that is, to flatter and persuade them that there is no need for them to engage in serious thinking or to humbly question their assumptions… As William James observed: “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” The antidote to unthinkingly accepting the biases and inculcated prejudices of the world is to be awakened to the reality of God: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).

• Proverbs 9:10 Hebrew lesson card (pdf)

The central axiom of all right thinking about reality is “wonder,” or the humble awareness that life itself is something mysteriously beautiful, amazing, and therefore inherently sacred. This is sometimes called yirat Adonai (יִרְאַת יְהוָה), “the fear of the LORD” that leads to wisdom. Right thinking therefore begins with consciousness of the good (הַכָּרַת טוֹבָה), that is, with an awareness that life itself a gift, a mystery, and a hallowed question… We seek our origin, our essence, and our purpose — and in our seeking we seek the LORD. We long for deliverance from what keeps us from healing, from love, from real hope. And as we seek, the wonder of the LORD God never ends. As Yeshua said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).

God does not love you based on your obedience, but his love for you will lead you to obedience… It is only after accepting that you are accepted despite yourself — despite your inherent inability to please God, despite your incurably sick heart, despite your disobedience, sin, and so on — it is only then that earnest, Spirit-enabled obedience may spontaneously arise within your heart. In that sense “obedience” is like falling in love with someone. It is your love that moves you to act and to express your heart, and were you prevented from doing so, you would undoubtedly grieve over your loss… Therefore the “law of the Spirit of Life in Messiah” is first of all empowered by God’s grace and love. We walk by faith, hope, and love – these three. And this explains why the very first step of teshuvah (repentance) is to love God: Shema! Ve’ahavta et Adonai… The first work of faith is to believe in the miracle that God’s love is “for-you-love…”

If you still find yourself operating from a sense of God’s conditional acceptance, you will undoubtedly need to repeat the same sins over and over until your heart is finally convinced of its incurably wretched state. You must first be utterly sick of yourself to believe in the miracle of God’s deliverance. Only after this does the good news of the gospel find its opportunity to speak…

• Jeremiah 31:3b Hebrew lesson card (pdf)

Reflecting on the role of suffering in the heart of faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “Here is the decisive difference between Christianity and all religions. Man’s religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world: God is the deus ex machina. The Bible directs man to God’s powerlessness and suffering: only a suffering God can help” (Letters and Papers from Prison). Bonhoeffer’s comment alludes to the difference between an “Elohim” (אֱלהִים) conception of God as the omnipotent power and Judge of reality, and the “YHVH” (יהוה) conception of God as the compassion Source and Breath of life – the Suffering God who empties himself to partake of our condition – to know our pain, to bear our sorrows, to heal us from the sickness of spiritual death, and to touch us in the loneliness of our exile… The Spirit enables us to “groan” in compassion, directing us away from the impulse to “kill the pain” to accept it as part of our lament and need for connection with God.

Hebrew Lesson
Lamentations 2:13 Hebrew reading:

• Lam. 2:13a Hebrew Lesson Card (pdf)

Read more “Suffering and Hope…”

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”:
 

 
Read more “Love not the World…”