This week we revisit the story of Moses and how God called him to lead the Israelites during the time of judgment against the cruel power of ancient Egypt. When Moses asked God why he (of all people) was chosen to be his prophetic emissary, however, the LORD did not explain His choice in natural terms; nor did he appeal to Moses’ past experiences, or to his potential, or even to his great humility… Instead God simply said that whatever inadequacies Moses may indeed have, being in a personal relationship with Him was going to entirely sufficient for the task: “for I will be with you” (i.e., ki eheyeh imakh: כִּי־אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ). That is all that Moses would need (Exod. 3:12).

When Moses further sought to justify his calling as a true prophet sent from God, however, he asked to know God’s “name” (see Exod. 3:13). God’s response to the request was enigmatic: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה – ehyeh asher ehyeh: “I will be what I will be” (or I am what I am), which may be understood as, “It doesn’t matter what my Name is – I will be what I will be – all that matters is that I will be with you (ehyeh imakh), and that is enough! Indeed, God’s name is nifla (נִפלָא) – “wonderful and incomprehensible” (Judges 13:18; Psalm 139:6), since the LORD is infinite and beyond comparison to finite things (Psalm 147:5). God is the great “I AM” that pervades all of Reality (אָנכִי), the glorious Eternal Personal Presence (i.e., hayah, hoveh, ve’yihyeh) whose power constantly sustains all things. Most of all, He is declared and expressed as our Savior, the One who reveals the face of God to us all (2 Cor. 4:6).

Read more “God’s All-Sufficient Presence…”

Spiritual fruit does not immediately crop up but requires time and its own season (Psalm 1:3). The process of spiritual growth is mysterious and comes from heaven’s creative power, as Yeshua said: “The Kingdom of God (מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים) is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. By itself (αὐτομάτη, i.e., “automatically”) the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. And when the grain is ripe, he comes in with his sickle because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29). The wonder of faith understands the “ordinary” process of the growth of a seed as genuinely miraculous… With God all things are possible – and that includes the miracle of our newness of life. It is the fruit of the Spirit, after all, and that means that its source and end is found in God’s love…

Thank God it is a process, that we are not perfected in a day, otherwise we might die in despair over ourselves… As it is, God helps us endure ourselves, reminding us to lay down and die so that the power hidden in the “seed” can be released (John 12:24).

 

• Isaiah 26:12 Hebrew lesson card (pdf)

“Pray that you may never have to endure all that you can learn to bear.” Yes, though we must also believe that God “will not let us be tested beyond what we are able to bear, but with the test will also provide the way of escape (τὴν ἔκβασιν) so that we may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). Indeed, in light of suffering what we really need is perseverance, or what the New Testament calls hupomone (ὑπομονή), a word that means “remaining [μένω] under [ὑπο]” the Divine Presence while being tested (the English word “suffer” comes from the Latin word sufferre, from sub- (under) + ferre, to carry, and therefore denotes “bearing under” difficulty). When we suffer, especially when we find no answer to our agony, we need to find the will to believe, the strength to stay constant, and the rise of hope that gives utterance to simple prayers that focus the heart upon the Lord’s Presence: “God have mercy…” “Help me, O God…” “I need Thee, O Lord…” When we receive grace to faithfully suffer, we hear the Spirit whispering back to us: “Be not afraid…” “Live in me…” “Walk in the light…” “I am with you always…” “You are loved…”

 

 

• Psalm 34:19 Hebrew lesson card (pdf)

 

Life itself weans us from life as we learn that nothing ultimately belongs to us… We must learn to make peace with our sorrows and disappointments, to let go of them and to accept that this day, despite its frailty and trouble, is a precious gift from above. “My peace I give to you” (שלי שלום אני אתן לך), said Yeshua, “not as the world gives, I give to you” (John 14:27). Not as the world gives… When we let go, when we put everything in God’s hands, we acknowledge that all we have is a gift from God.

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…”