{"id":1617,"date":"2020-10-13T05:16:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T05:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2020-10-13T05:16:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T05:16:43","slug":"midst-of-the-whirlwind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/midst-of-the-whirlwind\/","title":{"rendered":"Midst of the Whirlwind…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For reasons not explained in Scripture, God chose to begin creating the world in chaos: \u05ea\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b8\u05d1\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \/ tohu vavohu ve\u2019choshekh:<\/em> \u201cconfusion and emptiness and darkness\u201d (Gen. 1:2). From chaos and darkness God would shine forth light – indeed, the divine light was the first of all God\u2019s creations (a counterpart of the \u201cLight of the World\u201d Himself): \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05be\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \/ yehi or, vayhi-or: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). God\u2019s handiwork in creation, then, first involves His mastery over chaos…<\/p>\n

God speaks from the midst of a whirlwind (\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, \u201ctempest\u201d), demonstrating that He is LORD over the seemingly chaotic world around us (Job 40:6). \u201cGreek-minded\u201d theology is more inclined to seek after \u201cApollo\u201d (the pagan ideal of harmony and order) than the seemingly chaotic ways of the LORD God of Israel. We often want some sort of \u201csystematic theology\u201d and for God to be explained to us in an orderly, logical way. There is danger here that we forget that the LORD is called Esh Okhlah<\/em> (\u05d0\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4), a \u201cconsuming Fire\u201d (Deut. 4:24, Heb. 12:29). God\u2019s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways (Isa. 55:8-9). As the prophet Isaiah also said: \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05bc\u05b6\u05d4 \/ \u201cI form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create woe; I the LORD do all these things\u201d (Isa. 45:7).<\/p>\n

We live in fearful times, chaverim. People are afraid of losing their money, their health, their freedoms, and so on. But we must be careful here. The fear of \u201closing control\u201d can move us to anger, yet the sages liken anger to idolatry since it denies the providence of God in our lives (i.e., hashgacha pratit:<\/em> \u05d4\u05e9\u05d2\u05d7\u05d4 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d8\u05d9\u05ea). Anger over the apparent chaos of life implies that we don\u2019t really believe that God is in control — that He is speaking \u201cfrom the midst of the whirlwind\u201d — and therefore we feel aggrieved and perhaps embittered by what might happen to us. We must look to God as the Master of the storms of life and draw closer to Him in trust. The Scriptures affirm that for those who love God \u201call things work together for good\u201d – gam zu l\u2019tovah – even if the present hour seems incomprehensible and even dangerous (Rom. 8:28-39).<\/p>\n

Yeshua warned us not to live in fear of man, but rather to live in fear of God (Matt. 10:28). The worst that man can do is \u201ckill the body\u201d but he has no real power over the soul… Tribulation – the \u201csqueezing of grapes\u201d – is part of the life of faith, but we are invited to come \u201cboldly\u201d before the Throne of Grace (\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u1f77\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03b8\u03c1\u1f79\u03bd\u1ff3 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c7\u1f71\u03c1\u03b9\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2) to find help for our lives (Heb. 4:16). Note that the word translated \u201cboldly\u201d in this verse (\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u1f77\u03b1\u03c2) means that we can speak freely to God from the center of the chaos of our hearts — without fear or shame. We don\u2019t need to conceal ourselves from the Divine Light, since this is the very Light that overmasters the “tohu va’vohu” chaos of creation! Those who accept that God is in complete control of their lives are set free from the terrible burdens of fear and outrage. Abiding in ahavah shlemah<\/em> (\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05de\u05b8\u05d4, God\u2019s \u201cperfect love\u201d) means that you can let go.<\/p>\n

May God help us all remember: \u05d7\u05b6\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05bc\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05b5\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b7\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05c2\u05bb\u05d2\u05bc\u05b8\u05d1 \/ \u201cThe fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be made safe\u201d (Prov. 29:25). Note that this \u201cfear of man\u201d is not just the fear of external dangers but more deeply is the fear we embrace within of our hearts – our own insecurity that undermines our faith…. May the LORD help us abide in His perfect love, free from the ravages of fear, anger, and anxiety. Amen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For reasons not explained in Scripture, God chose to begin creating the world in chaos: \u05ea\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b8\u05d1\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \/ tohu vavohu ve\u2019choshekh: \u201cconfusion and emptiness and darkness\u201d (Gen. 1:2). From chaos and darkness God would shine forth light – indeed, the divine light was the first of all God\u2019s creations (a counterpart of the \u201cLight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-dvar","category-hebrew-reading-practice","category-torah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1620,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions\/1620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}