Heart and Soul

   Remember that song Heart and Soul we played on the piano (at least with one finger) even when we really didn't know how to play (in addition to Chopsticks, that is)?  Bum bum bum, budumbudumbudum...  Hmmm, wish I could hum it for you.
   "Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,  and with all thy mind....' ". (Matthew 22:37).
   "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth..." (Song of Solomon 3:1)
   So what's the difference between loving with your whole heart and loving with your soul?  The soul, though difficult to define, is by many considered to consist of our mind, will, and emotions. The western world refers to the heart as the center of one's being, but the Hebrews refer to one's 'gut' or intestinal area as the center.  We sometimes talk about  'a gut reaction.' Or, we might say,"What do you feel about this decision 'in your gut?'
   Now, my heart might say and feel, 'I love You, Lord!' However, my 'gut' might be afraid to stand up for Him against persecution.  My heart might say, 'You're the most important thing in the world to me,' but my soul might say, 'Let's spend the evening watching mindless, or even immoral television..'  My heart might humbly say, 'You're the source of every good thing in my life,' but my soul might say, 'How much success and notoriety can I achieve from pursuing this venture?'
   So the more I think about the delineation Jesus made between what has been translated 'heart' and 'soul,' the more I begin to get a glimmer of the difference.  My willful soul wants to do what it wants to do. It fears the opinion of man, is selfish in how it wants to spend its time, can be prideful and critical of others, and is easily hurt and offended.  I think it's time to spend some time in Galatians (and, more importantly, with Him), if I want to love the Lord God with all my soul.  I want my soul transformed and directed by His Holy Spirit.  I don't want to give Him my heart one minute and then pursue my own willful way the next, finding rationalizations to excuse myself for it.
   There's an older praise song many of us sing: "I Give You My Heart...I Give You my soul...I live for You alone...have Your way in me..." I sing it with gusto, and I want it to be so.  But while I'm singing it, if I'm honest with myself, I'm aware that it's not really true.  He reads and knows me, however (the good, the bad, and the ugly). He knows my soul is still 'under construction.' There is no condemnation from Him, only from the Enemy of my soul. Yet I want to please Him, to make Him happy, to be soul clay, soft enough to mold into a beautiful work of art, no matter how wrinkled the body in which my soul resides. Let it be so, Lover of my soul. Let it be so.
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Galatians 1: 10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Galatians 5:17-26 
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit,you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited,provoking and envying each other.

Want to Go Swimming?

   Friends have sometimes asked me 'where I go' when I'm worshiping God. They can tell I'm 'not really there' anymore.  It's why I have difficulty worshiping with my eyes open. It's so much easier for me to connect with ADONAI that way.  I know fellow worshipers who close their eyes and stop singing during the musical part of worship so they can just get lost in God's presence.  Trying to sing sometimes actually distracts them.
   Since I was small, God has given me the gift of remembering both music and lyrics (unfortunately I also remember nearly all the commercial jingles, too). So I usually don't have to stop singing when I close my eyes.  It's a blessing to be able to leave earth (or at least stand on my tiptoes) during this time.
   Lately my mission in churches has been to give people an opportunity to be silent in the midst of quiet music that fosters intimacy with God. To be drawn to and into His Presence.  There are usually very few, if any, moments like this in most church services.  Personally, I would rather spend the majority of my time there, alongside other worshipers in the Body, yet communing very personally with the One Who loves me--and all of us--best.  God 'dwells in the praises of His people,' so worshiping corporately in this way offers us a much more powerful experience of His Person than even our daily, private devotional time usually provides.
   Chaim Bentorah, in his analysis of the word for worship in Hebrew--shachah--says that though it is appropriately translated 'to bow down,' if you look at the Hebrew letters which comprise it, you discover that it includes something rather like 'swimming' in God.  "Any time God has your full attention, He can surround you with His Presence and love, just as water surrounds you when you are swimming."  If you add the last component letter, you add the 'breath of God'.  "Hence, worship is any act that joins man with God into a completeness surrounded by the presence of the Spirit of God." This is also why, Scripture says, God is jealous for us.  He does not want anyone or anything else to supplant Him in this intimate worship relationship, one of dedicated and all-encompassing Racham**.
   I like the idea of swimming. Not the strenuous kind, in which I have to to struggle.  But rather the floating kind. Or doing the backstroke, looking up at the clouds, which are also swimming in that deep blue sky above me. Where my peripheral vision can no longer see the land. Or diving underwater and jetting through beneath the surface, exhilarated by the rush of water flowing past me.
   Parents teach their children to swim in different ways.  I'm thankful mine didn't just dump me in, using the sink or swim method. In fact, my dad was sometimes a lifeguard between academic school years. He taught me to float by holding me up with his hand underneath my back, until I was able to float on my own. Hmmmm... interesting thought, when I consider friends' concerns that they don't know how to swim (in worship, that is).  I realize now that abandoning myself to Him without fear, trusting that His hand was underneath my back, was how I learned.

*Hebrew Word Study: Revealing the Heart of God
**See post entitled Ravished
 

So much more...

    Recently, I asked a neighbor in Florida how things were going for him. He answered that everything was good, or 'as good,' he guessed, 'as it probably ever gets'. I can't remember his exact wording, but behind his answer I sensed a wistfulness, a heart hunger that there must be something more. I wish now I had let him know I'd be happy to talk with him about what more there is....so much more. Or, rather, Who there is Who is the source of much more.
   Years ago, Catherine Marshall, wife of the famous Scottish minister, Peter Marshall, wrote a book with just that title:  Something More.  In the years since I first read that book, I have discovered that there's even more than she described.  [Another day, another post.]
   I remember having my neighbor's exact thought decades ago when I was about twenty. Everything was going well from the world's perspective:  I was excelling in college, I had scholarships and a good work study position, I had a boyfriend whom I thought I would one day marry (silly me).  Yet I remember standing outside in the parking lot, staring up at the trees and sky around me and saying to myself, There must be something more. Why do I feel as if there's an unfulfilled longing in my heart that can't seem to be satisfied?  What else is there?  I didn't even know what else to wish for.  And wish is what it would have been, because I didn't yet know the Giver of every good and perfect gift...or at least I had forgotten all about Him.
   As a young child I carried this hunger within me.  I used to visit the small chapel (always open) beneath the large church we attended.  There in the quiet I sensed His Presence. I can't say I heard His 'still, small voice,' per se.  But I knew it was God Who was there with me, and I longed for Him. I just didn't know Him personally, didn't know Him as my Heavenly Father. I loved the Shepherd in the stained glass windows in the church above me, the one who held the children in His lap.  But I didn't really know Him.  I had no idea who the Holy Spirit was, the one they called the Holy Ghost in those days, but never really explained or talked about.  I loved the Psalms, the beautiful poetry of them, and without even trying, learned many by heart.  They filled me with joy. O come, let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is the Lord our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand....O that today you would hearken to His voice...
   If only I had been close to Him during my teen and college years, the way my children were.  I might not have wandered so far away. I remember even then looking up to the sky, looking for more, for deeper things. But though I didn't know Him, He knew me.  He whispered to me in that parking lot years later:  Something more....Yes.  Something more.   And after much heartbreak (which He knew was coming and which he used for good in my life to draw me to Him): Come home.  Come home to Me. My arms are wide open. I am more than you even know to ask for or imagine.
   I wanted to tell my neighbor, "Something more.  Oh yes. So much more." But I just stood there and let the kairos moment pass me by. After he left, words began to form in my mind. And then I thought, "Rats, I missed it.  The perfect opening!"  I pray I get another opportunity and that the Lord fills my mouth with just the right words to tell him there is so very much more.
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15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

 --1 Peter 3:15 

What Love is this?

   I know my small band of faithful readers are bright and inquisitive and hungry for more of God, so I am choosing to spend some 'setup' time in Greek and Hebrew, trusting you won't be bored.
   Most of us are familiar with the three Greek words translated into English as love:  Agape (unconditional love), Phileo (brotherly love/friendship); and Eros (romantic love between a man and a woman, from which we get the word erotic). However, Chaim Bentorah, in his chapter on love (Study 4), tells us that there are four words in Hebrew, and they are not necessarily parallel:  'ahav (love); racham (usually translated tender mercies); dodi (beloved, as in spousal love); and ra'ah (brotherly love or friendship).  
   Moving between the Greek and the Hebrew can be a challenge, he says, because while most translators use agape for 'ahav; ra'ah for phileo, and dodi for eros, ra'ah has many other meanings, including shepherd and consuming passion, as well as evil (having a consuming passion for something other than God).
  When you mix in the Aramaic, which Jesus and his early disciples are believed to have spoken most of the time, there is the word chav, which is most often translated 'ahav in the Hebrew, or agape in the Greek.  Interestingly enough there is also an Aramaic word, racham, which is identical to the Hebrew word racham..  And now  you will find me finally getting to the point, the buried treasure in this particular study.
   Sometimes we really believe, in our heart of hearts, that God loves some people more than others.  In fact, in John's gospel, he repeatedly refers to himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved.'  This often makes us laugh a little to ourselves, doesn't it?  According to our Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaicscholar, however, a better translation would literally be 'the disciple whom Jesus loved following' And thus expressed in English it would be:  'the disciple whom Jesus loved who followed Him.'  
   I hope you will end up purchasing your own copy of this book (and also see other recent posts) to read for yourself his short but powerful explanation. Summarizing, however: the term racham implies a response from the one who is loved.  It is 'a completed love.'  To love and be loved in return.  Adonai loves us with agape or 'ahav.  He loves us whether we respond to that love or not.  Whether we acknowledge Him or not.  Whether we appreciate His loving-kindness or not.  Whether we even recognize His existence.  But ah, when we love Him back...when we gratefully return His love. When we are not only His Beloved, but He is ours.  When we love Him no matter what comes, whether we always understand His ways or not (agape/'ahav). When we consider Him our Best Friend and Brother (Phileo/ra'ah).  When we love Him passionately in return (eros/dodi).  Then there is racham.
   "It is not that God loves one person more than another.  He loves all equally.  It is just that few people will love Him in return and complete His love, bring Him the joy of His love, awaken Him in that love, and cause Him to sing with joy in that love*.  In my exploration of God's heart, I believe the most defining element I have discovered is not only a passion in God's heart to love, chav, but also a longing to be loved in return, racham.  You and I--humble, little frail human beings--have the ability to bring joy to the heart of the God of the universe simply by saying to Him, wholeheartedly, 'I love you.....Do you want to bring to the all-mighty, all-powerful God a feeling of joy and make His day?  Tell Him you love Him."***

***Chaim Bentorah; Hebrew Word Study:  Revealing the Heart of God; p. 39

*[Zephaniah 3:17b:  
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Are you being served?

   When I titled an earlier post Buried Treasure, I had no idea how prophetic it would be for the chapter from Chaim Bentorah's book* which I read today:  Deep Things: 'Amaquth. I couldn't begin to relate all he packed into these few pages, but let me summarize his explanation of why he takes Job 12:22 from its KJV translation,  ("He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death") to "He reveals His secrets, which are unsearchable, from that which He has restrained, and will bring to the light His secrets"
   I had no idea the Torah was originally written as one long word.  I knew the Hebrew had no vowels, just consonants, when transliterated into our alphabet. However, I was unaware that there were no spaces between the words. So a letter from the end of one 'word,' chosen as such by those who originally divided the text for understanding and readability, could actually be the first letter of the next.  And moving a dot (remember dots and tittles?) from one end of a word to the beginning, changes the meaning entirely.  Shadow of death, thus,  could actually be His secrets, which seems to make much more sense in context.
  An image which delighted me was from the phrase 'he brings his secrets to light,' where the word "is similar to a waiter serving dinner."  Ah...."to sit at God's table, resting in His light and letting Him serve you a meal of His secrets and mysteries." *
   Hmmm...to apprehend, rather than comprehend, His unsearchable treasures and gifts of insight and truth. Profound awareness of Who He is in the midst of any circumstance. Lifted to a Rock higher than I (Psalm 61:2). Served a full-course meal at a table in the presence of my enemies. (Psalm 23:5). To find oneself drowning in the depths of the dark ocean, only to discover a shaft of light on a chest of treasures. Who would have thought our Father was also a deep sea diving instructor? What a God we serve. What a Father we have. What a Shepherd on Whom we lean.

*Bentorah, p.34, Hebrew Word Study, Revealing the Heart of God

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil.
--Psalm 23:5

From the end of the earth will I cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the Rock that is higher than I [yes, a rock that is too high for me].
--Psalm 61:2, Amplified

Tomorrow:  Does  God love us in degrees?

Ravished

   More from Chaim Bentorah (see 6/14 post).   I have to say that this man packs more eye-opening insight and depth of understanding into three-page chapters than anyone I've ever read.

 Livabethini: Ravished (or the closest English word we have, since there is no literal translation for it). [Song of Solomon 4:9]

   We all know how vulnerable we become when we fall in love and open our heart completely to another. The root of this word, according to Chaim, is levav, or heart. And since beth, which can mean both heart and home, is also used in the form of a 'double beth', "it depicts 'two hearts opening up to each other and becoming equally vulnerable."
   The Almighty God vulnerable? Indeed.  Once again, Chaim gives us an analogy from daily life, using the image of a tree being stripped of its bark and thus being made vulnerable to wounding. He says that livabethini has also been used in other Hebrew literature to describe that very thing. Or the king with his great wealth and mighty army who is still at the mercy of the woman he loves.
   Adonai loves us so greatly and deeply that when we reject or ignore Him, or are too busy to spend time with Him, we have the power to break His heart. We obliviously walk away from Him when He so longs to be with us, the way a lover longs to be with his beloved.  Whether we are man or woman, Adonai's heart can break with love for us.
  Resist the tyranny of the urgent. Turn, run back and wrap your arms around Him.  His are wide open.

Buried Treasure

   I have discovered a treasure chest and am like a pirate with my hands sifting through it, reveling in its bounty. That treasure comes from the pen of Chaim Bentorah:  Hebrew Word Study: Revealing the Heart of God. Bentorah lovingly and tenderly unfolds tissued layers of meaning in the context of our daily lives.

   "If you look at a drop of water with the naked eye, you see just one drop of water. But if you put that drop of water under a microscope, you see a whole world of life within it, things  that you could never see without the magnification. So it is with the Word of God. You may see just one word, but put that word under a spiritual microscope, and you will see a whole world of life within it that you hadn't even begun to imagine. The Jewish Talmud teaches that there are 'seventy faces' to Torah. The Word of God is pictured as a gemstone taken out to the sunlight. When the light reflects off the gemstone, it displays many different colors." [Bentorah p.17]

   Today's word was Sagav, translated 'Refuge,' a place of ultimate safety. (e.g. Psalm 9:9). The term holds within it the concept not just of shelter within the storm but above it, as if one is looking down from a great height. Bentorah  reminds us of our experiences in a plane when, in response to a storm, the pilot moves us to a higher elevation from which we can sometimes even see the lightning flashing beneath us.

   

All cry out to us

   If you haven't read my Hillside Chorus post (6/6),  go back and read that first, because this is an addendum.  God is always providing addendums, isn't He...our whole life long? I've already gone back and added another Scripture since the initial post.
   Now I've been introduced, thanks to my sister Anne, to Chaim Bentorak, a Messianic Hebrew scholar, who attempts to open God's heart to us by delving into the expanded meanings of the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Sandwiched between the preface and the first chapter is a short poem which I found quite timely after my Hillside Chorus post:

Never take anything of God's Creation for granted:
From the highest mountain or the mightiest storm
To the smallest ant or even a blade of grass.
All cry out to us from the very heart of God.
--Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study: Revealing the Heart of God

More from Chaim coming tomorrow....

[PS: If you find yourself missing posts, due to the vagaries of Facebook, as some have told me, you can either follow the blog via Google+ or add your email address in the widget on the upper right for notifications.]

Have we? Are we? Will we?

   "...we will tell to the generation[s] to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and His might, and the wonderful works that He has performed....that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments..." (Psalm 78:4,7+)

Have we? Are we?  Will we?

Do our children, grandchildren, grand nieces and nephews know what we believe? Do they know our love for the Lord and how He has seen us through every moment of our lives, in all circumstances?  Do they know we believe He is our Creator and Sustainer? Have we told them specific stories of His Goodness and Faithfulness to us and to those we love?

There are so many ways to do this, including intentionally choosing special occasion gifts that foster their relationship with Him, in addition to, or instead of, the latest toy or electronic fad.

Sometimes grandparents are constrained by the requests of their grown children as to how much they can share outright. However, weaving God's love and existence, along with testimonies of His goodness in our own lives, into the very fabric of our conversations, is different than sitting them down and inviting them to confess Jesus as their Saviour at any given moment.

Most importantly, no one can dictate our prayer lives. The most powerful thing we can do for our children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews is to pray for them with expectation and thankfulness
that God is taking action...not only in response to our prayers but in response to His own Will for
them. He wants them to know Him even more than we do. Pray confidently, thankfully, and powerfully with the faith that He is touching them through other people, through circumstances, and sometimes through very direct communication of His Presence, even if we rarely get to see them in person.  May those who form our family heritage one day run to us, whether on earth or in Heaven, and gratefully throw their arms around us for helping to lead them to The One Who loves them beyond imagining.
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Psalm 71:18 "Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, until I have declared Your mighty strength to [this] generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come." --Psalm 71:18

Psalm 79:8  "Then we your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give you thanks forever; we will show forth and publish Your praise from generation to generation."

Psalm 89:1 "I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your Faithfulness from generation to generation."

ROTFL

   There's something exciting about waiting to see what our Heavenly Father has in store for us, knowing not only that He always has good plans, but being tickled pink by His delightful sense of humor.  The older I get, the more I can hear His outright belly laughs. He's full of surprises and waits like a parent at Christmas to see us discover them.
   This is not always to say we aren't oblivious at times, that we sometimes don't even recognize His hand.  When it hits us, however, and we look up, we find Him looking down at us and laughing, like a practical jokester who watches from behind a bush to see his victim's reaction.  The difference is that we're always the victims of His beneficence.
   I love to hear Him laugh and wish I'd been attuned to His humor decades ago.  So much fun I have missed.  I knew His love long before I ever got His jokes. One thing that has helped me is keeping a daily journal in which I try to record His actual words to me.  Sometimes it's more of an apprehending of an idea, but either way I write it down.  Sometimes I have to try to draw a picture (stick figures not withstanding).
   When I first recorded His use of contemporary slang, I was sure I hadn't heard correctly and quickly erased it. However, I have come to understand that when we say he is able to speak any language, that includes even 'LOL'.  When I was trying to better understand the Trinity and He said 'group hug' at the end, I was almost ROTF*.
   If you know His love for you but have not yet discovered His funny side, ask Him to show you. Have a pen and journal in hand, and it will be the beginning of a new adventure in Divine Laughter.
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*For us ol' folk: 'Rolling on the Floor Laughing'

Hillside Chorus

   There is a song I love by Kirk Dearman called "All Creation Worships You."  As I sit on the deck in Vernonia facing an entire hillside of trees of various ilk, I watch them sway, each at their own speed and rhythm. Their leaves and branches move like a chorus in 10-part harmony. Periodically one level stops while another continues to dance and wave.  The treble trees flutter quickly, while the bass evergreens on the top of the ridge move slowly to and fro from side to side and up and down.
   I wonder sometimes if there is an angel conducting them, drawing out the occasional solo before the chorus joins in. The fading light splays itself across the upper layers of the ridge, in contrast to the darkening cypress surrounding the cabin like reassuring, stalwart sentries.
   I am reminded of the Narnian trees which Lucy encounters and which Aslan calls forth in time of need. Everything ADONAI brought into being declares His majesty and His glory.  He created it all with us in mind, wanting us to take delight in it. When was the last time we stopped to do so?

Psalm 19:1
Romans 1:20
[See also 6/13 post]