Psalm 36:5-9 5 Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. 8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. 9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. These are qualities of God: His goodness, kindness and faithfulness (also reliability) extends farther than we can reach. His righteousness (justice) is solid, strong, and firm (unmovable). His judgements are full of wisdom that is deeper than we can comprehend. He preserves us. He is a shelter for us. He provides an abundance from His overflowing (fatness) resources. He lets us “drink” from the torrent (not just a trickle) of eden (It’s interesting that we tend to think of delights as having the things we want, but the word used for delights refers to the garden where Adam and Havvah had unbroken fellowship and relationship with YHWH. I wonder if these delights aren’t physical delights but rather refer to our relationship with YHWH – in other words, we are filled and satisfied with the rushing torrent, the overwhelming flood, of His presence.) He is life He instructs us and gives us light to live by, walk by, and prosper by.
I am in Christ Jesus by His doing. 1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” It seems that lately I’ve had more questions than answers. My question here is, “What does it mean to be ‘in Christ Jesus?’” Here is the answer I found on one site that was pretty good: As you stated, the phrase “in Christ” appears multiple times within the pages of the New Testament. The biblical meaning of this phrase can be found in Ephesians 2:11-22, where the apostle Paul points out the fact that “in Christ,” both Jew and Gentile have been “reconciled” (brought back or reestablished) into a right relationship with God through the blood of Christ (see Ephesians 2:13-16, and note the word “reconcile” in Ephesians 2:16). [1] It still doesn’t really tell what it means to be “in” Christ, but it does sort of talk about that to be “in” Him is to be reconciled to Him, to have a right relationship with God (through the blood of Yeshua). So, to be “in” Him, could be to be in His blood and restored to a right relationship with YHWH. That’s certainly good news! So essentially I am restored to a right relationship with YHWH through the covering blood Yeshua! Wow! [1] Riley, Mike. “What Does It Mean to Be In Christ.” Mike Riley’s Articles. 23 Sept. 2007. Web. 29 Jan. 2011. <http://mbriley.preachersfiles.com/2007/09/23/what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-christ/>.
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. That’s pretty spectacular. He was so close to God that God wanted him home. Most of the other people in his time lived eight and nine-hundred years….but Enoch only lived around three hundred-ish. The word for with in the statement is one that denotes closeness. Enoch didn’t just believe, he walked closely with God. I wonder if it was like the garden again, someone to talk to in the cool of the evening. And then God took him and became nothingness. No body to bury or remains to find. He was just gone. That had to be amazing (for him) and shocking (for everyone else). God has to be personal, if He wants someone home that badly. Kinda cool!
No long post today as I have to run to work early (I’m trying to be there by 6:30 am – school starts at 7:18 am). It’s the first day back at school for the kiddos! However, Skip has a great post today about how in Yeshua we are all brothers and sisters, equals. None of us, no matter what our job title says, is any greater or any lesser than another. A good reminder these days when everything seems to be about the title and prestige. Read more here.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m still in the middle of a struggle to understand all this (all that I’ve learned about the words I read, the Hebrew mindset, the Torah, etc.), but I used to think of God as warm and comforting, as someone I could snuggle into when I was afraid and talk to when I am afraid. But, now He seems more cold and distant, more a king than a comforter, more a holy GOD than a relate-able, tell-me-what’s-wrong-I’m-listening Father. Is He warm, kind, and loving, or is He cold, unapproachable in holiness, and loving me as a piece of a larger plan? Sometimes it seems that I don’t matter (I don’t mean that selfishly, but more that I’m a pawn in a larger game which matters much more than I do). And if the plan is bigger and better, if I don’t matter in the grand scheme of it all (being such a tiny player), why did God create me? I miss feeling like God cares about me. I’m not saying that He ignores me or that He’s made a mistake. It just seems like the personal aspect of a relationship with God has been removed because the communal, over-everyone, unapproachable-because-I-am-not-worthy part is so much bigger. I feel that I’m constantly unacceptable and walking on eggshells because I want to obey Him but don’t know how. I’m sorry, I feel rather confused and melancholy this morning. Perhaps I’m struggling with what I want vs. what He wants, and I need to remember what it’s like between me and my children – sometimes they don’t get what they want because I know something they don’t know and I have something better/safer/cooler for them up my sleeve.
Numbers 12: 3-8 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.…6And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Miriam and Aaron had questioned Moses’ relationship with God because he had married a non-Jewish woman (he did this after leaving Egypt and prior to the “burning bush” incident). An interesting point is made here. First, if Moses did indeed write Numbers, then he was making these points about himself… which must have felt a little awkward. But anyway, God tells Miriam and Aaron that Moses is the most faithful servant in His house. When God speaks to prophets He comes in dreams, visions, and riddles. But when God speaks to Moses it’s clear and face to face. Clearly they had a remarkable and special relationship! You’d think having that kind of relationship, one that no one else had, would make Moses proud of his position and “rank” with God. But, no, Moses was the meekest man alive. Meek in Hebrew doesn’t mean just humble. It implies that he had power but had chosen not to use it in order to submit to another. Moses was meek because he clearly had the ear of God and God had granted him power, but he chose not to use it to lord over others. Instead, he “domesticated” it. He submitted himself to God’s will, only using his gifts as God chose. He was probably also keenly aware of how insignificant man is in relationship to God’s power and might, especially since he literally saw God’s form on a regular basis. He knew that no matter how unique his relationship with God may be, he was completely undeserving. Why does it matter? Well, if I have any power, it should be submitted to God and His will, instead of being used to further my goals and ambitions. And I should continually remember that it is by GRACE alone that I am allowed in the presence of the Almighty God. Pretty tough lessons to learn. But, I think that the more I am able to do that, the closer I will be to the heart of God. And that’s where I want to be.
Leviticus 13:24 Or if the body receives a burn on its skin by fire, and the raw [flesh] of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white, This is kind of weird, but I wanted to write it down before I lost it. The Hebrew word for burn (technically burn spot/scar) is mikvah, from the root word kavah meaning to burn/scorch/brand. Interestingly the Hebrew term used for the baptism ritual is also mikvah and is defined: a) (lit. “collection or gathering [of water]“); ritual bathing pool in which a person immerses himself as part of the transition to ritual purity b) (lit. “collections or gatherings [of water]“); ritual bathing pools in which a person immerses himself as part of the transition to ritual purity. [1] The water must always be moving (even thought it’s a bathing pool – there’s a specific way this is done) and there is a long history of its use: Before the revelation at Sinai, all Jews were commanded to immerse themselves in preparation for coming face to face with G-d. Immersion in the mikvah has offered a gateway to purity ever since the creation of man In the desert, the famed “well of Miriam” served as a mikvah. And Aaron and his sons’ induction into the priesthood was marked by immersion in the mikvah. In Temple times, the priests as well as each Jew who wished entry into the House of G-d had first to immerse in a mikvah. On Yom Kippur, the holiest of all days, the High Priest was allowed entrance into the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple, into which no other mortal could enter. This was the zenith of a day that involved an ascending order of services, each of which was preceded by immersion in the mikvah. [1] The mikvah is used by men prior to Yom Kippur, as a place of ritual purification for various reasons (including prior to a wedding), and as a place of purification for women after menstruation. There are a series of rules that had to be followed prior to mikvah (such as washing oneself prior to entering it). Why does this matter? I think it’s interesting that the word for to burn/scar is the same as the term for baptism. Burning purifies an object by removing from it anything that is of little worth and separating out “the good stuff.” It is something that moves and consumes. Similarly water is used ritualistically to purify. The Hebrew view of this baptism (mikvah) requires moving water that must completely cover every bit of the person (who, by the way, submerges themselves – no pastor/priest/rabbi needed). Burning and baptizing are different in that burning is done to a person (it’s not usually something we voluntarily choose). G-d uses this metaphorical concept to purify people, to remove the junk from our lives by using the “fire” (difficult situations) to burn and purify. Baptism is a choice. In Hebrew culture, baptism isn’t a one time event. It happens ceremonially and whenever there’s a major event that a person needs to commemorate and be purified as symbolism that there has been change or a turning, etc. It’s voluntary in that no one is going to shove you into the water. A person chooses to enter the pool and chooses to be submerged. It’s an outward symbol voluntarily used to show purification. Mikvah in both forms, if they are indeed from the same word, show an interesting relationship, almost like two sides of a coin. One is used by G-d to purify man to bring him into relationship with Him, the other is used by man to enter into the presence of G-d with ritual purity. If they’re not from the same word, this exercise was a bit moot… except for the fact that in our translation attempts they are the same… which I find rather interesting. [1] Slonim, Rivkah. “The Mikvah – Mikvah.” Chabad Lubavitch. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2010. <http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1541/jewish/The-Mikvah.htm>.