Inside Job
Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19 NASB
Cast – This is the Hebrew word shalak. It has several different senses, all associated with throwing down. It can mean the physical act of throwing down something, casting aside something or, in an important sense, abandoning something. Micah tells us that God abandons our sins. When they are forgiven, they are pushed away, so far away that it is as if they have been lost in the depths of the ocean. They will never come back to incriminate us again. God leaves them for dead.
Of course, we love to play the role of the resurrecting god. So we have the habit of bringing our sins back to life. If you really think about it, sin is the only thing we can actually claim is ours alone. God gave us everything else as a gift. But we created our sins without His help. Therefore, these are the only things that we could bring back to life. They are the only things we have mastery over. Imagine how ridiculous we are! Raising our sins from the dead actually kills us! Yet we have the propensity to continually remind ourselves of our past failures, and use those reminders as excuses for why we can’t change.
God’s forgiveness is an incredible thing. God casts away my sin when I come to Him in true repentance and remorse. God forgets all about them. God does not remember how I hurt Him with my sins. He does not bear a grudge toward me. He is not interested in punishing me. He wants me to embrace Him as Father, so He throws away everything about my rebellion against Him. As far as He is concerned, they are gone for good.
Oh, if only I could forgive like that. If only I could throw away those insults and infractions and aggravations that others have done to me so that as far as I was concerned, they are gone for good. That’s what God did for me. God’s action gives me a standard for my actions – forgive means cast it away for good. Most importantly, I need to cast away my sins from myself. My true enemy is not out there in the world. My true enemy is the yetzer ha’ra, that inner voice that constantly reminds me of my unworthiness, my ugliness, my failure. My yetzer ha’ra will do anything to keep me from the joy of God’s casting away. And it’s unlikely that forgiving those outside will do much to dim the shouts of the yetzer ha’ra until I really embrace what God has done with my sins.
If the voice is telling you that you are can’t live up to His standard, that you don’t deserve His mercy, that you will never be what He desires, read Micah again – and again. Listen to the voice outside, the Spirit’s promise. And tell the yetzer ha’ra to shut up.
Topical Index: cast, shalak, Micah 7:19, forgive, yetzer ha’ra
Lamed and Bet
In Hebrew, the number 32 is written Lamed Bet, which spells Lev
Lev is the Hebrew word for Heart
The Heart provides life force to the brain and nervous system
Serving as the causal link between mind and body
For this reason the Heart is called the “king over the soul”
And a mystical experience is called a “running of the Heart”
The Torah is seen as the Heart of creation
The first letter in the Torah is the Bet of creation, Bereshit
The last letter of the Torah is the Lamed of Israel
The two letters Lamed and Bet share a unique distinction
As a prefix, Lamed means “to” and Bet means “in”
Yud Heh Vav
The three letters of the Tetragrammaton, Yud, Heh, Vav
Can also serve as suffixes for personal pronouns
The suffix Yud means “me,” Heh means “her” and Vav “him”
In the entire alphabet there only two letters
To which these most divine suffixes can be joined
Lamed and Bet
Li (to me) Bi (in me)
Lah (to her) Bah (in her)
Lo (to him) Bo (in him)
Love is a gamble and when we bet, we are often lamed
In Hebrew the letter represented by “t” is sounded as Tav
And “t” signifies the name of the Cross
As I’ve not mentioned in some years, during the summer following my ninth grade graduation
I traveled all around Mexico with two surfer friends from school and a young Spanish teacher
The Spanish teacher knew everything about Mexico and was a very bookish kind of guy
We pulled a small trailer, which contained our surf boards, food, and lots of books
Several books I read that summer made a very powerful impression on me
On of the books I came across was Lolita, which makes me think of the Hebrew letters
– Lo
– Li
– Tav
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.
The open lines in Lolita are second to none IMO
But they misleading because the writing is so beautiful, and clean, and clever
But in the novel, Lolita is not beautiful or clean or clever; she is a grubby little girl
And the narrator is very proper upper class man
It is a very odd love story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_and_Delilah_(1949_film)
Speaking of odd love stories, the first three books my mother gave me to read
Were picture books with a few words that she needed to explain
One was Bambi, which made sense to me (Disney Land was not too far from our house)
But the other two books seemed very strange (Most people looked like 50’s style Americans)
One was Samson and Delilah and the other was David and Goliath
I asked my mother why people looked like that and she it was long ago in the land of Jesus
Very odd love stories
“Very odd love stories”
Speaking of love stories, on my way home from the lake with Max this morning
The following love song played on the radio and somehow it seemed very special
You’re On My Heart Just Like A Tattoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVieiKFVZPc
And then there was an advertisement for a new movie called Alex Cross
Alex Cross
http://www.youtube.com/user/summitscreeningroom?v=Uw7PhPD31Ws
Yin and Yang
My mother used to have a lot these strange expressions
I could never figure out where she picked them up
None of her friends used these expressions
For example, “you never want to double-cross a Scorpio”
(tav tav)
Of David. A maskil. ~ Blessed (happy) is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered ~
(Psalm 32:1)
~ For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more ~ (Hebrews 8.12)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ0zxQ-fmfo&feature=related
Of Carl. A. most delightful musical match ~ Save Me, O God; For the Waters are Coming to my soul (Psalm 69:1)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Your right Skip. We need to let the depth of Avinu’s forgiveness wash over us again and again. And then take very seriously the command to be like Him.
My personal experience has been that this kind of forgiveness is possible to ever increasing degrees if we would only take it seriously.
This lesson came to me in the most painful way imaginable. Someone did something to one of my children that 33 years later we all still live with. Avinu had to break the bitterness in my heart miraculously.
But it only happened because I took seriously His statement that if I didn’t forgive I would not be forgiven and kept musing on the last words of Stephen in the image of Messiah.
Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
As I wrestled with the torment one night I screamed out in my spirit.
“I” “WILL” “FORGIVE!!!!!!!!”
Some thing snapped and the pain went away like the relief that comes the moment after giving birth. The chains fell off and I understood (still can’t explain it) instantly how Yeshua could do the things he did in the Spirit He did them in. He was free and so was I.
It’s the fear of YHVH that now binds my heart to a ‘condition of forgiveness’ and the love of His character that makes me want to remain in His likeness in this area.
Ex.33:6 The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
And then the command; Ro 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Could this mean I need to leave room for YHVH to take care of it? If I don’t put it down He won’t take it up? Loving one another is connected to this?
We are living in the age of forgiveness. There will come a day when that will all change.
Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.
“Raising our sins from the dead actually kills us! Yet we have the propensity to continually remind ourselves of our past failures, and use those reminders as excuses for why we can’t change.”
We also have the propensity to listen to the yetzer ha’ra in each other and become defensive and angry and bitter toward each other. We are commanded to love one another! Judgement will begin with us!
It’s bizarre indeed to think that we should be able to die to ourselves for the sake of our enemies but that’s exactly what He did when we were His enemies. So that’s what He commands us to do. It’s nothing short of fulfilling our created purpose of image baring. There are many including myself who are a living testimony to the fact that it’s not too hard for us to do.
Therefore I exhort everyone in this entire community that falls short of this high calling, press in. Our very lives depend on it.
Shalom
Thanks, Ron. Perhaps God is most real to us AFTER we experience great crisis. Perhaps that’s why the rabbis could each that even in our sin God is present. I long for this depth of forgiveness to wash over me. I am surely my worst enemy here, constantly reminding myself of my failures, almost as an excuse to continue, but feeling the pain of the separation all the same. I know He cares and He loves, but the source of my rebellion is very deep. If I give it ANY room at all, it easily defeats me. And yet, I am tired of fighting to breathe His spirit. At times it seems such a struggle. I want to sleep without dreams. Here I am in Johannesburg waiting for another long flight home. Africa has been good. Many people have heard what I am able to reveal, no matter how little of the whole picture. But I am the wounded healer, suffering under my own words. I know I am far from the patterns I see in Scripture, much more like Jacob than Job. So much time alone grinds my resolve. I write. I see into things. But the words are confrontations and convictions too often. Where is the joy in the morning? Perhaps only after mourning.
Skip, Perform a meaningful ritual that will create a strong image of your sins washing away…far away from you…that you can remember with thankfulness. Since you live in Florida I can see you walking into the ocean and letting the ocean waves wash over you. Dunk your head under the water so the waves can carry the painful memories from your mind. Let go of it all…so the waves can carry the sins and memories of sin far out to the furtherest reaches of the ocean…away from you. Scream out there in the ocean waves if you need to. And that will be a picture of G-d’s forgiving and forgetting your sins. And you can cling to that memory of being washed clean when the yetsar hara tries to threaten you.
“Perform a meaningful ritual that will create a strong image of your sins washing away…far away from you…that you can remember with thankfulness”
Hi Darlene,
That’s a great suggestion, I tend to take my dog Max for a walk every evening
In Ed Levin Park up in the mountains behind the town of Milpitas
There is a beautiful lake up there and Max likes to take a dip in the water
So we have a kind of ritual of starting out up in the dog park where he can socialize
With other dogs
Then we walk around the lake where Max takes the dip and socializes with the fishermen
And lately we have been going down to the next little park at dusk where
There are quite a few deer and typically we can find a Doe with five of six fawns
We can get within twenty yards of her, if we stop and watch her stare at us
Her fawns are unaware of the potential danger, but they are somewhat cautious too
And so delightfully delicate
When I was a child my mother always told me that we needed to be around water
Because we were Scorpios and Scorpios are “water signs”
But I didn’t really believe in astrology
But a few years ago, I came across a movie that definitely made me think twice about it
Actually the movie was an old one that I had never heard of before
And I’m something of a movie buff
Scorpio (1973)
Director: Michael Winner
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Paul Scofield
Burt Lancaster was one of my favorite actors as a child (OK Corral) and he plays “Cross”
Alain Delon plays “Jean Laurier” aka “Scorpio” (Alan is also my middle name)
Paul Scofield plays “Zharkov” an old disenchanted Russian Marxist who helps Cross
Paul Scofield is my favorite Shakespearean actor who was introduced to me
By my first wife’s mother when she took us to see A Man for All Seasons
She also introduced me to the thinking of Rabbi Abraham Heschel
SCORPIO
Cross is an old hand at the CIA, in charge of assassinating high-ranking foreign personalities who are an obstacle to the policies of the USA. He often teams up with Frenchman Jean Laurier, alias “Scorpio”, a gifted free-lance operative.
One day, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross — and leaves him no choice but to obey. Scorpio is cold-blooded and very systematic; however, as a veteran agent, Cross knows many tricks. He can also rely upon a network of unusual personal contacts, some dating back to the troubled years preceding WWII.
A lethal game of hide-and-seek is programmed, but what are the true motives of every single player?
Oh dear! It’s confession time.
I posted something for Ron yesterday then forgot to change the the name and email address back to my own when I posted the above testimony. Although Ron will bare witness to the incident l The experience is my own. I am so sorry please forgive me. 🙁
“We also have the propensity to listen to the yetzer ha’ra in each other and become defensive and angry and bitter toward each other. We are commanded to love one another! Judgement will begin with us!”
Hi Ron,
I think that is a very good point, but for me a most difficult task
When it comes to being separated from my children and fighting with my wife
On the one hand, I was travelling around Mexico at their age (13 and 15)
Virtually without any parental supervision and always looking for the danger zone
And on the other hand, relative to me my children are very well behaved
But I can see a little bit of me in my daughter and I want to protect her
But I can’t very easily in my current situation
And that’s very painful to me
As a man of little faith
Great TW, and I don’t disagree. However, I’m trying to clarify in my mind – How are we to embrace this message, yet realize our true condition?
With Christianity adopting so many elements from our self-esteem and entitlement saturated culure – I suppose my real dilemma is trying to tease out ‘self-esteem psychology’ from my Christian walk.
As a gardener, this idea reminds me of compost. Yucky stuff buried, let go of, and covered eventually becomes something that helps new things grow. To end up with fruit, I must get on with my gardening. not hang around the compost pile.
Good one Lois.