Life Happens
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. Psalm 57:1 ESV (57:2 in Hebrew text)
Destruction – Now, if I were rabbinic, I might say, “Don’t read this word as hayyah, but rather as hayyah.” Did you notice the tiny little change? The first letter moved from a Hey to a Chet. I simply filled in that little space between the top and the side of the letter. And now the verse would read, “I will take refuge till the storms of living pass by.” Man is born for the dust, and his life is like sparks from a fire, soon extinguished in the night air. If David thought of the similar vocalization when he penned this line, perhaps he realized that we don’t just need shelter from the temporary calamities of life; we need shelter from life itself – life filled with “temporary” calamities.
Our English translation adds “storms of” suggesting that the emphasis is on temporary transitions. But the Hebrew text has no such word. It simply says ya-avor havot (until calamities pass by). Or, if you care to be imaginatively rabbinic, until life itself passes by. It is the tendency of human existence to view God’s shadow as an occasional necessity. When trouble disturbs our mythological belief in personal control, we cry out to God to set things straight, by which we mean, return to us the control we have lost. But if we realize the truth of our existence, as the sparks fly upward, we realize that we never had control, ever! We are in constant need of His shadow of protection, even when we are not in trouble, because life itself is hayyah. Hayyah hayyot is a more accurate description of our real condition – living destruction.
The psalmist offers additional insight into the word hayyah by suggesting that these calamities of living are the result of moral failure. According to Psalm 37:12-13, God reigns supreme over all such moral collapse even though we experience the inevitable disasters of our disobedience. Sin is not simply an act of rebellion. It is a vehicle for destruction. The consequences are built-in to the act itself and inescapable even though guilt may be removed through atonement. As long as we live, we will need the shadow of His wings because we live calamitously. Life is what happens between the peace of total dependence and the peace of total acceptance.
What have you learned along your calamitous journey? Have you learned about consequences, about control (or lack thereof), about atonement, about transience? Are you traveling from peace to peace or from place to place? Do you seek stopgaps or are you filling the gap between hayyah and hayyah?
Topical Index: hayyah, hayyah, destruction, calamity, life, Psalm 57:1
Truer words I’ve not heard ….. Life is going from calamity to calamity … from hill top to hill top with the valleys inbetween – and now – at 61 … I’m simply trying to find the peace to peace FROM place to place .. and sometimes….it is not as easy as it sounds….thanks Skip!
Dear Pam,
Sometimes the waves can be tidal. Peace is far. Looking at the waves rolling over you can be devastating, I know. Been there. But like Peter we must learn to let go of circumstances, look UP to our Lord and walk the waves. This I know too! Than the peace will return: He is there, I’m not alone. He takes my hand and leads me to safety. He orders the storm to be still. And than there are small blessings I never saw before: the green grass, the flowers, the blue skies, the food He granted me today! No hunger, fighting for mear existence. Health. O, there is always something left to thank Him for! He IS gracious! And than, seeing all this, or even a tiny blessing, my heart starts thanking Him and even in the worst storm there can be peace. I pray that you may find this peace, in Him.
God bless you!
Ah, Skip these words really resonate with me. Both my husband and I are not working right now and all I hear the Ruach HaKodesh saying to me is that it is time for me to jump into the ocean of His love. He showed me I’ve been standing on the shoreline only dipping my toe in because I would not let His love penetrate and soak in and because I won’t relinquish control (such a challenge for me). He’s calling me to give up control, which I never really had anyway, and follow Him every step of the way. I need His peace right now to get me through and to bring me to the land of promise. Abba, help me to follow You and trust You and only You.
Donna, praying for you…
Thank you for your prayers, sweet one.
There is a particular anxiety that comes from moving in one direction while desiring to go in another. Peace and harmony comes with either changing directions or changing desires. One is never more content than when they have a single heart; never more depressed than with a divided one.
“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; let my heart be undivided in reverence for Your name (Ps 86:11).”
Tough question, Skip.
Todays Word sounds really gloomy.
“But if we realize the truth of our existence, as the sparks fly upward, we realize that we never had control, ever!”. It is true, we never had control, over anything-any situation or circumstance.
When anything happens, at a specific moment of time, do we have time to contemplate what is going on?
We do the best we can, that is all; yet, at times,way down the years we are held accountable to something we didn’t foresee at that moment. That is just one example. 🙂
And then, there are the many circumstances life throws at us at unexpected times, unawares.
“Life is what happens between the peace of total dependence and the peace of total acceptance.”
True! Most times I am resigned to whatever comes, taking it from ABBA, and seeking refuge totally in Him.
“Have you learned about consequences” definitely!
“Are you traveling from peace to peace” sometimes.
“…from place to place..” Wherever ABBA leads me to go, but had gone through many stops.
” As long as we live, we will need the shadow of His wings because we live calamitously.” Amein!!
Many of us need to take so much of this message not only to our hearts – our souls – but to bring it back up and out through our words….Our words too are life..or death. Life truly is a journey and if we can step outside the boxes that we carefully build around our ‘life’ we will, as Skip says, see the wonder of the green in the grass, gasp as a butterfly emerges with the colors of the rainbow, gaze in awe as the billowy clouds float across the clear blue sky….. and renew your strength.
True, we have been through what seems like hell and back in the last few years, losing our first born son and six of our granddaughters to, what seems like a case of ‘religion’…. but being able to focus even closer and deeper to our younger son and his 2 girls…what beautiful and sweet young ladies they are becoming – and while we are shifting from place to place seeking where to settle and if to settle again … we are continually blessed by the provisions of manna that Abba has sent our way. Coming from a large family, we have reunited with siblings and nieces and cousins in a way we wouldn’t have if we had been so immersed as before in ‘stuff’.
So – yes, lifting above the chaos, seeing things as HE sees them (well, not entirely – but having EMUNAH that HE is in total control) and resting in the ‘knowing’ that all is well in HIS perspective, we can move forward – not in fear, not in trepidation, not in cautiousness – but in wonder, and awe and expectation! And from the godly advise and encouragement and guidance that we have received from mature and experienced men such as Skip and others….we know we are not alone. Todah rabah!