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True Religion

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 | Author:

“But let the man who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and knows me.  For I am Yahweh who acts in steadfast loyalty, justice, and righteousness upon the earth; for in these things I delight – Yahweh’s word.” Jeremiah 9:24  J. A. Thompson translation.

Delight – How would you answer this question:  What are the minimal requirements of worship?  Jeremiah gives us an answer that probably does not match the list we would provide.  Furthermore, our idea of worship today actually seems to exclude some of the elements that God says (through Jeremiah) delight Him.

The Hebrew hafets covers “take delight in,” “be pleased with,” and “desire.”  It’s important to recognize that this word in God’s revelation to Jeremiah does not simply mean “to gladden God’s heart.”  Hafets includes the idea that this not only pleases God but is also what God desires.  As we would expect, there is an assumed obligation here.  In other words, while a larger range of behaviors might give God pleasure, these particular actions are what God truly desires of His people.  J. A. Thompson notes:

“True religion consists in acknowledging the complete sovereignty of God in life and allowing him to fill life with those qualities of steadfast faithfulness, justice, and righteousness which he possesses, in which he delights, and which he desires to find in his people.”[1]

What is worship?  It is whatever gladdens the heart of God.  And what gladdens the heart of God?  To act with steadfast loyalty (hesed), to do what is just (mishpat), and to bring righteousness (tsedaqah) to the earth.  Let’s amplify a bit.  To act with steadfast loyalty is to follow the instructions God gives for living as His people.  In a word – Torah.  Keeping Torah delights God.

To do what is just is to fulfill what the ruler requires, to make daily practices align with the wishes of the tribal chief, to exercise authority on behalf of the ruler of the people and the judge according to his guidance.  Modern paradigms suggest that justice is a matter of upholding the law, but this is not the case in the ancient Near East.  In Jeremiah’s culture, justice is determined by the actions of the ruler and to do what is just is to reflect those actions.  We might ask ourselves if our behaviors reflect the heart of God.  It would be quite simple to decide.  Look at Luke 4:18-19.  Yeshua tells us what it means to be aligned with God’s heart.  He tells us in actions anyone of us could do.  So, are you doing them?

Finally, righteousness is the action of preserving what matters most to God.  Here is the basis of biblical ethics and morality.  This is also the motivation behind grace, forgiveness and blessing.  A righteousness life delights God because it looks just like Him, no matter what the circumstances.

This summary from the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah calls us to examine our idea of religion and worship.  If these things are missing, what are we doing?  All the praise music, all the discipleship classes, all the tithes and offerings mean nothing without the critical elements that produce heavenly delight.  As the New Testament authors write, “worship” without the delight of the Lord is form without function, religion without the power of the Spirit.

Topical Index:  delight, hafets, hesed, mishpat, tsedaqah, Jeremiah 9:24, religion, worship


[1] J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah: NICOT, p. 321.

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Fine Silk

Saturday, January 21st, 2012 | Author:

“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”   Psalm 37:4  NASB

Delight - This word (‘anag) is used for a garment that is delicate or luxurious.  Here it means to feel great favor toward something.  But notice carefully the object of our delight.  It is not His forgiveness.  It is not His rescue.  It is not His blessings or promises.  This verse makes it clear that we do not delight in something God has done for us.  We are delighted in His person – in who He is.  Just like a fine piece of silk, the delight is not because of what can be done with the cloth, but because the cloth itself is so marvelous. The subject is desirable because it is attractive in and of itself.

This verse expresses great emotional joy about the subject.  The word is used to describe pampering (Deuteronomy 28:56) and joyful merriment (Isaiah 58:14).  Metaphorically, it describes the delight and joy over a restored Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:11).  But the psalmist points us toward God Himself.  Yeshua called such delight a priceless treasure in a field.  Once discovered, a man would do anything to obtain that field and make the treasure his own.

The word picture (from Ayin-Nun-Gimel) reveals why delight in God is the summum bonum of Mankind.  The pictograph is “experience life lifted up.”  God is the God of life.  To experience Him is to experience Life itself in all of its splendor and majesty.

We often feel as though the lives we lead are somber, guilt ridden, even tedious.  When we have turned away from the thrill seeking of our old habits, the world sometimes seems drab and lifeless.  But life in Yeshua is a replacement process.  In it we will find that God becomes a delight to us, that we can enjoy His company and His purposes, that our lives are lighter because we have trusted Him.  A most amazing transformation occurs when we begin to seek a relationship with God.  Our lives progress toward fulfillment.  Those secret spaces are no longer empty.  We experience the desires of our reborn hearts as real experiences of joy.  The time will come when we find ourselves happy just to belong to Him.  We will know contentment.  That is a promise we can count on.

In the frenzy of activity we call life, I wonder if we wouldn’t experience more of what we seek if we simply delighted in Him, if we set aside all the distractions and diversions, all the other self-sufficient pleasures built on our expectations and intentions, and let ourselves bask in being with Him.  But, of course, that is the point of Shabbat, isn’t it.  To remind us that Life and YHWH are synonymous and contemporaneously experienced.  Is it your delight to just be alive?

Topical Index:  delight, ‘anag, Shabbat, Psalm 37:4

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East of Eden

Thursday, December 01st, 2011 | Author:

Only this, I have found, as a real good:  that one should eat and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun, during the numbered days of life that God has given him; for that is his portion.  Ecclesiastes 5:17 NJPS

Real good – There are two views of what is good.  One comes from Genesis; the other from Ecclesiastes.  Micah sorts them out for us with his question, “What is good, O man?”  But before we get to the prophet’s answer, we must struggle with God’s garden and Man’s gardening.

Eden is the place of God’s delight.  In the perfect creation, God made a garden.  It was not the creation of human hands nor the expression of human vision.  It was God’s planned place of sheer exuberance.  Everything in the Garden, including some things that men would probably have left out, plays an essential role in God’s definition of delight.  But God’s intention was not a vacation timeshare.  Part of delight in the Garden is work!  Not the kind of toil that most of us experience but rather avad – the work/worship/serve combination that fills God’s perfect creation with our particular place in it.  Avad produces joy.

We no longer live in the Garden.  Qohelet reflects on that undeniable fact in his conclusions about life.  Qohelet’s version of Man’s efforts outside the Garden is summarized in one common phrase:  enjoy it while you can.  For Qohelet, good also means enjoyment, but in his case this is enjoyment without worship.  Qohelet has truncated avad.  Service, yes.  Work, yes.  But worship?  No.  Qohelet’s view of what is good has been reduced to what provides pleasure in the fleeting moments between toil and death.  Since there is no larger picture of the relationship between what I do and who God made me to be, there is only today’s relief from the bitterness of living.

You and I reside in Qohelet’s fields, east of Eden.  But we don’t have to live there.  We can listen to Micah and decide that what is good is not simply what gives us pleasure in between agony and anxiety. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  In other words, we can turn the fields east of Eden into the Garden of delight.  We can bring God back into the meaning of avad.  Qohelet is a sad figure in the Tanakh.  Necessary, to be sure, since we must struggle with alien residence.  But sad because he isn’t able to affirm, confess or assimilate worship into everything he does.  He is a man trying to sit on a two-legged stool.

I suspect you know a lot of the disciples of Qohelet.  They are searching for some form of relief, some trace of enjoyment in a world of pressure, demands and despair.  Perhaps you have been one of them.  But now things are different.  Now you know that the Garden is wherever you do what is good.  Listen to Micah and start plowing.

Topical Index:  Garden, delight, toil, avad, good, tov, Ecclesiastes 5:17, Micah 6:8

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Trading Places

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 | Author:

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Abundantly – A few days ago Oswald Chambers’ devotional provided some sobering questions:  “Is our attitude today an attitude that springs from our vision of God?  Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done?  Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual outlook?”  As I read those questions, I realized that my pursuit lacked the purposes of God.  God’s purposes are life – abundant, delightful, fulfilled, exuberant, expectant, confident in His unwavering care.  Boman reminded me, “According to Plato man achieves his acme when he absorbs and realizes in himself as much of the eternal world as possible; according to the Bible man achieves his acme when he becomes as he was in the beginning . . .”[1]

It seems a noble thing to participate in the eternal.  It’s just not biblical.  The Greeks looked forward into the mist, hoping to discern the ideal reality.  Contemporary culture and scientific atheism turned that Greek hope for the eternal into a quest for planned progressive utopia.  But the Bible looks in a different direction.  It looks back to the Garden.  “I came that they might return to the beginning where life was abundant.”  The Garden of God’s delight is the end of the trail.  Back to the beginning.  If I am not moving back to the beginning, I am not moving biblically.  I am lost on my way to a future that doesn’t exist.  Genesis is my goal because I have already been there and I have no delusions about its purpose.  I want to walk with Him again.

Biblical history is the story of one man in the company of God.  All of us are in that place of perfect harmony when Adam walks with the Creator.  We are not completely disconnected from this man who experienced God’s delightful life even if our relationship suffers corruption.  We know what it means to yearn for the beginning.  There is an emptiness, a purposelessness, in each of us.  It has been there since we stopped conversing in the Garden.

In Hebrew thought, the world is not a container, a space to be filled with things.  The world is an event in God’s purposes.  It is the temporal manifestation of His conversation with us, on the way from beginning to beginning.  God always starts what He finishes.

What, then, is this life that the Son offers?  It is not filling ourselves with noble ideals, lofty insights or admirable values.  We are not containers needing to be stuffed with divine ideas.  We are sojourners in need of companionship.  We are manifest conversation, listening to and obeying His speaking, becoming human.  We travel toward the way back home.  All freshness must come from this walk in the Garden where we know Him and are known by Him.

Topical Index:  abundantly, life, delight, John 10:10

[1] Thorleif Boman, Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek, p. 175

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Feast Or Famine

Friday, December 11th, 2009 | Author:

“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17

Surely Die – Hebrew handles emphasis by manipulating the structure of the language.  Without punctuation, words are arranged in ways that draw attention to particular ideas.  You will remember the previous verse where the Hebrew words achol tochel (eat freely) emphasizes the diversity and sufficiency of God’s garden of delight by repeating the root achal twice (tochel is a form of achal).  Doubling the word puts emphasis on the idea.  Putting the word in first or last position in the sentence does the same.  In this verse about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, another word is doubled.  That word is mot.  The verse in Hebrew doesn’t say “surely die.”  It says “die die” just like the verse says “eat eat.”

OK, so we know something about the structure of this language.  So what?  Ah, but there’s something else happening with this structural arrangement that we need to know.  Hebrew thought is often grouped inside word frames called an inclusio.   Remember that Hebrew doesn’t have paragraphs either.  So, if I want to draw a frame around one particular idea, I must draw the frame with words.  A double word in one place draws my attention to a double word in another place.  I am encouraged to consider the similarities or differences between the doubled words in order to understand the full thought of the narrative.

The first doubled word (achol tochel) describes the magnificent fecundity of God’s delightful provision.  Everything I need is present and available to me.  Of course, this is a lot more than fruit salad (remember that).  Here’s the important point.  The words used for enjoying God’s full provision are descriptive.  They state the facts about the Garden.  It is a place where true satisfaction is found under every tree – except one.  In the same “frame,” the words about dying are also descriptive.  Under that one tree, life as defined by God comes to an end.  But this is a description of the facts, not a prescription.  God isn’t giving Adam a rule.  He’s telling Adam the way it is.  “If you eat of that tree, then this will happen.”  The parallel double words connect descriptive statements.  God doesn’t command Adam to eat from every tree.  He offers every tree.  In the same way, God warns Adam about the one tree.  In both cases, God states the facts.

Why is it important to notice that the parallelism inside the frame is descriptive rather than prescriptive?  Because we can’t understand the punishment for disobedience if we don’t understand the structure of the prohibition.  God says (descriptively) that eating from this one tree will result in mot tamoot.  Adam eats.  But he doesn’t die instantly, does he?  He lives for many, many years.  So, Christian theology accounts for this discrepancy by saying that Adam died spiritually.  But that doesn’t maintain the parallelism.  The opposition is between fully satisfied and empty.  Feast or famine.  Adam’s choice is between God’s design for delight or his decision to make his own garden.  What Adam loses in his choice is the place of God’s delightful life.  He is thrust out of the Garden into a world of his own making without the delightful provisions of God.  As a result of disobedience, he experiences insufficiency.  He has to labor to find delight.

We tend to think that Adam’s sin resulted in spiritual separation and spiritual separation results in death.  From this, we proceed to the need for repentance and redemption.  In other words, we connect Adam’s sin with Yeshua’s death, placing them both in the spiritual arena.  Of course, there is a connection between Adam’s disobedience and Yeshua’s redemption.  Sha’ul is quite clear about this.  But this isn’t the only consequence.  As the concluding element of the frame, mot tamoot describes what it means to be outside of God’s delight.  It isn’t just spiritual death.  It’s alienation from the provision of God.  Adam’s sin turns delight into destitution.  To live under God’s umbrella is to experience His provision.  To disobey is to experience emptiness and struggle.  There’s more to death than spiritual eventualities.

Topical Index:  die, mot tamoot, delight, Genesis 2:17

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Biblical Maslow

Monday, November 16th, 2009 | Author:

“I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your Torah is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8

Delight – Hebrew has more than one word for pleasure and delight. Whenever we find more than one word for the same concept, we are challenged to discover the differences. Just as there are many words for prayer, each one providing a subtle nuance in Hebrew thought, so there are shades of meaning in the difference between nehmad and haphets (the h is a guttural sound like “ach”). Nehmad portrays “pleasant” as opening the door in the fence that separates chaos from life. It is associated with the garden, God’s private preserve. Haphets paints a different picture. There is still a fence (Chet) but now it is connected with a word (mouth, speaking – the letter Pey) and desire (catch, hook – the letter Tsadik).  While pleasure is opening the door that brings us inside the fence of God’s pathway to life, delight is the desire to unravel (separate) the word.  Did you get that?  When the Psalmist says, “I delight in Your Torah,” he is punning the meaning of both words.  It is the equivalent of saying, “I desire to unravel (separate) the word of Your words about instructions for life.”  Delight is correctly parsing the words of the Lord.

Does this remind you of a commentary in the Ketuvim Netzarim (New Testament)? Doesn’t Sha’ul say, “. . . rightly dividing the word”?  In Hebrew thought, that is delight! One aspect of pleasure is the joy that comes from understanding the depths of God’s own words. And why is that so important? Because, as another great commentator once said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” How many pictographic images associated with delight are captured in Yeshua’s statement?

Linguistically, haphets is a verb about both actions and circumstances. We find it used to describe the love between Jonathan and David, the circumstances of Esther’s selection as queen, the intimate sexuality of the lovers in Song of Songs, and the whole-hearted dedication of a king to the will of God. But particularly in the Psalms, haphets expresses a hierarchy of desire with immediate, practical consequences.

Maslow suggested that human beings are directed by a hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of his pyramid of needs are physical needs like breathing, food, sleep and sex. As we move up his pyramid, we pass through safety, community and esteem until we reach the top with self-actualization. It’s difficult to deny Maslow’s insight, except to point out that it is based entirely on a Greek model of human existence. In other words, it presupposes that life is about us. To be fully alive is to be self-actualized.

But this is not David’s view. David’s hierarchy is based on haphets and the top of his pyramid is delight exclusively in God Himself. “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25). To know God is to know the depths (and distinctions) of His self-revelation found in His words. Haphets pushes me toward the one source of true satisfaction and the real meaning of self-actualization: to know Him. Oh, by the way, that also sounds like Sha’ul, doesn’t it? (Philippians 3:10)

Does this mean haphets is all mystical meditation? Of course not! This is Hebrew and in Hebrew every examination of the Word of God leads directly to action. So, haphets is also used to describe tangible behaviors that express delight in God. These are concrete acts of generosity toward the poor, Torah observance and worshipping in community. In other words, delight is walking the path and knowing why we walk it.

You might consider what delights you today. If you’re thinking like a Hebrew, your answer will be a long way from Maslow.

Topical Index: delight, pleasure, haphets, Maslow, Psalm 40:8

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Desperado

Sunday, November 15th, 2009 | Author:

And out of the ground YHWH made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Genesis 2:9

Pleasant – When I visited the Prado in Madrid, I saw Titian’s painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden. You can see it here. You’ll notice that Titian does not represent the tempter as a serpent. Perhaps he was a bit more careful about the text than we tend to be. This “serpent” is a lot more like something human than something reptilian, just as the text suggests. Our mythology about the Genesis account needs some serious correction. That correction must include a reconsideration of trees.

When you think about the garden in ‘eden (the place of pleasure), do you think about a pristine topography replete with vegetation, flowers, gentle animals and fruit trees? That seems to be the imagery of most pictorial representations of this story. But consider the original audience and geographical context of this account. Would the children of Israel, recently removed from Egypt, think of the garden as grassy knolls, verdant forests, bubbling brooks and lush flowered canopies filled with brightly-colored parrots? How could they have imagined any of this? They lived in a semi-arid, open expanse. They knew nothing of parrots, orchids, apples and bananas. Their mental picture of the garden had to be based on their experience, not on the imagery of 16th century European artists. So, where did the idea of a garden come from? And what would they have imagined would be in it?

Most scholars tell us that the idea of paradise comes from Babylonian royal preserves. Kings collected animals and plants which were kept in walled preserves, the ancient versions of a combination zoo and botanical garden. Solomon mentions this in Ecclesiastes. But God’s version isn’t just a collection. God’s version adds something else. God adds a door.

The Hebrew word translated “pleasant” is nechmad. This is the root chamad plus the prefix consonant Nun. The structure is N-CH-M-D. The root covers a wide range of acts of desire. It can mean to lust after, to covet, to take pleasure in or to delight in. Obviously, both good and evil desires are covered by the same verbal root. That’s why the word is used here and in the tenth commandment (“You shall not covet – chamad). Look at the consonant structure. What does the pictograph show us? Nun is life. Chet is a fence (what separates). Mem is chaos. Daleth is door or path. So, what is pleasant? It is the door in the fence that separates chaos from life.

“Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate.” What God has provided inside His walled preserve is all the doors that separate chaos from life. He has invited us to consume; to use the strength to control what is allowed under His seal and sign. What is pleasant from a biblical perspective? It is opening the doors that lead to life. It is to be in the Father’s will. It is to know His blessing and His goodness. It is to live in His preserve with Him.

“But his delight is in the Torah of YHWH, and in His Torah he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2

“I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your Torah is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8

Topical Index: pleasant, delight, chamad, garden, Genesis 2:9

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Double Your Pleasure

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | Author:

and YHWH planted a garden in Eden Genesis 2:8

Eden – By the time Rousseau finished refurbishing the Garden of Eden, we all thought this Hebrew word referred to a tropical paradise filled with exotic plants and erotic delights.  It’s time to leave all those images behind and look at the real word play involved in this verse.  What we discover just might change your entire view of pleasure.

A little detective work reveals that ‘eden is a very unusual word.  As you know, most nouns in Hebrew have gender.  Just like French, Spanish and Latin, nouns are either feminine or masculine.  Often this gender characteristic seems completely independent of the actual object the word refers to.  For example, a full harvest is feminine but an angel is masculine (yes, that’s right, there are no blond, female angels, even for Charlie).  This characteristic produces some strange (but important) insights.  For example, the words describing Man (adam – masculine) as a “living being” are both feminine nouns (nephesh hayah).  But ‘eden is really odd.  It is both masculine and feminine.  In Psalm 36:8, ‘eden is masculine.  It describes the many enjoyments God gives us.  But in Genesis 18:12, ‘eden is a feminine noun that describes intimate sexual delight.  Of course, ‘eden is also the name of a place.  So, when we read this text in Hebrew, a host of images come immediately to mind.  God’s good gifts, sexual pleasure, luxury and pregnancy are all included in the word for the location of this Garden.  Apparently the Hebrew language defines pleasure in much broader categories than our usual imagination about Eden.

There is something else we need to notice here.  Eden was not created by Disney or MGM or the Las Vegas zoning commission.  Eden is God’s place of pleasure.  In other words, Man does not determine what will be his pleasure in life.  God puts Man in the place of God’s pleasure.  God tells Man what pleasure is – and what it is not.  The pictograph makes the point.  Ayin-Daleth-Nun is a picture of “experiencing the door to life.”  God defines pleasure as that which gives life.  And, of course, God, the author of life, defines what life is.

This hidden assumption is vitally important for us.  What happens when we decide to define pleasure in our own terms?  We take on God’s role.  We act as though we are the source of life.  We choose pleasure based on what satisfies us, what is good for us, what we find enjoyable.  But we are not God.  We do not own life.  We are but fragile creatures completely dependent on His grace for our breath and bread.  Who are we to determine what belongs in the garden?  Eden is God’s realm and His design.  Every time we choose to define pleasure based on our estimation of what is good, we eat from the tree that brings chaos, destruction and death.  From the biblical perspective, I am not free to determine the nature of pleasure.  God decides that for me.  That’s why He planted a garden in ‘eden.

How desperately we need to learn the lesson in this simple Hebrew word play!  In a culture that advocates redefining pleasure with every new stimulus, we no longer understand God’s Eden nor are we able to find it among the lesser gods of our own making.  The pursuit of pleasure only takes us further from the truth.  I don’t need to pursue what God has already given me.  I just need to obey – and let His design become my delight once again.

Topical Index: Eden, ‘eden, pleasure, delight, sex, Genesis 2:8

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Corrective Vision

Friday, May 22nd, 2009 | Author:

You have given him his heart’s desire Psalm 21:2

Heart’s Desire – Did David really mean that God gave him whatever he wanted? Is it true that once we are obedient God will fulfill all our desires? Do we just have to “name it and claim it?”

In the Psalms study group that I attend, one of the women pointed out that taking this verse out of the context of a life dedicated to God’s purposes changes everything about its meaning. The short answer to the question, “Did David really mean that God gave him his heart’s desires?” is “Yes.” God does give us what our hearts most desire. But if we are fully committed to His service and live according to His instructions, then it is our desires that are transformed. They are altered so that they reflect God’s purposes. Then, when God gives us what we desire (which is the fulfillment of His purposes for His glory), there is no discrepancy at all between what we want and what He wants us to have. That’s when we can say, “He gave me all that I desired.”

If you take the verse out of the context of submission and obedience, then you might as well give God your Christmas list, for He becomes nothing more than the pagan Santa Claus.

The Hebrew word here is ta’awah. It describes something that is attractive and delightful. Solomon would say that it was a delight to the eyes. Of course, there are a lot of things in this world that delight the eyes. The Bible uses this word to describe fertile land, abundant crops and treasures. The Bible claims that the righteous will have their desires fulfilled (Proverbs 10:24). So, the question is not about God’s willingness or capacity to realize our desires. The question is about what we see! What is it that delights your eyes?

Now we come to the heart of the matter. Paul, good rabbi that he is, comments on this problem. He tells us to pursue only some things – those things which are the ultimate delights of life. What are they? How about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

By the way, the Hebrew word ta’awah has a homophone (a word that sounds the same and is spelled the same but means something different). Words like this occur in Hebrew quite often since Hebrew is written only in consonants. So, the combination of consonants T-A-W-H occurs in another word, a word that means “an outer boundary.” It is used in Genesis 49:26 to describe the farthest boundary of the land. It’s the place where my vision stops. That’s interesting. Apparently ta’awah could be interpreted as the end of my sight. What I find within the boundary is a delight to God and a desire for me. But there are other things. They are outside the boundary. They are beyond my vision – and they are to be left there. Out of sight. Out of mind.

What do you see inside your boundary today that delights both you and God?

Topical Index: ta’awah, desire, sight, boundary, delight, Psalm 21:2

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Who Counts?

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Author:

As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.  Psalm 16:3

Majestic Ones – Isn’t it nice to know that when we become His servants, God calls us majestic (or excellent).  The way up is down.  Down to the ground in humility and acknowledged unworthiness.  Then God lifts, up into His presence.  Push the button for the basement instead of the penthouse.  God resides at the bottom, not the top – out in the wilderness, not in the city.

So, who are these majestic ones that are the beneficiaries of His delight?  This He also explains.  The ve adirei (majestic ones) are the doshim (saints).  And who are these?  The root word of doshim is qadosh, the Hebrew word that means sacred or holy.  These are the ones who are set apart for God.  That’s what it means to be holy – to be put aside for God’s use.  But we all knew this, didn’t we?

Oh, yes.  God calls the ones who are set aside for His purposes saints.  Actually, He calls them the “set aside ones.”  You might find it interesting that the singular “saint” is never used in Scripture.  There is no Saint Paul or Saint Peter.  There are only all those who are set aside. 

So, how is someone set aside for God’s purposes?  Do you have to get a special calling or an anointing or a divine whisper?  No, all you need to do is follow His instructions.  Those who practice the Way, who follow God’s directions for living, are automatically set aside because they no longer subscribe to the patterns of this age.  Of course, there is another implication here.  If I am not set apart, if there is no difference between what I do and what the rest of the world does, then I am not one of the saints in the earth and God does not delight in me.

For Israel, this distinction was pretty clear.  Israel was called to follow the Torah.  That was the guide book for being set apart.  It covered a lot more than religious ceremony.  It covered business, family, community, morality and even how we think (the tenth commandment).  It included everything from punishment for theft to marital fidelity.  The reason that there is no apparent difference between civil and religious law in Torah is because there is no difference.  How we live is either set apart in all that we do, or it isn’t.  Israel was a nation established by God for His purposes and those purposes meant that it had to act very differently than other nations.

Why is this so difficult for us?  Is it because we don’t want to be “Jewish”?  Is it because we really do believe that there is a separation between the Old and the New Covenants?  Is it because we have hidden bias?  How do we as Christians pick and choose what “set apart” means for us?  We want nine of the commandments but we don’t want the diet.  We want the blessings but we don’t want the scrupulous living.  Something doesn’t add up.  But, who’s counting?  Only God, I’m afraid.

Topical Index:  ve adirei, doshim, qadosh, holy, set apart, saints, Psalm 16:3, delight

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | 3 Comments