Motion Sickness
A prayer for the lowly when he grows faint and pours out his plea before the LORD. Psalm 102:1 (Hebrew text translated by Robert Alter)
Grows faint – I don’t know about you, but I am growing faint. Weary would be a close synonym. Oh, I’m busy, no doubt about that. I’m back from Africa and home for three days before the next trip. But I am not growing faint because of the miles. I have a case of motion sickness. By that I mean that I am not moving forward with the Lord in spite of moving forward with the airplanes. I suppose I should call it “un-motion sickness.” I feel stuck. I can’t get off this plateau. I know that my lack of forward progress is deadly and debilitating. In fact, it gets harder and harder to write something insightful everyday. I lack the spiritual energy. I want to just get away, but, as Scripture says, if I should make my bed in Sheol, yet You are there. The most disturbing part of my un-motion sickness is my inability to pray. I just don’t have words. I would cry if I could. I feel numb and alone.
David has a word for me. ‘ataf, “to be feeble, weak, faint.” Baker and Carpenter tell me that this word “refers to animals of a flock that are born unhealthy.”[1] That’s me. Unhealthy. Lack of prayer leads immediately to desensitized life. My thoughts clearly indict me for this “un-motion” sickness, but my willpower is so depleted that I can barely drag myself to the Scripture in order to read His word. I hope to find life there, but I know that words are no substitute for presence and I am in the dark now. David’s word is a good one. Unhealthy. Maybe this word in Isaiah 57:16 fits me. “For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before Me, and the breath of those whom I have made.” God is wearing me down.
‘ataf is made up of the letters Ayin-Tet-Pey. What’s the picture? To experience the mouth (the word) surrounded. In our vernacular, to feel hemmed in. To feel as if every word is a weight to heavy to bear. To be crushed by being.
Just in case there is anything in you that resonates with this un-motion sickness, I’d like to leave you today with this little surprise. You can’t even find this verse in most English Bibles. It’s one of those tiny print introductions that no one seems to pay any attention to unless you are reading in Hebrew. And isn’t that exactly what this verse describes – a life evaporated from God’s text? A little wisp of nothing much, easily overlooked. The burden of being invisible. It seems to me that the frenetic pace of our lives is actually no measure at all of our real motion. We may travel at breakneck speeds but still be invisibly absent from His presence. And that means we are sick.
Perhaps you need this invisible verse too. And maybe I write best when I am at my end.
Topical Index: ‘ataf, weary, faint, sickness, Psalm 102:1
[1] Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary of the Old Testament, p. 826.
Thanks Skip!
Thank you for being so honest and open. I understand about being faint and dry. Having lost my job two months ago, the process of looking for work is exhausting and it’s a real spiritual battle. I move from hope to discouragement in what seems like only seconds. Oh, whose report do I really believe?
One thing that has really helped me is soaking music. In the evening I put on beautiful soaking music, read from the Bible and even lay on the floor just to let it minister to my soul. I love the music of Julie True. It’s gentle and anointed and helps usher me into His precious presence. So I thought I’d recommend her beautiful music to you and pray that something like it helps you find refreshing.
Skip, be good to yourself and take the time to “be still and know that I am God”. Shalom, Donna
You will probably enjoy this this Donna http://calmingharp.com/
Good morning dear man.
So often I don’t have it in me to come up with words for prayer. This is the best reason to keep a siddur handy. The Amidah in particular is most inspiring for me. It’s structured in such a way that our petitions can be inserted. As I stand hear the blessings pour from my own mouth my heart is warmed. With affections engage my mind is directed up to Him and the cares of the world melt away for those moments.
The very best prayers are already written down. Pray Psalm 119 or Be Thou my Vision.
Avinu doesn’t care how creative and clever our communion with Him is. He simply loves to be appreciated and enjoyed. Shalom Shalom
HalleluYah!
for He has created you, Skip, from your mother’s womb for such a time as this. Your candor gives all of us pause to thank Yah for all the people we know (and those we do not) who take time and sacrifice their heartfelt energy to “strengthen the hands which hang down and the weak knees, and make straight paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned aside, but instead, to be healed.”
We are sometimes strong to do those things on behalf of ourselves, on behalf of another.
We sometimes need to only rest in the bosom of Yah, knowing that intercessors praying in the name of Yahshua are beseeching Him to tend to us mercifully while we are faint.
How lovely it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
May you and all of us remember that we are one in Mashiyach and trust that all things are working together for good toward you and all of us in His body!
Shalom,
–Melissa Rawlins
May “His Peace” rest on you assuredly and mightily.
I ask that my prayer be joined with the prayers of every saint around the globe who is reading this post today to lift up our dear brother Skip to a new height of refreshment for his soul and spirit. To put a hedge of protection around him that he might find strength and renewal and perfect delight in the garden of Yah’s love and purpose.
Amein to a beautiful prayer, it is mine too. Shalom!
Amein
There are times when I find Paul’s words in Romans 8:26 to be of great comfort. There are many times when I don’t know what to pray. It’s helpful to be aware that the Spirit makes intercession for us even if we feel we don’t have the right words.
Skip, in this honesty I am sure that we can feel the crunch of the day. I was telling my husband the other day that I feel so weary in this upward and onward battle of the faith.
When I read your comment and devotion of the day ; I am sure many and I mean many can identify.
We feel humbled when we can pray for those who are in the heat of the battle and many a shot is being fired from all sides.
As the Body Of Christ ; it seems we are all going in our own directions instead of coming together as a body and not just members alone.
I am not sure how to pray for you but this one thing I do know that JESUS in JOHN 17: has prayed for HIS own that their faith fail not.
Father, we are delighted to be able to come into YOUR presense with joy in our hearts and with YOUR enduring Spirit abiding within we are able to touch the hem of your garment and to trust YOU that YOU do all things well for Jesus sake.
May Skip be encouraged and may HE see the HAND of GOD upon him at this time and may he know that this time is of GOD and not the enemy.
This time is a sanctified time for him to know that this too shall soon pass .
Bless him and enlarge his heart concerning the kingdom of GOD and all that pertains to THAT kingdom .
In JESUS NAME I pray.
Skip,
I pray that our Lord uses your openness and honesty to bring you great comfort and relief. By sharing your heart and burdens with your readers, you have invited an entire community support and pray for you. Thank you.
I welcome the opportunity to lift you (and Rosanne) up in prayer and commit to doing so regularly.
And I love the suggestions of some of the others above to just sit and read Scripture when you don’t have the words to pray. I trust God will open the doors to communication. He delights in spending time with you.
Big Hugs from John and Me.
Skip, Thank you for sharing this. It is reassuring to know that I am not the only one who experiences these times of dryness. I have also found music and praise to be helpful. I think it may be the rare person who does not have this experience at one time or other in their walk. Kate
Also those who give out so much to others need a time of refreshing for themselves so their particular well doesn’t go dry.
Skip,
Every day I look forward to your erudite discussion of some aspect of the Bible’s application to our normal life in Christ. Don’t slow down now. So many of us rely on your energy and thoughtfulness. Onward Christian soldiers! You are firmly in my prayers today.
Tom
Your spirit is strong, this is sounding like transition for a weary soul.
When was the last time you saw Jesus? Do you miss Him? What did He say to you? What was He wearing? Did He touch you? Did you touch Him? Skip, the world needs an encounter with the LIVING TORAH, we need to hear your encounter as the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophesy, then your breath will wake people up. Please tell me about your beloved Messiah, where can I find Him?
For the sake of the world, you need a hotter fire.
Thank you for your treasure Skip Moen, he is greatly loved in heaven and earth, open the heavens and rapture him, send him back for your bride.
Thank you, Skip, for your willingness to share your angst, which is common to us all. Only our Great God can rescue us, as David records in Psalms 94:18-19: “If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.”
What your write every day (!) has been a blessing for us beyond what you can begin to imagination.
We pray for you constantly.
Love, Nancy & Don
Skip,
Be still and know–drink from the living waters and be refreshed and renewed!
So many hearts here in tune with yours and so many prayers. What a blessing to read and to know I am some small part of them all. You are loved brother.
I add my prayers for you along with all of the others I see.
One thing I have learned, when you pour out so much of yourself for others, there is an inevitable place of dryness and weariness. Almost like the batteries need recharged. Time at home with my family and critters and the Father are the answer for me. I have a wonderful seat out under the trees in my backyard where I can sit and watch/listen to Y-H’s creation (and even catch a nap!) seem to refresh me.
Hope you have such a place and make the time to be there.
Shalom to you.
Being a 24/7 caregiver, I know a little of the growing faint life. Whew. It’s draining many times.
Often when you feel nothing inside, you just move forward from pure will. Even with no will, you just learn forward and fall ahead somehow. Muscle memory seems the only thing fueling the continuation.
Skip, I am confident you will seek nourishment and strength from Yeshua’s rest and at His feet.
Endure, brother. We are with you from afar.
lean forward…
“…she wasn’t a very good teacher, but she cared about her students and that made all the difference to us.” I ran across a statement like this while browsing through old books at a used book sale. How blessed we are to have a teacher that is both caring AND gifted. Skip, please take the necessary time for yourself and your family.
If Yeshua needed to get away to a quiet place, then why wouldn’t we? We are learning after all that he modeled the proper way…
The daily TW’s are amazing and always a treat, the thing I go to each morning. However if your comment above could be interpreted as a request to be released from the expectation of giving us something brand new and different each day, I would say Absolutely! Would it work to write a new TW then re-send some older posts that apply for the next few days? At times I find myself getting so absorbed in the TW from a few days ago that I don’t give adequate attention to the new ones coming in. Also I find I have missed a lot of the comments being posted from the community, and I regret that because studying the give and take of the conversation is so helpful. Just an idea, forgive me for getting practical here.
BTW The posts could still be accurately titled: Today’s Word even if a new word study wasn’t coming every 24 hours. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t Today in Hebrews 3:13 refer to a season of days, not just one 24 hour period? (But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called Today…)
Please don’t read this as a complaint, it isn’t, I just thought I might have heard a drowning man cry for help! If the Father strengthens you and enables you to keep the pace wonderful, if He says slow down a bit wonderful. Just know we are praying for you, we appreciate what you do and will study and feed at whatever pace you determine!
Shalom!
Tonya
Thanks for your comment and suggestion. Actually, TW is sort of a personal journey through Scripture. The real issue is the interference of travel. It is particularly difficult when I spend days on the planes. I just get so tired that it is hard to think deeply enough to write. So, off to England in a few days with some time at Oxford, hopefully to get recharged.
I thought about re-runs, but have decided not to do that if I can help it. Going forward is particularly important to me – and the rest of us. But there will be times when I just won’t be able to keep up. I’ll let you (plural) know in advance.
The last couple days your TWs have been running through my mind. On Monday there was a verse that came to me “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose”. Then the thought came to me that how does that verse look in action.
David, Joseph, Isaiah, Jeremiah et all loved God. I’m pretty sure we could all agree that the “good” worked out in their lives isn’t what we would necessarily consider good (as in if it happened to us, we wouldn’t think it was so good). So perhaps good looks different to God or more than likely that verse really means all things work together to glorify God. And just maybe the refining process used to make us “good” (or allowing our lives to glorify God) isn’t all that good (in the way that we would consider good) at all.
Some days we walk in darkness stumbling along…days like that I am reminded that His word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Which to me means, keep doing the things you know to do and perhaps while you are walking along He will show up.
Sounds about right to me.
Oooh, I like this thought here Jill.
So often we think Y-H is like us even down to what defines “good.” Indeed, what we see as good tends to not be what one thinks of when one is thinking about the refining process.
I doubt in all practicality that Joseph found being down in that well and hated by his brothers good. No doubt David did not feel that the death of his son was good, and so on. But these were used by Y-H and preserved in written record for us for reasons known only to Y-H.
His ways are not our ways and we are made in His image, not the other way around although that is how we tend to think.
Really good thought material here. Thanks! 🙂
Jill and others and Dr. Skip, very insightful. Thank you for these words. I often have times as you have described. I’m kind of coming out of one of those spells right now. And what Jill said, just keep doing what you know is right. But my soul craves His presence so much. Sometimes, I wonder if I just don’t make that up at times. (sensing His presence more times than others).
Jamie to be honest with you sometimes I wonder if I just don’t make it up at times too. Though there are times when I know He is with me, I can feel it and it isn’t a feeling that I can conjure up (I know because at times I try). I’ll just be going along and suddenly He is there pointing something out to me.
I also believe that He shows up in the people we know and that is why community is so important. What you hear from those around you (including various sources of media) feeds and therefore grows either the yetzer hara or the yetzer hatov.
Thank you Skip for your honesty and humble spirit. Your teaching is such a blessing to me. Sometimes I need time to chew on certain teachings, and trying to keep up daily with such rich information can be a challenge. May Yah give you the strength and wisdom to continue the good work you are doing.
Thank You,
Monica
~A nd it is also true- “what a difference a day makes!” Monday was a “stretch” for me. I came home, ate a bit of supper, swallowed two ibuprofen and its was “lights” out for the evening. Tuesday was much “more gooder’ and today I’m back on the block. Prayer, during these “special” days is even more critical and vital! There are days when we need to lean hard on Jesus! Short and sweet (some call them “breath-prayers,” – LORD, help me!- LORD, give me patience.. – or even LORD, have mercy (always a great prayer!) do not go unheard or unanswered! But above all, we (all) need to cultivate the “holy” habit of prayer! Pray during the “good” days as well as the bad- Pray in the sunshine and pray in the rain- According to the Torah (instructions) of YHWH, we are to ~ pray without ceasing! ~
Pray when we lay down. Pray when we rise! Pray before we eat and during our meals as well. Pray for one another that “you” may be healed! ~ The LORD turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends! ~
You HAVE seen a lot of miles my friend and yes, (having been there-done that!) I know that long road to “there and back again” will wear us down! Welcome home Skip! We will pray you will get some good R&R (&R) before you need to leave again..
The most disturbing part of my un-motion sickness is my inability to pray. I just don’t have words
Hi Skip,
I feel the same way most of the time
Thankfully I have your words
To think about
So many of us weary these days. One thing I know, especially from reading these posts, we are not alone. Thanks for your honesty, Skip. Thanks to all in this community. Words of love and encouragement are so important. Shalom!
This is such a great community. It was bedtime before I got around to reading today’s TW, but when I did, I knew I had to log-on and read what was sure to be many, many replies. Imagine if we all lived in the same city… what a gas that would be!
I concur with Tonya… a TW review once in a while never hurt us. A little less on your calendar wouldnt offend either.
Skip, may HaShem multiply the blessings your TW gives to your readers and pour them back on you. And may He give you the strength you need to endure. Reading what you write is normally one of the first things I do in the morning. Your insights always have an effect on me, sometimes to challenge, sometimes to encourage, or sometimes just to be in awe of the One we are privileged to know through Messiah. I will try to make it a habit to say a prayer for you when I read the amazing insights the Spirit gives you. I also know the feeling you described. May G-d give us all the strength we need to persevere. Blessings & Shalom.
You need a sabbatical Skip!!!! We don’t want a burnout. ABBA’s hand upon you! Amein! Shalom v’shalom to you.
Hi Skip
Just a few random thoughts –
As for prayer: my biggest struggle too – I never had a problem in the past, but lately( past year or 2…) I feel most uncomfortable having to pray in front of or for others. Although I realize that its not about myself but blessing others, and praying is the first step of being human etc., I think that because of all the paradigm changes, I struggle to find the right words – and I refuse to do it the way I used too. God is patient and also gracious enough to still answer most of my prayers even though I am not David. And if prayer is flow – then I am just flowing quietly for now. My excuse: Since when was there a time limit on Hannah’s way of praying? All I know is that I need a lot of practice, by myself – writing my own Psalms. ( or rewriting and praying David’s out loud)
For me growing and faint just don’t go together – its a oxymoron. Isn’t faint the place you are when you are not growing? Or may be its like the Rabbi’s say: you even worship God in your sin? And I guess I have a choice to either grow forward or upward, in and out of my weaknesses or downward into Sheol – but there is still motion since nothing in the world is at rest.
What’s the sense of moving so fast that no one can keep up? Your words: no sense in getting there by yourself. Look over your shoulder to see if everyone is still keeping up.
As you know, Hebrew words always have a positive and negative meaning – look at the positive side of ” to experience the Word surrounded”; At -4 C inside your room, His Word is surrounding you like CENTRAL HEATING or a electric blanket that goes on top of a bed. Still there is always a risk involved in experiencing the comfort…. ( oops! sounds kind of greek)
“Instead of saying failure is all we can expect until God transforms us, we can do as God says and work for transformation until the day we appear before him”. – Derek Leman – Mussar
John Samuels: We sin in our strengths – so keep going (growing) in your weakness – that’s where not only you, but God and the Ruach can work best as you said yourself – “when I am at my end”. Every end is the beginning of something new – Hebrew time.
Backstroke – all the way!
Thanks. I so much appreciate you!
Praying for you.
I once read about how a man believed in prayer, after he was used to answer someone’s prayer. He didn’t want to get a haircut, but something (a small voice?) kept nagging at him, so he went. The barber immediately exclaimed, “You’ve answered my prayer. I prayed that you would come today.”
Sometimes when we can’t pray, we’re still answering others prayers. What a mighty God we serve!
Shawn
Dr. Moen,
I’ve been busy this week and have only been catching up on this week’s TW’s tonight. Thank you so much for sharing. Your honesty and your ability to put into words that which so many of us have experienced and struggled to express. You truly are, as you mentioned in Krugersdorp earlier this month, a light worth following.
I hope you enjoyed the rest of your Africa trip and that it was blessed. We were truly blessed by your presence and teaching and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones. It was great finally meeting you in person.
We will pray for you, as we always do.
Thanks Jaco. I enjoyed meeting you too. But I hope you didn’t think that I said I AM a light worth following. 🙂 I’m just one of all of us, trying to figure things out.
No, I know you didn’t say you ARE a light worth following, just that when it comes to “making disciples”, we should should become people (lights) worth following. And after meeting you in person, after having listened to your teachings for years, I see you even more as a teacher worth listening to and learning from. All the best for your next trip.
I feel that I have un-motion today also. The only thing moving about me today is my nose. It is running fast due to my bad cold. I just feel like a good hug from Jesus would cure all my problems. I pray and wait and I pray for you too. Have a good trip.
L