At the End of the Day
and lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, for You recompense a man according to his work. Psalm 62:12 NASB
Recompense – At what hour of the day were you hired? Ah, you’re immediately transported to that parable about the graciousness of God. You know; the one where the master hires workers at all hours of the day but pays them all the same at the end of the day. And you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, it really doesn’t matter when I was hired. I’ll get the same pay no matter how long I worked.”
But not according to David.
That parable is about God’s grace, not about your work. That parable is a life-slice to show us that our conception of God’s character is wrong. He is generous beyond imagining. But that story does not imply that you aren’t required to work. Everyone in the story went to the field to work. No one got paid by sitting on the sidelines. The parable makes a point about God, not about you and me. The point is that God has the right to pay according to His goodness. That does not mean we have the right to rest according to our good pleasure. “Send workers into the harvest,” is still our commandment.
David captures the other side of the parable with the word teshallem. You will notice that the root of this word is shalem, the same root of shalom. “Recompense” is really “to be granted fullness.” God gives well-being, peace and reward, but according to David, God gives it “measure for measure.” Is it possible that we trade on God’s grace in order not to hold ourselves accountable to God’s teshallem? Are we misinterpreting a parable in our own favor, ignoring all the texts that describe God as a just judge?
In Jewish thought, becoming human means learning to domesticate the yetzer ha’ra to the service and purposes of the yetzer ha’tov. In other words, I become human as I become more like God in His actions and attitudes. The yetzer ha’ra is not essential evil. It is not something that must be done away with. The yetzer ha’ra is an essential part of what it means to be human because it is the motivational power that propels me to act with intention in the world. It drives me to shape the world according to my desires. It is the energy I employ to bring about my aspirations. That’s why the rabbis teach that a man without the yetzer ha’ra would never marry, never work, never change his world. Basically, a person without the yetzer ha’ra ceases to be an active agent in the world. The yetzer ha’ra isn’t the problem. It’s the direction of the yetzer ha’ra that’s the problem. Left to itself, the yetzer ha’ra will use everything available to bring about my desires, to shape the world according to me. The yetzer ha’ra is the fantasy genie of my life. According to the yetzer ha’ra, if I can dream it, I should have it.
What is required of me is to tame my yetzer ha’ra so that the vital energy is directed toward God’s purposes, not mine. I cannot remove the yetzer ha’ra. If I did so, I would have no motivation to do even what God requires of me. But I must domesticate its power so that it serves God. I must use all of its force for Him. And that means I need to train myself to combat its wild expressions.
The Scriptures are filled with admonitions to this end. “Take up your cross,” “Lean not on your own understanding,” “Trust in the Lord in all your ways,” “Be holy,” and dozens like this. Become human by mastering your yetzer ha’ra. That is essentially what God told Cain at that fateful moment. “You must master it.” It’s the same today. We must master this force, directing it for good, or it will kill us.
Every New Age meditation, inner self power releasing religion recognizes this truth. They just don’t see the proper direction. Somehow Christianity denies this truth. It attempts to teach us to remove this blight on the soul. But that is impossible. We are this power. The question is how we are going to use it.
What we need are exercises to strengthen our yetzer ha’tov so that we can master the vast force within us. And that’s what Torah does. Torah strengthens our ability to act as God would act so that we can master the yetzer ha’ra and direct it toward God’s purposes. That’s it. Do this and you will learn to master yourself. Don’t do this and you will be in a constant battle with yourself. Could it be any clearer?
Topical Index: recompense, shalom, shalem, yetzer ha’ra, master, Psalm 62:12
This makes a lot of sense, but you make no mention of ‘we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in the heavenly places.’ That is, ‘spiritual warfare’ as Christians call it. Or is that the hidden backdrop in your analysis, Skip?
It seems to me that Christianity has latent gnostic tendencies in this area. We tend to place ourselves as victims between super powers – one good, the other evil. And we tend to see all bad things as signs of the devil. Therefore, we read verses about “not against flesh and blood” as if they automatically mean “spiritual.” But now think of the yetzer ha’ra. Is it flesh and blood in the sense that Paul understands these terms in the Roman world? I think not. Wrestling with the yetzer ha’ra is wrestling with consciousness, not with physical powers. So maybe he had something like this in mind. I am pretty sure he did not think of human beings as victims.
Makes sense of 2Cor.10:5.
Is this what it means to have dominion?
True! I get quite ‘upset’ when believers even in Torah groups, bringing in their Christianity baggage, would start ‘rebuking” satan (in Hebrew, meaning the adversary)
That is sort of renouncing their own responsibility for whatever had happened, worse so for the person being prayed for, who would not be held accountable for their yetza ha’ra. That creates the mess Christianity is in.
“David captures the other side of the parable with the word teshallem. You will notice that the root of this word is shalem, the same root of shalom. “Recompense” is really “to be granted fullness.” God gives well-being, peace and reward, but according to David, God gives it “measure for measure.”
This is why it just feels so good to do good work and possibly help someone. I think this ties in with the greatest commandment–to love. You are granted fullness when a days work is done and you are exhausted but fulfilled/satisfied with what the day has accomplished.
Those who will not work have not the fullness of those who do. I am speaking to those who choose not to work, not those who are truly unable.
This is such a blessing and to see the point of the parable, God’s grace and not our work. In all my years of hearing this parable, I have never heard the emphasis placed like this and yet this is what is simple and truly makes the most sense when you look at the whole picture together!
Harnessing that yetzer ha’ra is a challenge but a necessary one. It is interesting that Christianity tries to wipe it out altogether (smells of Gnosticisim). This is why white washing the outside never works for long. It is part of who we are and I think you made an excellent point Skip. We need to direct yetzer ha’ra the proper way and use it for good–not let it use us for evil.
Since I am a health nut/label reader/GMO avoider (call it what you will LOL) I can say this…..do you eat to live OR live to eat?
Really great practical teaching today. One I can sink my teeth into!
I become human as I become more like God in His actions and attitudes. And Who is the most “fully human” human ever to have lived? Our LORD and our Savior, – without stutter or stammer- it is Him. As He said, “follow Me..” – “Do, as I do” Our most excellent Teacher, teaches and leads us by example. ~ He went about doing good.. ~ So should we.
This is Christianity in a nutshell. ~ Not “I,” but Christ! Less of me- more of Him! ~ He must increase ,- “I” must decrease! We win by losing. We live by dying. Absolute victory is through absolute surrender. Surrender to the will of the One who not only gave His life on Calvary for us, but again also to the very same now resurrected Living One who ever lives to make intercession for us. Not only are we *in Christ,* but He also is in us! (Colossians 1.27)
There is no better explanation for this other than to let the word of God speak to us-
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
~ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self (yetser ha’ra?) was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin– because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. ( For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God ~ Colossians 3.3)
~ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. (~And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you ~ (Romans 8.11) For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, he died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count/consider/reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (yetser ha’ra?) Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer/yield the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, A(shall not have dominion over you) because you are not under law, but under grace ~ (Romans 6.1-14)
For a better understanding of “all of the above”- please read through the book of Romans chapters 6, 7 and 8.
Apologies Carl,
How do you experience GRACE if you are not under ‘Law’?
You won’t need grace, when there is no law, right?
Shalom!
Speaking of working out!!
“for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1Ti 4:8
No magic bullet for becoming Christlike. No instantaneous BAM!! No pill, no sweat belts, it is life in action. Now…what to do…where are those instructions for godliness/righteousness? Following in the steps (instruction) of the Master.
Be blessed all.
To be a worker one must start working. Everyone begins at the beginning.
We all start with milk, some drink milk a bit more sour than others, when we move onto the meat we need to choose carefully, not all that is presented as food, is fit for consumption.
Kind of mixed up my metaphors there. My main points are that 1) if you want to know God you must make a conscious decision and work at it daily and 2) beware what you put into your heart and mind because not everything presented as “godly” actually is “Holy” or true.
“I become human as I become more like God in His actions and attitudes. The yetzer ha’ra is not essential evil. It is not something that must be done away with”
Positively then, yetza ha’ra exposes us to who we truly are, if we will examine our thoughts, to see who we really are in the light of Torah, YHWH’s rule of right standing (righteousness).
It is something to be reckoned with within ourselves, the overcoming element?
The yetzer ha’ra is an essential part of what it means to be human because it is the motivational power that propels me to act with intention in the world. It drives me to shape the world according to my desires.
Right! The negative side, if I wish to be wealthy, I will by all means with all craftiness step over everybody to get that accomplished.
But, to be HUMAN, I will strive to share, teach, the Torah exercising my yetza ha’tov to have as many folks possibly onto YHWH’s ways/path into His Kingdom while it is still DAY.
And that is what, Skip, you are doing here, casting out the net to bring in the good fish, to take folks out of the pit of religion/false indoctrination.
Torah strengthens our ability to act as the GOD of Abraham, Yitzak and Yaccov would act so that we can master the yetzer ha’ra and direct it toward HIS purposes, and will recompense as HE will, according to a man’s work. Amein!