Exercises for the Left Arm
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 NASB
Every intent – So you’ve come to the place where you are ready to fully commit your heart, mind, soul and strength (in Greek parlance) to seeking God. You are prepared for the journey of the hafetsah nefesh, the delight of being put on God’s anvil. But how? How do you step into the refiner’s fire? How do you submit your life to the blacksmith’s hammer? What procedure do you follow?
First, obey the mitzvot. This is a given. If your living is not in concert with the expectations of citizens of the Kingdom of the God of Israel, then the God of Israel is not your god. Go serve someone else if you wish, but don’t claim to follow YHWH if you don’t do what YHWH asks. That seems pretty obvious.
But following the mitzvot presents another problem. The mitzvot were not written in our time and for our culture. A kid in mother’s milk, different threads in a garment, picking up sticks on Shabbat – not things that actually concern how I live today. What rule of thumb can I employ when the instructions aren’t so clear?
Here’s the real problem. We are too often seduced by our own yetzer ha’ra. We delude ourselves into constructing rules that fit us. The yetzer ha’ra is adept that taking even the noblest of motives and twisting them so that we come out glorified, our self-interests served. Why is the yetzer ha’ra able to make such a mockery of our good intentions? Because we have trained it for so long that we no longer notice its influence. What we need is training for the left arm.
If you go to the gym to become a power lifter, you will discover very quickly that using only a barbell is a mistake. Why? Because with both arms pushing the bar, the stronger one will automatically compensate for the weaker one. The only way to get even power in both arms is to train them separately. Dumbbells are the answer. Work each arm alone and then when its time to lift with both, they work equally in concert. For many, many years we have trained our right arm yetzer ha’ra. We have been doing what serves our purposes and brings about the world of our own making for as long as we have lived. Even when we attempt to do what is good, our left arm yetzer ha’tov is inadequately trained. We can compensate, but in the end, the stronger arm prevails. So we must enter into a training routine that isolates the yetzer ha’tov and develops its strength to combat the tendency of the yetzer ha’ra. How do we do that? It’s really pretty simple. Every time we have the opportunity (even if we deliberately create the opportunity), we act with benevolence toward another at cost to ourselves. We employ the Golden Rule first. We turn our power and focus toward the good of the other before we act for ourselves. Every time we act first for the benefit of the other; and only then do we care for ourselves. We gain spiritual muscle for the yetzer ha’tov by making sure we are not lifting with the barbell.
A few days ago I was at the Dallas airport having lunch with Keith between flights. Some men sitting next to us began a conversation (initiated by me) about what we were doing. Teaching about God’s ways was the reply. They seemed surprised. That was all we said. But when we left, I paid their bill without them knowing it. I simply wrote on the check, “Be blessed today.” They never knew and we were gone to the flight before they got the check. Left arm exercises.
Topical Index: yetzer ha’ra, yetzer ha’tov, every intent, 1 Chronicles 28:9
🙂 love it!!
Thanks Skip…I definitely need to spend more time in the GYM.
This is somewhat reminiscent (with a twist) of Matthew 6:3 – don’t let your left hand know what your right hand s doing. It is helpful when one has internalized this to the point that one is unconscious of so doing.
Skip, today you tell me I must obey the Mitzvot. I look it up and as you say much of it is for another time, but some of it I understand. The following:
N17: Not to love someone who seeks to mislead you to idols
N18: Not to relax one’s aversion to the misleader
N19: Not to save the life of a misleader
N20: Not to plead for the misleader
N21: Not to oppress evidence unfavorable to the misleader
How does this agree with what Jesus told me to do when He says “love your enemies”. And how does it relate to the Golden Rule that you are teaching here? Please Help me here.
What is the difference between “enemy” and “one who misleads”? By the way, this applies to one who consciously misleads, that is, who knows the truth but directs others in a different path.
Once you answer this question, then we can go on to the Golden Rule.
We are told not to argue over words, but Ok, the definition of my enemy is:
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural en·e·mies
Etymology: Middle English enemi, from Anglo-French, from Latin inimicus, from in- 1in- + amicus friend — more at amiable
Date: 13th century
1 : one that is antagonistic to another ; especially : one seeking To confound an opponent (a synonym of confound Is deceive) how would I not include this person among my enemies, after all our greatest enemy is Spiritual and he is known as the great deciever. Help me here.
A good English definition, along with spiritualized application. Now ask yourself how the Hebrew text of the Bible understands the word “enemy.” What does it say about enemies? How are we to confront enemies? Who told you we are to argue over words? Proverbs has quite a bit to say about those who deliberately deceive but it calls them “fools,” not enemies.
Skip, you misunderstood, I said we are “not” to argue over words, that is what Paul said in 1Tim 6:3-4. I take this to mean that we are to take the word as written in scripture. Jesus is the Word. I know that proverbs says. Proverbs 25:9 Argue your case with your neighbor,And do not reveal the secret of another. I take this to mean that I am to know this word when discussing with my neighbor. That said. I know that we need to put it all together– here a little there a little in order to discern truth. Thus my question, because there is this tension between this portion of the law and what Jesus said. I am having a difficult time determining how I can deleat all fools from my enemies list. I’m sure that David considered King Saul to be playing the part of the Fool, yet David obviously discerned Gods heart and seems to have ignored the law on this point as he had done when he was hungry and ate the sho-bred in the Temple. Would it not be impossible to assume that the whole heart of God could be contained in the Law. Paul seemed to know this when he stated the purpose of the Law- to reveal our sin. These are some of my issues. I am a sinner, I cannot keep the Law, I have already proven this to myself. Thank God for Messiah, His sacrifice and His love, His grace and His Mercy, for I have also played the fool, and at times have even unknowingly gone after idols, woe is me I am a man of unclean lips. Thank God for Messiah.
Hi Jerry,
I’m afraid that I’m getting lost in this blog conversation. Too many other things happening. Just finished a great teaching day in England and now tomorrow head for Spain.
So, maybe we can start again. What is it that is really bothering you? I would like to address that, but I’m really not sure what it is anymore. Can you give it to me in one sentence?
Sorry I left out this definition, but as you can see it a similar word having similar synonyms.
mis·lead
misˈlēd/
verb
1.
cause (someone) to have a wrong idea or impression about someone or something.
“the government misled the public about the road’s environmental impact”
synonyms: deceive, delude, take in, lie to, fool, hoodwink, throw off the scent, pull the wool over someone’s eyes, misguide, misinform, give wrong information to; More
The title of Today’s Word makes me think of two of my favorite works of fiction
– The Left Handed Gun, a movie with Paul Newman as Billy the Kid
– The Left Hand of Darkness, a book of science fiction about an “androgynous” race
And The Left Hand of Darkness no doubt inspired “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
A science fiction novel by the American writer Philip K. Dick. First published in 1968
Which served as the basis for the movie Blade Runner with Harrison Ford
Directed by Ridley Scott (1982). Blade Runner. Warner Brothers
Ridley is currently in the process of directing a new movie about Moses (Exodus)
And I once spent considerable time and intellectual energy on the Androgynous Soul
As I interpreted The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
And at the moment Androids are wandering around an operating room in a GE commercial on TV
The Left Handed Gun (1958)
William Bonney – Billy the Kid – gets a job with a cattleman known as ‘The Englishman,’ and is befriended by the peaceful, religious man.
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin – About a planet that is always cold, and its citizens are neither female nor male: they have gender identities and sexual urges only once a month. These conditions have affected the ways that civilizations on Winter have developed, with the most notable effect being that there has never been a war on the planet.
I really liked “The Left Hand of Darkness” when I read it years ago.
Sounds a very interesting book with your description, Michael.
I might mention it to my daughter who writes a lot, and authored some children’s books.
Shalom!
“We delude ourselves into constructing rules that fit us. The yetzer ha’ra is adept that taking even the noblest of motives and twisting them so that we come out glorified, our self-interests served. Why is the yetzer ha’ra able to make such a mockery of our good intentions?”
That would be a case of “inhumanity”, and reminds me of the scoffers in the end of days.
“But when we left, I paid their bill without them knowing it. I simply wrote on the check, “Be blessed today.” ” I truly hope they will be blessed, receiving what was shared in the conversation, as it is a ‘sacrifice’ on your part, Skip, exercising your yetza ha’tov!
In the natural, I find my right arm is stronger than my left 😉 but, thankfully not in the sense of yetza ha’ra! 🙂 Thank You, ABBA.
Such provocative TWs!