Breaking Dawn
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1 NASB
Earnestly – “I shall seek You earnestly.” What does that mean to you? Does it mean that you will rouse up passion for God? Does it mean you will plunge into emotional depths? Does it mean you will concentrate your thoughts, focus your attention? What if I told you that the Hebrew verb shahar had two different linguistic fields, one that meant “to seek early” and the other that meant “to be black”? Would your imagination be able to connect these two in a way that helps you see what “earnestly” means in the Hebraic world?
Remember that Hebrew is a tactile language, a vocabulary of real phenomena, of the earth. It is not filled with abstract concepts or principles (like “time” or “space”). It flows with words that describe tangible connections. God is a rock, not an omnipotent first principle of Being. Let’s apply this to shahar. What is it like to “seek earnestly” in the ancient world of the desert?
It’s midnight. There are no electric lights. It’s the phase of the new moon. The sky is black. All visible light comes from the stars – billions and billions of them (in case you have never had the opportunity to see the stars away from all electricity). You can see, but not with clarity. There is something out there, just beyond the range of your eyesight. Is it danger? Is it harmless? You strain, but until the dawn your effort is useless. In Botswana, when I got up at 3AM in the morning and unzipped the tent door, I saw a lion twenty-five feet away. Actually, what I saw was a gray-shape with eyes. I recognized the shape but I really couldn’t see. I needed the dawn. I earnestly sought the light. I experienced both meanings of shahar at the same time. Black and seek. Both related to the same tangible, tactile sensation – fear and uncertainty.
“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You as one who seeks the light before the dawn. I shall seek You in the same way that I strain to recognize the shapes in the dark. I shall seek You because I want to turn blackness into light.”
We tend to turn adverbs like “earnestly” into emotional expressions of mental preparation. But the Hebrew world is a world of material, substantial, concrete experiences. To experience “earnestly” is to experience the need for light at the breaking of the dawn. To experience “earnestly” is to experience the fear and caution and uncertainty of not seeing in the dark. Why do I seek the Lord “earnestly”? Because I need to see!
Topical Index: earnestly, shahar, to be black, to seek earnestly, Psalm 63:1
The lion experience you recall is a powerful reminder of our need to be SAVED. I tend to forget how often I might need to be saved. I allow the comfort of my current surroundings to deceive me.
This morning, just before I opened my email with this TW in it, I had a seldom occurring experience. A visual anomaly that precedes migraine, only I don’t get migraines. Or perhaps I do, but I don’t have pain. So first, my vision is impaired, and then as the condition improves, I read this TW. It makes me wonder what I am allowing to interfere with what I should be seeing.
This site is a blessing to me in so many ways, as are the posted comments, and I am grateful for this whole community.
Astronomical point 🙂
Indeed, there are billions and billions of stars, several hundred billion in our own galaxy alone, but on a dark night away from any artificial sources of light, with a totally unobscured horizon, the average naked-eye observer can only see about 3000 stars. Of course, as Skip points out, it seems like billions! 🙂
“Let there be light.”
To see in this dark world, it was absolutely essential.
But Jesus said that He was not of this world, and neither were we!
So could there be another light? A light that allows us to see
Him and His Kingdom?
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” Eph 5:8-10
Jesus told us, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me
shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Jn 8:12
And what shall this light of life be like?
“And He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shinning after rain.” 2 Sam 23:4
How out of this world and yet down to earth
is our Creator!
Seek and Hide: From Shadow to Substance
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)
~ Let all things be done decently and in order.. ~ (1 Corinthians 14:40)
In “theory,” I am a neat and orderly person. In “reality” I am not so much.. not so much as I could be..- there is always room for improvement!
But in the game of Seek and Hide (this is no game!) – God, (the One who never lies) has given us His word:
~You will seek Me and find me when you seek Me with all your heart ~ (Jeremiah 29.13)
This is not a game God plays but a sure and unfailing promise, totally available to “whosoever will..”
“Any man” -anywhere and at any time may “seek God.” This is (in glorious reality) “seek and find.”
There are conditions to this search. We (all of us) are to seek Him “how?” On Sunday? between the hours of _____ and _____? Or on Saturday, when we have a “time out?” ( a shabbat). Maybe we might “tip our hat” to God on Sunday or Saturday (depending) but on Monday or Tuesday- my life is my own – (or is it?) What do the scriptures say? (Carl)
~ For you (and you and you and you) have been bought with a price… ~ (1 Corinthians 6.20)
The price of our redemption? Lamb’s blood. The blood of the Lamb. The rich, red and royal blood of the Son of Man and the Son of God. His own words? “This (cup) is the New Covenant in My blood.”
~This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many..~ (Mark 14.24)
This blood of the covenant is not exactly “new..”
~Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24.8) and.. (according to Levitical law) – “under the Torah or Law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins ” (Hebrews 9.22)
Were these words “fulfilled” by sacrificial death, sealed-stone sepulcher burial and subsequent resurrection of The Lamb sent from God?
~ The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah ~ (Jeremiah 31:31)
A new covenant. This blood, (Israel and Judah) is for you. Written in the real, red, sinless, spotless human-Divine blood, the atoning blood of the Lamb sent from God.
This is the master theme of our entire Bible: ~ Behold, the Lamb. ~
~ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born ~ (Zechariah 12:10)
The Lord will Save
Here is the shadow:
…”Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I AM God, and there is no other. “I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.…” (Isaiah 45.21-23)
But you, (you talking’ to me?)
~ Why do you (Carl) judge your brother? or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all… (did he just say “ALL?”)
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.”
(I, Carl, will bow my knees and I, Carl, will give praise to God!)
..So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God
(I, Carl, will give account of myself to God..)
~ Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.. ~
~ Fixing our eyes on Jesus (the Christ), the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him.. (joy?)
He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and (is) sat down at the right hand of the throne of God ~
~ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God ~ (1 Corinthians 1.18)
~ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles..
but..
~ to those who are the called, (both!) Jews and Greeks,
Here is the substance:
Christ the power of God and (Christ again) – the wisdom of God. ~ (1 Corinthians 1.24)
~ For *in Him* all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and *in Him* you have been made complete, and He is the (living) Head over all rule and authority..~
and…
~ and *in Him* you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.… ~
Is there “more..?” – Friend, – so much more!!
We gain far more *in Christ* than we ever lost in Adam!
Seek… and find!.. (and feast!!)
I love this. Profound.