The Eye of the Behold-er
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! Psalm 133:1 ESV
Behold – Before you run to the rest of the verse, dwelling on the unity David desires, stop at “Behold” and consider the opening word as a condition of fulfillment. The word in Hebrew is hinneh. Yes, it means “behold.” But it is closely related to another word, hinneni. In fact, all that needs to be added to “behold” is the pronoun “I.” Then the word becomes “Here am I” or “Behold, Me.” Hinneni is the basic exclamation of willingness uttered by such men as Abraham and David. It is the exclamation that I stand ready to do the will of the Lord. “Father, behold me! I am willing to serve at your request. I am ready to do anything you ask. Look at me, your humble servant.”
Quite frankly, until there is hinneh and hinneni is your life, there will be no unity.
David’s desire is for us to see the power and pleasure in unity among us. Yeshua expresses the same desire in his last prayer before the Father. Paul considers unity one of the essential characteristics of the ekklesia. But my observations as I travel the world are anything but ehad among believers. We would rather fight than forgive. We would rather remove than reconcile. We can’t wait to emphasize our differences. We know we are right and all those others are wrong. God is our God, not your God. The proof is obvious. Just look how successful we are!
The spirit of hinneni is quite the opposite of the religious world. It is the spirit of humility, of the recognition that I am His only because of Him, not because of anything I have done or will do. Hinneh (Behold) simply acknowledges that God is the one and only Sovereign of our fellowship and He alone chooses whom He will call. Hinneni is my personal expression of complete obedience, not to a creed or a doctrine or a dogma, but to a Master who has the supreme right to assign tasks according to His plans and purposes. Frankly, you and I have nothing to say about it!
If we don’t start with utter humility and overwhelming gratitude, we will never reach unity. Why? Because it is not our unity that matters. It is God’s unity. We attempt to create unity on the basis of human compatibility. Common goals, common values, common beliefs are just exactly that—common. God is not interested in what is common. He is interested in what is set apart—sacred—sacrificed. Unity is not found in what you and I think is agreement. It is found in the fact that you and I are sacrificed for Him and what is sacrificed no longer has a say in the methods of burning.
Before unity is “behold.” If you do not stand before the God of ehad as hinneni, your unity is nothing more than human consensus—straw of compatibility. And the flame of YHVH will consume the straw.
Topical Index: hinneh, behold, hinneni, Psalm 133:1, unity
Skip, you are on a roll today! Shatter those paradigms! Amen! Love every statement!
I cannot help but think, when I look at that word, “behold”, about faith and how faith works. Faith ‘sees’ the future. It literally ‘sees’ it into being. Faith projects the perfection of love into the future, and then rushes to fulfill it.
When I “behold” the goodness and the pleasantness of unity that needs to be so, I am holding a place for it open so that it can exist. The power of YHVH comes alongside that faith that He placed in me and says “Amen”. It is so. Where does praying for His will be done end and that action of my faith begin? No such thing. It is the faith of Yeshua in me from the get-go. I just cooperate. We get to stand side by side and look at that future of unity together. I want to see all of everybody as my already-brothers-and- sisters, and then act as if they are already so. Amen.
Thank you for writing today.
I’m always bothered and saddened when even among Messianics, if you think 1 thing differently than those you fellowship with, they don’t call anymore, don’t sent emails, they just kick you to the curb! If we all stood before the God of echad we wouldn’t be looking to either side to see the differences in our brothers and sisters, we would be “beholding” HIM!
I’m in agreement with Laurita. Your on a roll and for me your timing is perfect. We are in the middle of a congregational split.
Personality conflicts fostering resentment that become fodder for gossip and slander for the purpose of self exaltation resulting in people choosing sides at the first opportunity so as to go to war over who gets all the stuff that has been collected for the intended purpose of serving the flock but that has now become an object of our worship. An idol.
Witchcraft and Idolatry abounding as one side prays for the destruction of the other. What disgusting creatures we become when we set out to get our own way and forget that God is watching over us and hears every word.
WHAT A MESS!!!
Until there is hinneh and hinneni is our life, there will be no unity. Truly.
And unbelievers watching!
And Satan in the corner laughing and mocking. GRRRRRRRRRRR!
I love what you wrote Skip. This is very helpful. I see so many people trying to make unity happen and it has never felt right to me, especially when I see most people jockeying for power positions.
What I’ve seen God do to me is use my gifts and talents to get me involved but as I follow HE makes them useless. They don’t work as they did when I used them in my power. HE has weakened me and I have become dependent on HIM. And the only thing I am able to offer is my vulnerability to others, which actually draws people because it takes off all the walls and I become approachable. It’s amazing how God’s Kingdom works, and what HE has to do to make us like HIM.
BEHOLD!
Let ALL men see the evidence:
“ALL men will know that you are My disciples,
if you love one another.” Jn 13:35
(Italics mine)
Yup. Now we just need to know what “love one another” means.
TW for 02/15/12 Love Test
A beginning
Also:
Love Your Enemy
Posted on July 21, 2008
Michael, thanks for posting references in TW that correspond to the current day’s teaching. I’m going to read those today and be blessed and challenged even more.
Yeah, “just.” It’ll take a lifetime!
Thanks Skip, this is always timely and HUGE.
It is continually amazing that respect is so lacking in us humans. I am in my 70s and have to really monitor myself all the time to give respect.
As free Americans, of course, we are equal to all, right? Free to tell anyone anything we want to say…How upside down can we get? Romans 14:4 says that when we straighten out a servant, we are saying that HIS BOSS is not training him correctly. We tell God He isn’t doing it right? Ouch!
There is unimaginable freedom in letting DAD take care of the kids, and just do our own chores. He is wondrously good at using love to train and it gives an opportunity to watch how He teaches and changes people. THEN PEACE REIGNS..
“Hinneni is my personal expression of complete obedience, not to a creed or a doctrine or a dogma, but to a Master who has the supreme right to assign tasks according to His plans and purposes. Frankly, you and I have nothing to say about it!”
Clear, clean truth. We don’t need to nor will we probably ever UNDERSTAND His Ways. That’s not our job. Our job is to diligently seek TRUTH and then obey with a heart of service and gratitude.
Sometimes, many times, He gives us hard things to live out. (1 Samuel 2:2-10) That’s when we REALLY grow closer to Him.
Thank you, Ellie, for this: “There is unimaginable freedom in letting DAD take care of the kids, and just do our own chores. He is wondrously good at using love to train and it gives an opportunity to watch how He teaches and changes people. THEN PEACE REIGNS.”
Wow! Bulls eye!!! And I love everyone’s comments too! Our Father is speaking truth to many today. Thank you,Father, for speaking through your servants today. Actually, I think you call them friends
I wonder what the Father thought about men dwelling together in unity at Babel… Unity is vital and beautiful in the body of Messiah, but not at the risk of truth/righteousness. Skip, I like your last paragraph. What if a congregation is not held together by God’s unity? Should humility (hinneni) unto the Lord be overlooked for the sake of “unity among brothers”? Should our focus be to seek unity with each other or with the Spirit? If we seek unity with humans then we run the risk of being united against YHVH. But if we seek unity with the Spirit, then we will be united automatically with others who are doing likewise (and repelled by those who aren’t). Not all unity is from YHVH (Isa 1:13, Mal 1:4, 2 Cor 6:14-18), and division often comes from His own hand (Gen 11:1-9, Ex 32:25-29, Matt 12:46-50, Lk 12:51, Rev 18:4). Woe to those who find themselves fighting God for the sake of unity with men. Woe to those who find themselves on the wrong side of the line divided by the Word of God.
Oh, yes, Adam, we are going to have to go here. But I have found out something very interesting: I think it can even be seen on this site from time to time. I have found that when we seek to WALK A STRAIGHT LINE, and most particularly when we seek to do so by questioning some sort of middle that may have gone rotten and needs to be re-vamped (Skip’s pursuit of the trinity issue is exhibit A of this), people on all sides will ‘X’ themselves out of the picture. All we have to do is walk.
When I started going to a certain 12-step group to figure out how to deal with a strangle-hold with a certain precious person, a most unexpected thing happened: within 3 weeks of going, this person re-arranged THEMSELVES. Shocker. Now, mark, I was trying to find a way to pursue true fellowship with said person; seeking to set aside ways that were not working in favor of those that would. When I dedicated myself to pursuing true unity, the ones who believed that they could only exist in ‘relationship’ with me on the basis of chaos took themselves out of the equation! Funny…..
I think the Tower of Babel project was NOT an example of true unity, but rather an example of partners in crime. Partners in crime, I do think, have to be believing both of what I think are hard-wired glitches of human nature: they have to believe that there is such a thing as “something for nothing”, and they also have to believe that there is such a thing as “us’s and thems’s”; in other words, bigotry. (I think that both of these beliefs are completely unfounded in nature. There is no such thing as something for nothing, NOT EVEN GRACE, and there is no such thing as someone who I can safely separate from my own welfare on the basis of some sort of ‘difference’, because there is none.) These are the same people who, if they EVER achieve the object of their rebellion, will invariably immediately turn on each other and seek to take the goods from each other. The ‘unity’ only exists until the goal, or fruit, of their mutual rebellion is achieved. Bloodbath to follow… I believe the scrambling of the languages was a way to give them another chance before they wiped each other out in a power struggle over the fruit of their ‘unity’. It is not for nothing that Proverbs carries repeated warnings to avoid all partnerships of crime! And I believe that warning would be well heeded for all confederacies, which I think Isaiah also warns us against, as well as all following of ‘masters’, which Yeshua warns us against, and all followers of ERROR in general. Invariably, at some point, the followers of error will turn on each other. Why? I think it is because when you are believing those two bottom glitches of human insanity, which are believing that you can get something for nothing, or believing that there is such a thing as an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, which I think all error, at bottom, is trying to pursue, the seeds of inner strife will have been sown in hearts, and the fruit of those baleful beliefs will, eventually, turn people on each other. That is as far as I have gotten on this subject, to date, anyway. Hope something might help.
I pray that the true unity of heaven will prevail in this community, and that we will be together always on the basis of TRUTH, and never error, which would split us apart, like the Tower of Babel, so that we would not destroy each other. God’s ways are always and only to try to preserve us. We are the ones who are always trying to set those courses of destruction!
Shalom.
The Eye of the Behold-er
~ Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! ~ (Psalm 133:1 ESV)
The Behold-er is our Prodigal, (brokenhearted and compassionate) Father, who desires reconcilitation between the elder and the younger brothers.
The Shalom of the Savior- “Prince of Peace”
Friend, ~ God was in Christ*, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. – And He has given unto us (entrusted us with) this wonderful message of reconciliation.
“we beg you on behalf of Christ, – be reconciled to God..”
~ And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in Earth, or things in Heaven ~
~ Peace (Shalom) I leave with you; My peace I give unto you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid ~ (John 14.27)
~ So he got up and went (home) to his Father. While he was still far away, his Father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to His son, threw his arms around Him, and kissed Him affectionately ~
(Luke 15.20)
How to Make Heaven Happy
Remember, repent and return.
~ tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to Me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty, (El Elyon) ~
~ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we now have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ.. ~ (Romans 5.1)
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
This comment is from my friend and yours, Roderick.
Skip writes, “Before unity is ‘behold.'” Yes, in the same way “hear” is before “do” (Shema).” It seems that many biblical principles are expressed with a sense of duality. We all have heard it said – and sung – life is like a dance. I have found that to be true. I’ve also found out – the hard way – you can’t dance on one leg. Even when dancing alone, the feet don’t move in the same way; but in a complimentary way. The point: “unity” is the compliment to “behold”; but compliment isn’t sameness, and sometimes it isn’t saneness. At times the music doesn’t make sense; but we must keep dancing.
This week’s Parsha includes the account of Jacob at the Jabbok, dividing his household, and straddling two camps. This patriarch is facing a lot of conflicting issues stemming from his roles as husband, father, brother, nephew, and son; not to mention, he’s the recipient of a divine promise. No pressure here, right? Rabbi Lazer Gurkow poses the question, “Could he (Jacob) live in the world of vision and yet be committed to the duty of detail (“The River and the Pitcher”, Chabad.org)?” At the age of 63, Jacob said “Behold me” and it resulted in exile. 34 years later at the age of 97 he says it again, only to be maimed for the rest of his life. All he ever wanted was to love Rachel, and live in peace. In truth, there will be peace and there will be unity. It will come; but only as a compliment to the challenge and courage to stand and say, “Behold me.”
What does “Behold me” look like? First, what does it not resemble? As Skip points out, the flame of HaShem will consume. Consume what? Consume our acts masquerading as obedience when we have not first listened to HaShem’s instructions. Consume our candlelit circles and their pretense of solidarity; because – unlike Moses – we are choosing fleeting pleasures over standing with Israel while she is mistreated. Declaring, “Behold me,” is not a dramatic moment in a stage play; words heralded in the glow of the spotlight. No. “Behold me” is the whisper of self-sacrifice; the last breath of a life laid down for another. It’s the generation who keeps on with faithful actions, though the fulfillment of the promise be for another generation. It’s the journey of an abandoned, pregnant birth mother who returns to the source of her fears, on the hope that her children will be redeemed. “Behold me” is the product of incest grabbing hold of a exiled Jewish widow and refusing to let go. It’s the shadow on the street corner pretending to be a prostitute, in order that justice be established. To say “behold me” is to stand alone at the threshold, toe-to-toe with threatening soldiers and sell them a lie, so that men cowering on the roof will be saved.
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity (Ps 133:1 ESV)!” No wonder David wrote songs. He needed the lyrics to explain the dance.
Wow wow wow. This mic-drop stuff right here!!