Why Does God Love Me?
For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:14 NASB
Our frame – God may be the only person in the universe who loves dust. Of course, He shaped that dust into something that resembles Him, but David reminds us that He hasn’t forgotten what we are made of. Dust is pretty insignificant without Spirit to animate it. It would be difficult to argue that dust must be held accountable for being dust. We are certainly responsible for the spirit of the Lord breathed into us, borrowed in order for His purposes to be accomplished through the only created thing that bears His image. But dust is hardly morally culpable by itself. And since YHVH knows our constitution, He is genuinely sympathetic to the struggles we experience.
“Frame” is really a variation of the verb yatsar, “to fashion, to form,” used in the Genesis account for most of God’s creative work. It behooves us to pay attention to three separate forms of this Hebrew word, all spelled with Yod-Tsade-Resh. The first, yatsar, means, “to be in distress, to be frustrated.” The second, yatsar again, means, “to form, to fashion, to make, to shape, to devise” and is the verbal root of God’s activity in Genesis. The third, yetsar, means, “form, frame, purpose” or “imagination.” This is the word used in the verse in this psalm. Notice the tri-fold connection to yetser ha’ra. The yetser ha’ra is formed in the creation of Man and a constituent part of his very being. It is his frame. And his frame is yatsar—frustration and distress. The word is used in 1 Samuel 30:6 for the distress caused by lack of approval of others, for sexual frustration in 2 Samuel 13:2 and for plans that are thwarted in Job 18:7. Sounds a lot like humanity to me. It seems to me that there is an intricate and eloquent wordplay happening in David’s choice of the verb yatsar. We are “framed in frustration” as the sparks fly upward,[1] and who would deny it. We believe that life is supposed to be free from tension, concern and disappointment. But who told us that? Do you suppose that being framed from the dust entails the yatsar of discontent? Can you imagine that dissatisfaction is what it means to be human? If yatsar and yetsar are the elemental and essential components of being human, then a lot of human history certainly makes more sense. Personal as well as societal history.
To be human is to be framed for struggle. And YHVH knows it. That’s the way He made us and He is ever mindful of that fact. We are the ones who believe that the “real” universe is Pollyanna’s dream. Perhaps the greatest strategy of the yetser ha’ra is not to convince us that there is no God but rather to encourage us to believe that life should not be so hard.
Topical Index: yatsar, fashion, frame, frustration, yetsar, yetser, Psalm 103:14
[1]“ For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.” Job 5:7
Well, life should NOT be so hard! If I truly did believe that it should, it would never occur to me to be dissatisfied with that frustration! C.S. Lewis maintained that there were two clues to the fact that we were intended to be immortal: the first being that we told dirty jokes, and the second that we were afraid of our dead. The rest of creation takes their bodies very seriously (or, not at all), and does not see any level of embarrassment with the way their bodies function. We, on the other hand, think it so downright odd to be trapped in bodies that are the way they are, we relieve that discomfort with crude jokes: we actually think our frame funny. We don’t feel quite at home in our skin as it is. The other thing is that we are afraid of our dead: we think it highly unnatural that those that came before to really be gone from us, and we fear our own death, too. An animal is not afraid to die: we are. Why? I wonder if we should add a third thing to that list, and say that we find it inconceivable that life should be so hard; that struggle is what we really were born for, and that frustration should not frustrate us! Well, it does me!
Water seeks the path of least resistance, light travels in straight lines (well, given all other variables!) and I want some peace already! I started out in life, and I wake up in the morning, too, and peace is what I fully expect – what I want with all my heart; I think that life should happen on my terms, and should consult me first before it happens, and that it should all look like me. Now, what is wrong with that?! Shalom, or, no conflict with reality in any direction, is what I find I am hardwired to expect, and it is a shock of the first magnitude to discover that that is not actually the case. I fully expect that I should already know what reality should be like, and what I should be in that reality, and every time I stub my toe on it, much less slam full force into some brick wall SOMEBODY put out in the middle of NOWHERE, it comes as a complete surprise. Um, make that frustration!
To the extent that I do not know what love is, is to the extent that I am going to instinctively gloss it over; make it up; choose to believe that, in fact, I actually DO know what love should be, right here, right now – I am going to try to wing it. I am going to guess – and, to get myself to accept my guess (because I have to actually sign on with my heart to something before my mind will think it, and my body will do it), I am going to CHOOSE to believe that I actually DO know what love is in this place. Right here is where I am going to run into trouble. It is a profound lack of trust in God that sets my default switch to guess mode; to consulting myself FIRST when I do not know. I don’t think it is wrong, per se, for me to think I SHOULD know, because my hard wiring was designed for, and built in, perfection – where I actually DID know what love is. I think the switcheroo happened when we weren’t looking, which is why we don’t believe it did happen. I believe that, in a dark hour for mankind, an enemy switched the signposts around, and we have been confused ever since. We were created to believe that we know what love is, because we started out actually knowing what it is, but when we go to consult that knowing, we slam into perversion.
The Bible was given to us to alert us to trouble. It gives us in detail the entire story of the grand heist, and also spells out what we should do about it, but the only way back is by faith, for one of the things we lost was our eyesight. We still believe we can see, but now, without that proffered eye salve, we are running on illusion of the first order; we believe we can see, but we can’t. The frustration occurs because we think we know what peace consists of; what will make us happy, but we don’t.
I have to employ faith to get back to the place where I can see again; where I actually DO know what I need to choose to have peace – harmony – in all directions. I am not going to be able to SEE my way back out of this hole, because somebody turned out my lights. The first thing I am going to have to accept – to receive by faith – is the fact that I am suffering from blindness; that I do not know any more what is best for me. I think we choose to not believe what God says about the rest of it because we do not want to accept what He says about the very first fact of our current condition. He tells us that we are blind, lost and naked now, but we, none of us, start out believing Him. I am going to keep slamming into those walls until I am willing to start to listen. Peace for me, nowadays, on this planet, lies on the other side of those frustrating walls.
As For Us
These are words from One, who was born into our humanity, into our weakness, into our “frustration,feebleness,and frailty,” – One who willingly, knowingly, entered our world, the very world He made, through the portals of a virgin’s womb and became (Himself), “animated dust,” or flesh.
One who in all points was tempted (or tried) even as we [all] are, yet without sin. This One is the Messiah, the Christ, the God-man. The sinless, spotless Lamb of God, the One who takes away the sins of the world.
Doubt seems to be, at times, “universal.” Doubt first reared its ugly head in the Garden. “Did God say..?” Our first introduction to the enemy of Trust, “the demon of Doubt.” The first order of business: (Adam) NEVER doubt the goodness of God.
Thomas the Doubter (what a sad title!) was quoted as saying, “unless I see His hands and His side, I refuse to believe!” And the Messiah willingly obliged him. And the response of Thomas the (former) Doubter? – [Don’t miss this kids..] – “My LORD and my God!!”
Thomas knew – [no doubt now] “WHO” was standing there in front of him! He, just as easily would confess with Peter, “You are the Christ, [the Messiah], the Son of the Living God!”
And then there is John the Immerser. According to our Savior, “not a greater man born of woman!” First cousin of our LORD, and now greatly distraught to find himself locked away in a prison. And the demon of Doubt, seizing an opportunity, entered the door.
The sad lament of John is recorded for all: “Are You the One? – or should we look for another?” (Matthew 11.3) The gracious reply of our Master? He knew what John needed, just as He knows our need! He knows the frailty and feebleness of our flesh, for He knows [we too] are but dust! We also need, from time to time, times of refreshing that come from the Presence of the LORD, and need also this same holy reminder: Yeshua, [the Son of man] answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM..
As for us?
~ Comfort one another with these [His] words.. ~ (1 Thessalonians 4.18)
Then [the Son of man] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and behold at My hands. Take your hand, and put it into My side. — Stop doubting, and believe.”
Skip,
Yatsar is spelled: yod-tsade-resh.
sorry. Fixed it.
“To be human is to be framed for struggle.”
It’s all too apparent that the desperate years in which Israel struggled in slavery and that drove them to cry out for delivery was not enough of a struggle. Another 40 years of kicking in the dust was necessary in order for these people to be reborn as a nation; 40 years for these parents to teach their children what they themselves had not learned. For only the children would inherit the land. As Bob Gorelik points out from Isaiah 49:16-18, it’s our children that build – and rebuilds – the nation.
It’s one thing to “frame” one’s struggle as a struggle for personal growth; it’s an entirely different picture when you frame it as the struggle to disciple your children; engraving Torah into their hand. The Hebrew word for hand is “yod – dalet” and the word for child is “yod – lamed – dalet”. The difference between a hand and a child is the “lamed” in the middle; the letter that is all about instructing in God’s ways.
God never forgets Israel. They are ever before Him as if they were engraved in His palm (Is 49:16). Likewise, parents struggle to teach, instruct, live in front of the Torah principles for their children. They are working to engrave the Words into their hands; into the instruments that will build, rebuild, create, and recreate the Earth. All in hopes, that the King of the Universe will ever be before them and the nation.
Roderick: Nicely connected with yesterday’s parashah. Thanks.
On the “Why Does God Love Me” message you spelled yatsar, yod-ayin-resh. It is you-tsadey-resh.
Just being a good Berean.
Yahuah bless your going out and your coming in.
Margaret
Yes, already corrected. Thanks