Phenomenology
Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? Psalm 60:10 NASB
Rejected us – David returns to rejection. This same verb is found in the opening verse (after the prologue). Zanah means, “to reject, to spurn, to cast off.” It involves strong dislike and disapproval. Another word, spelled exactly the same way, demonstrates the tactile sense of this disapproval. The word, zanah, means “stink” or “stench.” What does it mean to be rejected by God? It means to rot! To emit a foul odor. To be putrid.
Just the slightest change in spelling (by breaking the line of the chet to produce a hey) produces a word (zanah) that may extend this revulsion. Zanah is the verb for “commit fornication, be a whore.” Of course, in the worldview of Israel, this activity is metaphorically connected to idolatry and idolatry is repulsive to both God and men (or at least it should be). The connection between sex and idolatry is not accidental in biblical thought. Perhaps the near-connection between sex-idolatry and stench-rejection isn’t accidental either.
What do we learn from these linguistic relationships? Among other things, we learn that Hebrew is a phenomenological view of the world. Hebrew sees the world as it appears to us. Where Greek attempts to find the underlying “reality” of the lived experience, Hebrew merely reports what it seems like now. Yes, YHVH made an eternal covenant involving Abraham. Yes, YHVH will never break His word. Yes, YHVH is Israel’s provider and protector. But it sure doesn’t look like that today! Today it looks like God has abandoned us. Today we feel His absence. Today it seems as if we are all on our own. Today we are afraid, we hurt, we worry. The theology of transcendental realities doesn’t make any difference today! While Greek thought produces a systematic theology of universals, Hebrew thought produces a theology of emotions. And quite frankly, emotions are where we live today.
Has God rejected David? Of course not! Does it feel as if He has? Absolutely! Does David cry out that God no longer loves Israel? Never! Does that mean he doesn’t agonize over God’s absence? Absolutely no! Isn’t it the same with us? We know that God loves us. We know that His promises are eternal. We know that He will not abandon His children. But it doesn’t always feel that way! And when we feel as if we are outside the camp, it’s not a sin to say so. “Lord, how long will You hide Yourself from me?” “Lord, will You put me off forever?” “Lord, don’t You know how much I need reassurance from You now?” Hebrew is a theology of emotions. Attempting to restrain, control or even deny what we feel in order to present ourselves as rationally composed is to deny ourselves access to the emotions of YHVH, a God who feels the agony and ecstasy of His people.
Topical Index: emotion, zanah, stench, zanah, fornication, idolatry, Psalm 60:10
Hmm Feeling is believing. We just had it all wrong! LOL!
There is nothing worse than betrayal. It stinks. Rejection is a killer. Rejection says that I am rotten: that I am already dead TO YOU. To the extent that I am vulnerable to my identity found in the eyes of another, I am vulnerable to having that identity effectively erased by that other. This is so scary to us because it affects our sense of, and ability to, act in our own reality. This is also the basis of voodoo. Voodoo says “take the hint already, and just die, because you are already dead TO ME”. Powerful auto suggestion! I have noticed voodoo works particularly well in close-knit societies where people’s sense of their identities is closely tied to their communities.
We are vulnerable in our connections to the same extent as those connections make us strong. Knowing this, and experiencing this, too, we ‘learn’ to ‘keep our distance’ by the experience of rejection by others. A strong sense of rejection (and I can reject myself, too) can hold me to a pattern of thoughts, feelings and behavior that continually keeps me from further relationship in that place: it effectively erases my identity in that place. I can recreate the rejection of yesterday today by standing in that place again. If I believe it is already true that you are going to reject me, I am going to project that reality, and, by already acting rejected, I can effectively keep others from relating to me, even though they are trying to. I can effectively force those around me to reject me today by acting as if they already have!
What many people don’t know is that holding that feeling of – that agreement with – a sense of rejection is a sin. It is an agreement with the assessment of another (or myself) that I don’t exist. That is an agreement with death, folks! When I have been rejected, the promise says that the Lord will take me up. He can’t do it, though, as long as I am agreeing with rejection. I have to repent for agreeing with the lie that I stink (am dead) to another, to Him, or to myself before He can literally BE the connection I need in that place of my identity. He can fill in all the blanks of my life that are not being filled with the necessary relationships that were supposed to exist in those places, but only if I repent for agreeing with the temptation, coming through the rejection of myself or others (or even the PERCEIVED rejection by YHVH), that I do not exist in that place. When I give in to the temptation to agree with that rejection, I am participating in my own murder, which is the breaking of that sixth commandment.
I have noticed that David does the right thing when he feels rejected: he goes to the One he feels rejected by and insists that the relationship be honored. He gives YHVH another chance to prove that He has not deserted him. He does not agree with rejection! This is the right pattern for me, too. Also, David turns to YHVH when he feels rejected. This is what I must do, too. When I feel that I am not measuring up to myself, others, or to Him, the correct thing for me to do is to take that to Him, and ask Him to fill in those blanks for me until I do measure up. The one wrong thing for me to do is to agree that I don’t! That is a lie! I have been promised the righteousness of Yeshua to cover me like a white robe in the places that I have not been sanctified YET. Like all the other promises, however, it is conditional. I have to do my part. I have to agree to the deal. I am not given His righteousness (rightly relating) in my sleep! I have to trade that rejection for that connection. Like any skill set, this swap; this turning around in the places of fracture, gets easier with practice. The rejection of yesterday only has power over me today to the extent that I give it that power, and agree that it is true. This is where I can turn rejection around and send it packing. I have been promised life eternal. That promise starts today! I agree! Halleluah!
“I have to trade that rejection for connection.”
Yes…absolutely. But, we also have to trade it for acceptance…acceptance and repentance that we brought the feeling of rejection on ourselves. G-d often pulls back, allowing consequences because of our own behavior. While He doesn’t actually reject us, it feels like that. But, often we immediately turn to whining and blaming G-d rather than accepting our personal culpability.
Perhaps the reason David is called “A man after my own heart” by YHVH is that David is willing to express all his emotions directly to YHVH. He hides nothing behind the “I’m OK” facade. He takes anger, rejection, disappointment as well as joy, exuberance and acceptance right to its ultimate source, that is, to YHVH Himself. David’s heart is to share what he feels with God. And God loves it. There is no pretense, no wall, no second agenda with David. He simply lets God see who he is at the moment. He is intimate with the Lord no matter what the feeling is. I wonder if this isn’t the true heart of relationship, not to make everything OK but to simply let what we are at this moment be seen by the One who loves us.
“I wonder if this isn’t the true heart of relationship, not to make everything OK but to simply let what we are at this moment be seen by the One who loves us.”
Very Relevant word for me today. I posted it on my Facebook page (with credit to you of course and where to find it) so that it will be there to remind me. 🙂
I participated in Campus Crusade for Christ all four years of my university experience. The then ubiquitous 4 Spiritual Law booklet prevailed. Toward the end was the “Fact-Faith-Feeling” illustration with the train. While the teaching never negated the feeling part, “feeling” was certainly minimized in all the teachings I sat under.
Those formative years of trying to organize all my brain mush has left a lasting and strong influence on my paradigm in regard to this TW. I was constantly acknowledging my feeling/emotions but was more sternly urged to suppress them and, what, be more Greek? Pretty much.
I think I might have moved forward in maturity a bit earlier had I not been so “caboose” oriented in my then efforts to push everything in to the intellectual and cognitive arena. A little more doing based on the little I actually understood might have been better than becoming a fact gatherer and one who merely regurgitated what I was taught. The irony of it seems to be that the older I got the more I forgot, hence, the endless cycle of knowledge gathering rather than focusing simply on doing life, living torah.
Thankfully, these days, I am more invested in studying in knowing what to do rather than studying to simply know. Big difference.
Regarding David’s emotional cry to YHVH, I think I would do well with more of that manner of living as opposed to my typical response trying to figure it all out cerebrally and work out an exit strategy in each instance.
Duh.
Fickle Feelings
Matters of the Heart
So, how do YOU “feel” today? (In theory) because I had too much pizza last nite I feel (in the mood of the moment) “yucky.” Also, because of my “elderliness” I feel brittle and broken. For you see, it’s all about “feeling, nothing more than feeling..” — or is it?
Last time I looked, our instructions are: “We walk by “feelings,” not by sight!..” Er- uhh.. No. Let me try this one again.. Only this time, I’ll attempt to feel good about this..
Calling Dr. Feelgood now.. Coupla’ beers and/or pills later – maybe some groovy tunes —some mood enhancers.. Hey ma, look! My “mood ring” changed colors!! Cool beans!
Friend, we who are His – walk by FAITH. And? NOT by sight! (Habakkuk 2:4)
Especially “feelings.”
Abraham blew it when Jacob the Supplanter (representative of the flesh) deceived him with his “hairy hands and the “smell of the field” about him, stealing Esau’s birthright by trickery and deceit.
There are those carbon units among us who truly believe “perception is reality.” – (These are my perceptions) Perceptions then form opinions and everyone has one.
This is where the $300 haircuts and the right color tie and suit originate from. “Looking good” bro. My, how you shine on our HD tv. Yep, man does “judge” on the outward appearance… BUT (Bible buts are always BIG!) – The “rest of the story?”
God looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16.7)
Is your heart right with God,
Washed in the crimson flood,
Cleansed and made holy, humble and lowly,
Right in the sight of God?
I think you meant Isaac, not Abraham, but I got the idea. But your implied definition of faith, not walking by sight, seems to be truncated. Don’t you think YHVH created us with emotions for a reason? Do you really think that we should be unemotional in our walk with YHVH? Of course you don’t. I know you. Lots of passion. But why does that make you want to feel only the “correct” passions with God? David takes all of his feelings to God and discovers that they all transport him toward closeness. The more transparent David is, the deeper his relationship with the Father. The idea that emotions must be suppressed is as Greek as it gets. Hebrew is PASSIONATE! It is the language of how I feel, and there is nothing inherently wrong with feelings. It is what I DO WITH THEM that directs the outcome. If I attempt to walk without feelings, I turn myself into a cognitive robot, and I find nothing in Scripture to support that kind of faith. In fact, what I find is that the denial of my feelings is based on a FEAR of emotional vulnerability, but vulnerability is precisely what makes a relationship precious. I believe that the aversion to feelings is based on a desire to BE IN CONTROL, that is, to not be swayed by the passions which overtake me. But Yeshua doesn’t attempt to CONTROL his emotions. Why do we think it is so important to do so? Paradigm assumptions need to be examined here.
This was really helpful to me, Skip. I’ve been struggling with some feelings lately and while it’s not usually in my nature to “hide” them from God, I find that I have been. I need to get to the root of that.
The other side of the coin. Carl The Balancer. Thanks.
I have been meditating the morn about the perception thing. I have also been thinking about the ancient (and not so ancient!) cults, particularly the Dionysian types that were, basically, sex-n-drug orgies. You were supposed to base how ‘close’ you were to the gods by how high you got. Whoops, sound familiar? I passed by a church marquee in town the other day that was advertising itself as “your Sunday high”. That stuff makes me really nervous.
I think what Skip says is important. Its what you do with your emotions that is important. If I seek out an emotion, am I not attempting to manipulate (control) them? That’s going to be that Greek orgy, is it not? If I seek out an interaction, a realtionship moment, then the emotions are going to be a RESPONSE TO, not a precipitator of, that relationship.
I think it is wrong to put the cart before the horse (seek an emotional response) as an INDICATOR of relationship. BUT, it is likewise wrong to avoid emotional responses in an attempt to establish a relationship on a cerebral plane. I wonder what church would be like if we brought to it what we were ALREADY feeling, and started from there. That makes EVERYBODY nervous! Must be correct!
Yes! Well said!
I just found your website a few weeks ago, and it is so great. Yes, all of my life I was told not to feel, especially the “negative” emotions. Thank you. This was such a blessing to me today. Patty
Also, I wanted to add that yes, it is how we express our emotions that can get us into trouble. Who better than YVWH to go to first? I would like to learn more regarding the Hebrew way of learning. Maybe Skip, you could suggest a good starting point. Thanks.
Welcome. You can start with the “30 days to a Hebrew Worldview” on the home page of my web site, AND you could read the first volume of Spiritual Restoration which you can order from the web site (not Amazon, please). thanks.
Skip
Thanks. I’ll do that. And thanks for the welcome.
I used to hide things from God. HA HA HA. When I finally realized that God already knew all about my verbal emotional spewing, I really let it fly. I felt better, but then I was embarrassed and felt like I had destroyed my Christian image. When I realized how stupid I was I began to pray about my problem and pray for forgiveness which I think was God wanted all along.
UH, I’m not cured yet from the verbal outburst. Just more honest about how I feel.
Thank you for this one, Skip. I received bad news on Friday afternoon, felt very abandoned by YHVH, and did some emotional venting to the Lord myself on the Sabbath. When I finally read this Today’s Word it seemed like you had written this directly to me. I appreciate very much what you do.
Sorry to hear that you had bad news. But glad this helped.