Seek and Find
“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.” Jeremiah 5:1 NASB
Seeks truth – Is life really a puzzle? Does it require super intelligence, extraordinary insight and incredible discipline in order to discover the “secret”? If you are inclined to say, “No. It’s really very simple,” then I would like to ask, “If that’s true, why are there so many confused people, so much hurt and pain, so many who seem not to ‘get it’?” What happened to us? Please don’t tell me, “Oh, it was the Fall.” There is absolutely no textual support for the claim that our intellect was permanently damaged when Adam made a moral choice. No, something else must be happening—unless, of course, it really isn’t very simple.
Jeremiah hears the Lord tell him to search for just a single man who seeks truth. Maybe the key to life’s dilemma is in this verse. We just need to seek truth. In Hebrew, the phrase is mebaqqesh ‘emunah. The verb (baqash) is strong. It describes earnest pursuit. But it has an important Hebraic twist. There is a similarly translated verb, darash, that suggests cognitive effort; the rational exploration with the intent to understand. Baqash has something else in mind. Baqash is about moral seeking. It is the intense desire to do the will of God regardless of the cost. It is the basis of worship, service and obedience. It is virtuous integrity and upright living. That’s what God seeks.
We are victims of twenty-five centuries of Greek cognition. We think the solutions to life are rational. We spend our time and efforts trying to unpack how the world works so that we can control it for our purposes (or God’s, we tell ourselves). But Hebraic thought is not primarily rational. It is moral. Even a fool in Hebrew is not someone who is stupid. It is someone who is disobedient. God does not seek smart people. He seeks good people. To seek truth is to seek integrity in living. That doesn’t require a stunning IQ. It requires wholehearted vulnerability.
The Western world has been seduced into believing that intellectual prowess is the path to understanding. The result has been a severe disruption in the moral fabric of humanity. We understand everything except how to live according to the moral order of the universe. And because we think we understand, we aren’t interested in any morality that cramps our desire for control. No wonder YHVH could not find a single man who sought the truth. How many do you know who live out ‘emunah? Who’s on your list of men who offer unwavering, covenantal support without a hint of self-concern? When was the last time you met someone who never had a moment of calculated self-interest?
Now it sounds like nobody could ever make the grade, doesn’t it? Suddenly the answer is complicated. It’s demanding. And maybe that’s discouraging, because if it were only a matter of collecting more information, then we might think we could make the grade. But now it’s about purging ourselves of the will to have it our way. It’s simple—but terrifying. Strip away all the protective layers and live in complete dedication to God. But what will happen if we should be brave enough to do that? Won’t the world take advantage of us? Won’t we have to give up our need to keep things in control? Probably.
But would that be such a bad thing?
Topical Index: seek truth, baqash, ‘emunah, Jeremiah 5:1
I remember the days when people told me walking before the Lord was like peeling an onion layer by layer. Time I gave up what I wanted another layer was exposed and I would need to cry till I realized it was God revealing my heart to me it really was opposed to what God wanted.
Skip, I think you are starting to get really good at Whack-a-Mole. You hit this one in all the places it counts – for me, anyway. The biggest difference, you have said, between Hebrew thought and Western thought is that Hebrew is concerned with the action: the CHOICES, and we in the West are concerned with nouns, or, the forms. In Hebrew, you have pointed out, “God” is a verb. In the West, He is definitely a noun. I don’t have to actually do anything if it is about my head – I can just sit at my desk in school and get ‘A’s’ – but in Hebrew, I didn’t ‘get it’ in the first place if I didn’t do something. Children are wired to learn by doing (which should give us a clue), and adults, too, acquire their beliefs by what HAPPENS to them (experience); not by what they think they are shuffling around in their heads. Peter knew perfectly well – and believed it, too – that water could not be walked on, but it was his ACTION of walking that created a space in his reality for water to be walked on, which I bet changed his understanding of water a lot!
Nouns are concerned with what has already happened, but that is the past. Verbs (actions) are concerned with the present (the only place that I am alive), but for us to meet the present, we have to be continually stepping out on the fluid water of the future by trust. Nothing in our heads corresponds with this action, for faith is projected into that future by the heart. What is in my head is one step BEHIND my heart. Only trust (which is the basis for all righteousness, and originates in the heart, not the head) gives me the ability to live, for only trust can keep me in my present, which is the only place that I can find life (salvation). If I am stuck in my thoughts, I am relegated to the past that those thoughts represent. It is in the action of my choices, which Skip has pointed out is the only place righteousness (relating) can occur, that the action of Love can show up to bless those choices with Itself. There could be an argument to be made that God can only be found in the places we make a decision to act in that trust. Verb meets verb. Love is what happens; not what is cognitively contemplated.
Theres are a sticky little scripture that goes along with your trail. I paraphrase “You can not please God if you do not trust him .” Hebrews; 11:6
Seeking truth is not easy. To get at truth requires an effort to understand a bit of Hebrew. How else would we know the difference between the verbs here? Few want to seek truth because once you know it, it will likely require change. We must conform our lives to the truth. Few are willing to do that. We see ourselves as free to choose what we will believe or do. I can see that as far as debatable interpretation of the Scriptures go; however, some things are very black and white. You shall not…is cut and dry. So is the penalty of death. To not obey truth is stupidity because it leads to death and cursing. Why would we subject ourselves to that?
Truth is a Person. What is truth? No. Who is Truth? Who is the One who speaks only what is true? Whose words are these? “I AM the Way – the Truth – and the Life? Who has said, “without Me — YOU (I’m talking to you) can do nothing?”
My suggestion? Our confession should be the same as Peter’s.. “You are the [resurrected and now reigning] Christ, the Son of the living God..” When Christ “who is our Life” appears, then shall we also appear with Him in glory..” Christ is the center. Christ is the compass. Christ is the the Conqueror. Are you listening? “He HAS given unto HIm a Name which is above every name..” And, (as it is written), “let all the angels of God worship Him..” Yes, He asks again.. “Who do men say that I AM?” and closer to home.. — Who do YOU say that I am? My confession? He is LORD. And? “Why do you call Me LORD, and do not do the things I say?” Presactly. It is impossible to say, “No, LORD!” For if He is not LORD of all, — then He is not Lord at all..
Come.. let us reason together…
[And] ~ For this reason [grasping the greatness of this plan by which Jews and Gentiles are joined together in Christ] I bow my knees [in reverence] before the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ], from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name [God—the first and ultimate Father]. May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, [may] be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. ~
Doesn’t giving up possessive control over all our stuff
open us into sharing all of His abundance? Such a deal!
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
This morning we give thanks for prayer , please this morning include this in our prayers, Reb Avraham reports this morning online at our class, that Fires are raging up and down the country. Tens of thousands are being evacuated from their homes. These are premeditated arson. Pray that Adonai, bring a soothing gentle rain to put out all the fires and may He protect the people. A few terrorist perpetrators have been apprehended, but most have fled the scene after kindling the fires.
AMEN
Sorry this is now happening in Israel, pray thank you
Done
POINT(s)!
The solid, steadfast quest for Truth, no matter what the cost or loss.
Seek first the kingdom… I believe is echoed in the NT.. As there is no truth more rewarding than this.
More firmly set nails in the coffin of “The vanity of the Greek mind”. My it rest in peace and quiet!
Ah and more to consider: From this week’s Sages commentary on the Torah portion . It concerns a defenition of the purpose of cercumcision. The removal of “the orlah”= the barrier standing in the way of a thing desired ” And so we need the cercumcision of the heart; the cercumcision of the mind. So we might see things as they really are not as we think them to be.
Shalom Mark Parry,
If I may…. when our hearts are circumcised, our thoughts would be right before YHWH. Is that what you were trying to express?
Our hearts’ desires are our thoughts. Hebraicly, heart = mind.