The Purposeless Place
Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Psalm 88:12 NASB
The darkness – “Little doubt surrounds the meaning of this denominative verb coming from the noun ḥōšek (darkness). It occurs eighteen times, seventeen times in poetical books. Exodus 10:15 is the only occurrence of ḥāšak in a prose passage. There it refers to the plague of darkness over Egypt. Elsewhere the word is used to indicate judgment or curse.”[1] The place of ḥōšek is she’ol. The place of weakness, disorientation and silence.
Want to know what it will be like when you die? Want a little taste of the afterlife? Go into your closet. Shut the door. Turn off the light and sit there, not saying a word, not hearing anything from the outside world for, say, three hours! Oh, yes, and stop having an inner conversation with yourself. That’s why you need a few hours. You have to run out of things to say, even in your mind. Then you know ḥōšek. It’s the place where God isn’t!
No wonder that the psalmist cries out, “No one can offer praises to You in this place, Lord! No one can speak of Your wonders, Your mercies, Your faithfulness. You get no credit in ḥōšek. So, don’t send me there, Father. I want to praise You. I want to shout Your wonders. I want to proclaim Your righteousness. But if you send me to ḥōšek, all that will be lost. Please, for Your own sake, reconsider!”
Brené Brown offers an alternative. I doubt she meant it as an alternative to ḥōšek, but it fits. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”[2]
Here’s me—alive!
Topical Index: ḥōšek , darkness, alive, Psalm 88:12, she’ol, Namibia
[1] Alden, R. (1999). 769 חָשַׁך. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old (331). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, p. 115.
Good morning everyone. If I remember the story correctly thick Darkness was the 9th plague which turned Pharaoh’s heart. There were a few Jewish people who suffered this Darkness the ones that wanted to assimilate with the Egyptians and not the sad reminder was that they died in the Darkness not a place I’d want to be in. Was it any different for our Lord on the cross which caused him to say why has your presence left me?
Thinking about what I just wrote first turn do was in relationship to Judah I should have used Israelites sorry second the tenth plague of the first born turn Pharaoh’s heart possibly the fear in the Darkness could have cause him to think?
When my kids were young, they didn’t get Disney or Sesame Street; they got nature shows and the like (which they never got enough of), but it seems the entire crew of them fell in love with the Namib Desert. I asked them one time that if we had one place on the planet that they wished we could move to every one of them replied “the Namib Desert”! I was very shocked! Each one of them came to me at some point, I recall, and told me that when they grew up they were going there. The tight, specialized interaction of the web of nature is such a thrill to see, and the extreme spirituality of the place resonated with the children, I am sure, because children are sensitive to such things. I think the purity of the place has no equal, except perhaps the Poles, or the middle of the Pacific, according to people who pass through there (even though the floating junk is steadily increasing). I think it could be a testimony to just how far we have gone in fouling this nest we were given to “dress and to keep”. We forget how bad we have made it until we see a place that we haven’t figured out how to mess up yet, and how badly we need nature to be working well, and how badly we need to be there where it still is, for any place where there is good order is a spiritual place.
I think the places where we can come alive are places where there are the most connections that are intact, whether that be healthy communities of people or nature. My life is completely dependent upon my connection with all Other (as in I am not alive without that connection), which the Word tells me is to be found in my connection with the Creator of that all, and Who holds all of it’s marvelous interconnectedness (life) within Himself. When we submerge our will with His, we then are returned to being a part of that complete order.
Let’s not confuse the Namib with “A Purposeless Place”, however! Let’s call it “The Place Where I Can Come Alive” (be a part of a working order, which nature still is, as it is still obedient), and dream about going there, along with you.
Thank you, Skip. You shared a profound stirring of spirit with me, as well as a beautiful memory, too, and it will color my entire day.
Which leads me to consider the offer of eternal life. What is eternal life? Is it not a seamless connection with not only all other, but with the Author of life as well? Being adopted into that Body with that Head is to be plugged into the rest of reality. Now! We can resonate (give glory to Him along with the rest of creation) now! We can fit in (be a part of) now, as well as being raised into it at the end of the age. We are being offered something that I don’t think we have a good conception of at all. What an astounding thing grace is!
Laurita
If knowing God and Jesus Christ is eternal life (John 17:3) the question is when will we know them…
Worshiping and Praising is not knowing but rather acknowledging…
Your connection theory may be what knowing is but when I just have a one sided relationship and have to assume the uexplainable is the other persons contribution – I doubt if this can qualify as a connection, never could it qualify as knowing…
Consider a relationship between husband and wife. Would you be satisfied that your husband stays secretive in the background throughout your relationship and is only revealed to you when you die? Did you really know him?
I agree that you could classify each and every breath you take, coherent thought you think, or step you take that actually moves you forward as being “unexplainable”, and you would be a lot more right than a person who THOUGHT they knew why those things were so, but to say that we cannot “know” (experience) these things would not be saying much, because we all experience the order from above that we all enjoy through grace. Our problem is not being unable to “know” (experience) the hand and the character of YHVH in our lives; our problem is to recognize that we are refusing to acknowledge the Source: we really do believe, somehow, that it is either ‘chance’ or, worse, ourselves, that ’causes’ all this goodness. This is true blindness! Even the heathen can know Him through His interaction, by grace, on a continual basis in all the universe. Yes, even our rebellious, darkened world. The only reason we cannot see Him and understand this experience of Him is because our foolish hearts are darkened and we are blind. Blind.
Grace continually connects us and holds us together in our fracture. Someone came and interposed Himself in the fracture we actually are, thus giving us more and more chances to turn around and see Him, already there, closer to ourselves than we are. To run into His arms is to find where I am, for there He has always been; smack in the middle of who I am. I have been the one missing in all this action, and AWOL from that knowledge (experience) of His Presence, for He has never not been where I truly am. I am the one who is lost: not Him.
So only the old testament individuals where not blind…
They saw and heard him… We guess we are observing him in action.
Throughout the history the last 2000 years have been the most silent years.
It only fits into the biblical records if we are living in the years given to the devil to rule.
So we are back by that question can we recognize the call so that we can respond accordingly.
If we respond wrong we have no relationship or is it as long as we respond is the important issue…
The prophets went silent 400 years before the First Coming. Then the Baptist – the pre-cursor – what Malachi referred to as “Elijah” (one coming in the spirit, power and function of Elijah, as it would not be him literally) and other prophets showed up right before. We are promised that one would again come in the function of Elijah to show us the way to prepare for that Second Coming, too. (No, that would NOT be Maitreya). YHVH has never left us in the dark in perilous times.
The devil’s rule ended when the Second Adam reclaimed the planet at the resurrection. You cannot rule what you do not possess dominion over, but He now has conquered death, which reigned until He conquered it for us. The only problem being that most of us do not know that that rulership has changed hands, and so are still being dominated by the “works of death” wherein we do pay it homage.
We do not have to be responsible for our own way once we respond to the call, but we do have to take responsibility to obey that Voice behind us (that would be in the direction of our future) telling us which directions to step out in by faith. The Spirit provides the will in that calling, our only “wrong” response being to not do what we are led to do, and to do what we are not being led to do. How to know if it is the right Spirit? Ask, does that potential direction line up with the Word? He will never go against His Word, which He holds in higher esteem than His Name (Ps. 138:2), and so should we. Many come in His Name that He never sent. We can measure them by that infallible Word, too.
Laurita
Thank you for your well thought over response.
If I understand you correct we are purposeless while just following our own insight trusting on the knowledge, arm and strength of a fellow human being.
We find direction when we humble ourselves to listen for the direction rather than speak of what was…
For knowledge speaks while wisdom listens.
What needed to be said for mankind was said eons ago… (old covenant)
What needs to happen is that we now heed to these words… (new covenant)
Not reflect on them as something that happened eons ago. Rather to accept them as guidance for our lives today.
And the word took on flesh and dwelt among us and we experienced the glory and wisdom of God as never before. (John 1)
1 Cor 15 as we die in adam so shall we live in Christ.
When Christ becomes our lifestyle then shall the second coming be.
Not when we gain more knowledge but when God grants growth. For we sow and water but God provides the growth.And in this a new creation is found one that looks upon life seeking God’s intent to reveal the Christ in him. For the kingdom of God come not with physical signs but the kingdom of God is in our midst… (Eph 2 – 4)
I John 4 and many spirits go out but do not trust all, only those that proclaim Christ is come in flesh is of God…
Darkness into light, Proclaimer into silent guide. Meditation into example of living for others. As and when God needs a human to convince another human that He is alive. Making scheduled sermons and gatherings opportunities to hear what was recorded rather than worshiping or praising God.
For this is the coming of the Lord when we dwell where he is, when our conversation is where he is rather than where we were as human beings…
Just for those seeking free bible tools. Here is a free program that also has the Strongs concordance in it.
http://download.cnet.com/The-Word-Bible-Software/3000-2135_4-10968907.html
I trust it is accurate and virus free as my anti-virus did not pick-up any traces or links. Maybe Mark can confirm this before you are all disconnected due to a worm…
That is indeed you, Skip, so alive, bright, graceful, cheery, sound, never boring.
Thank you for being alive, and sharing it with us. HalleluYAH!
I am glad you saw it this way. I also see the profound emptiness of the place – a kind of spiritual emptiness that calls to something very deep
Spiritual emptiness….Hmm, I see life, I see movement, I see beauty, I see undisturbed serenity, I see light, LOL. I see ABBA’s awesome hand in it. Shalom, Skip.
Recognizing every single grain of sand is from His hand,
humbles our souls and elevates our spirits to the highest place.
Just for the record, the words quoted by Brene Brown are those of Howard Thurman, probably one of our country’s lesser-known civil rights educators, but an inspiration nonetheless.
I love the light, but I’m thankful for the darkness…especially when the light shines once again, overtaking the darkness and making it a thing of the past. For then I can “see it” for what it was worth…that which makes the light, which is good in and of itself, GREAT!
“The people walking in darkness will see a great light. Upon those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, light will shine.” [Isa 9:1]
Regarding your fine photograph, if I could put myself in your picture, going on a long journey, I’d rather choose to be walking from the right to the left. What a welcoming end of the journey that would be…..a joy ride on a sand slide……in the light of the sun! I would not be silent!
🙂 What joy that would be, Jerry!
I love this visual of G-d’s boundaries that are set as sand as an eternal boundary or as blessing as a promise to multiply for the Jewish heritage. [Gen 5:23, Gen 22:17 Job 6:3, 26:10] Or G-d knowing our thoughts as sand if he chose to count then He would still be with us.[ Ps. 139:17,18]. I love the thought that if we pray with a heart open to receive and understand like Solomon he gives measures like sand [i Kings 5:9]. Or the radiance G-d is shining through .[ Job.1:22]
I pray for this [Shalom Aleichem ] peace in our thoughts, for wisdom and the courage to make lasting changes. For hearts to be willing to be loving, kind ,gentle , patient to all G-‘d creation , especially tour self. The wisdom to admit all that we do not understand and not try to dominate to be right. and the wisdom to know the difference . Blessing Happy Hanukkah ! B”H well get through this season.
Sorry Reference is [ Job 41:22 : Beneath him are flashes of sun his resting place on the sand [shining like] fine gold.
B’H i could correct one mistake .. Yeah ! I could fix and notice it so quickly .. the Disgraphic student.
Darkness (ערפל araphel, Strong’s #6205): There are two words in the Hebrew translated as darkness. The most common is the word hhoshekh [str:2822] and means “darkness.” The other word is “araphel” and has a meaning that is something more than just darkness. In Exodus 20:21 we read, “and Moses approached the “araphel” where God was.” This darkness is a different type of darkness. It may be alluded to in Exodus 10:21 which mentions the “plague of darkness” (hhoshekh) that could be felt. We often associate darkness with evil, and light with good but, interestingly, most of the times when God appears it is in this araphel, such as we saw in Exodus 20:21 but also in 2 Samuel 22:10, 1 Kings 8:12, Job 22:13, Psalm 97:2 and other places.
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