Incredible
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Genesis 15:5 NASB
Look – This Hebrew verb is one of the five instances where God is the subject and the letter Na is attached to the root verb. So instead of habbet, we have habbet-na. The reason this is so important is that it is a case where God asks something that seems incredible, that is, beyond human comprehension. Who can count the stars? Impossible! So God does not command. He asks. He politely requests Abraham to consider this, just as He politely requested Abraham to consider the sacrifice of his son Isaac. It was not a command. It was a suggestion. An impossible to comprehend suggestion that could have been refused. But Abraham did not refuse, not because he understood God’s word as a demand but because he was so anxious to please God that he would even do what was humanly incomprehensible.
Did you think your relationship with YHVH consists of clearly defined commands, carefully articulated and exactly performed? Is your faith prescribed? Or is there more; the subtle interplay of suggestion and response? Would you rather have rules or reciprocity? Dogma or direction? How comfortable are you with interpersonal intention instead of orders from above?
Oh, and since I am in Siena today, consider the stars.
Topical Index: stars, look, na, habbet, Genesis 5:15
You’re in Italy – Enjoy! Do you have and “open” meetings or seminars there?
Exploring the possibility of a special seminar here. Looking for the right location for a select few.
Blessed are the chosen.
“Asking” “suggesting” those are certainly relationship words, but they also leave open the possibility of choice, too. YHVH wants us to freely choose not only Him but the moves necessary to relate TO Him. This is a dance, (even though for me it is more like a stumble!) Not to worry, though, for my expert Partner can adjust His moves to mine – we just need to keep working toward getting the direction right.
Like Skip says, its the direction that is important. Keep choosing life (that’s the right direction), even if you don’t see how, for He will make all the rest of the moves necessary to get you there. A dance partner sets up the next step for their partner (that would be that “asking and “suggesting”). Our part is to lay down our own notion of how the next step should go (according to our will) and follow His instead. Count all the stars? All Abraham had to do was accept the fact that he couldn’t, but the act of becoming willing to probably allowed him to also be able to appreciate the fact that his Partner sure could FOR him!
Direction = willingness. We have to want to live more than we want anything else – which is what the essence of faith is – for if there is one thing we do learn in life is that we cannot supply life for ourselves (even if it takes until their very last breath to convince some people!). Faith is what it takes to choose life at that point, but then, faith is all that was ever required of our part in the life dance, anyway because He will supply the rest; we just have to keep up. How? Um, that would be the humility to admit we don’t know the way or know how and don’t have the wherewithal, for that humility IS what opens our hand to His.
The curses exist to convince us that we absolutely cannot do righteousness (life) on our own cognizance (pride), for if and until we are completely convinced of that we have no room for faith (which is most often experienced as that humility, or, repenting for pride) that something or Someone else is going to have to. In this dance, our own self ends up being our biggest obstacle to that faith for I think we all must start out convinced that the possibilities for our own lives lie with us, and that conviction (pride) goes down to the core and is what must be relinquished before there is room for any other possibilities.
It is the height of insanity to think that we can supply our own life, for our life and very identity consists of connection with all other lives. I don’t think any of us started out being able to comprehend that fact, and there is no way Jose that I have the ability to do all that loving (connecting)! I need the life (connection possibilities) that Christ enjoys with all else before I am fully alive (connected) myself but I have to quit believing that I can in any way do that (humility learned through the curses) BEFORE I become able (willing) to let Him (have faith in Him to) do it for me. Faith is the name we have for that opening up of our possibilities to include His possibilities. His hand, of course, holds the rest of those possibilities (relationships). Halleluah!
That was so amazing Laurita- directly from the throne room this morning. Nothing to add- just meditating on that
Skip, I appreciate these life-giving ideas and the questions for self-reflection you’ve asked. It helps me remember that YHWH delights in and is fascinated with His creation, especially us, the crown of creation, because of the trusting and loving interaction we can have with Him and the good creative choices we can make within the parameters of His instructions.
He certainly unwaveringly desires our obedience, but He also cherishes our liberty to creatively think and live within the sphere of those parameters and even at time defining those parameters. How could it be that He only delights in commanding us and then us merely dutifully obeying Him, as crucial and essential as that is?
As a father, the obedience of my children was always very important to me for many reasons (though admittedly not always good ones), but I delighted in them so much more when, while obeying, they consulted with me and also creatively thought, made decisions, and freely lived according to their own chosen good ways.
I can remember counseling others at various times, such as when trying to make a career or relationship decision, and the clear wisdom from above was that YHWH didn’t have an opinion regarding their particular decisions and that He was actually questioning them, instead, what THEY wanted to do, because He trusted them and knew that they would do well with whatever decision they made, AND He also wanted them to learn more of what it means to be like Him, which is making decisions based on good desires, discernment, and wisdom, and not just according to a “black or white”, “right or wrong” judgment and ruling. After all, there are many “new ideas”, plans He purposes for (or often better said, I think, co-creatively purposes WITH us), but always with the same goal in mind….that Messiah be formed in us.
Baruch HaShem YHWH!
If I could . . .
If I could count the stars!
If I could count the cells in my body!
If I could count the number of times I took His incredible creation for granted
as I went on my merry way. How profoundly, yet gently, His creation reminds me of
how great He is, how blessed I am to be made by Him, and more incredibly yet, to be
made in His image.
If I could just keep my eyes on Him.
If . . .
This is such an upgrade from slavish obedience.