The Abundant Life
For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol. Psalm 88:3 NASB 1995
Has had enough – Is your life filled to the brim? Oh, I didn’t ask if it is filled up with good things. I just asked if you feel as if it is up to the top. Yes, it’s true that most of the time this Hebrew word, śābēaʿ, means, “to be satisfied with nourishment,” but in this verse the same word means “to be filled with evil, distress and misfortune.” Perhaps the only difference is perspective, or attitude. This double-duty word is ambiguous. Context makes all the difference.
Isn’t that true of life? It’s all about context. Some of the time even things we used to consider blessings feel like curses. Some of the time disasters turn out to be victories. Some of the time we have no idea which way the wind will blow. The outcome often depends entirely on our attitude. And some of the time we feel as if we’ve just had enough, that life has turned into nothing more than a rush to the grave and our cup is overflowing with the same bitterness that Yeshua’s cup held on that cold evening in the garden. Sometimes we want to stop at the end of the first verse of Psalm 22.
Let’s be sure we don’t read this translation of Psalm 88 as if it were only about spiritual matters. The English rendition of nephesh is incorrect despite its ubiquity. Nephesh is the Hebrew concept of person, that is, everything that makes me who I am. It’s not just my spiritual dimension. That would make the word Greek (like “soul”). It’s about all of my life, and there are certainly times when I feel as if my life has just had all it can take. It might be about my job, my family, my country, my circumstances or my state of worship. Anything will do. It’s context that matters, isn’t it?
We should also notice the syntax. The word for “has had enough” is first in this sentence. The psalmist wants to emphasize its significance. It’s the feeling that is driving this statement. Sure, he might cognitively know that YHVH is in charge. He might have a solid theology sitting on the shelf, but at this moment, none of that matters. As Tournier noted, life is an emotional event. If we don’t deal with how we feel, we will soon find that we have had enough.
Perhaps you will find it interesting that Yeshua’s remark about abundant living probably used the same Hebrew verb. That helps us realize that we are in the process of filling up our lives with God’s purposes or with our own. The life-container can’t hold both at the same time. What you’re pouring in will determine the ultimate outcome, either drawing close to She’ol or drawing close to the Father. It’s the same action in a different direction. On reflection, we might notice that a lot of life is just like this. Same steps—different goals. Maybe it’s time to check your emotional compass.
Topical Index: śābēaʿ, to fill up, to satisfy, Psalm 88:3
Surely agony is long… starts in Psalm 88, goes on through Psalm 89 and Psalm 90…
But it also ends in Psalm 91 !!!
It is interesting that these group of Psalms begin with the word Salvation in verse Psalm 88:1 and end with the word Salvation in verse Psalm 91:16… Salvation… Yeshua
Just like Yosef in Egypt… had to wait long time to see his dreams fullfiled… but they finally came to be… and it was glorious for him…
The same goes for Mashiach Ben Yosef, Yeshua… He is waiting long time to see the Scriptures about Him to be fullfiled… but they will finally be fullfiled completely… and it will be glorious for Him.. Mashiach Ben David!
“Maybe it’s time to check your emotional compass.”? Surely! I wrote in my blog worksofwords-dotcom in “higher ways”. “Our Spiritual life is a simple walk of faith and awareness. We walk in Messiah/Christ by a conscience awareness of motivations and influences on our hearts and careful consideration of our behaviors based on them. ” In my experiance our presence is totally tied in with our awarness. Awarness of the movements of our heart, not our mind. We get lost from life in our minds= processing. It is in our soul life, “the issues of life” that flow through our hearts. “With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.” (Proverbs 4:23;Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)) I have noted in the past the Rhema given me when I struggled throughout one night with tumultous feelings regarding a relational conflict. In the morning I was taken to the ocean to observe and hear the gracious voice of YHVH say ” Rest in me the way the waves rest upon the rocks. They become what they are by forces beyond themselves , they are no less part of the sea. It is enough that they do their part.” Meditating on what I consider a revelation for a good many years it’s my conclusion we avoid, fear or guard ourselves far to much from our own and others emotions or feelings. If we could simply let them ebb and flow as they where created to do without making to much out of them we would experiance a lot more peace and many fewer conflicts. We might then experiance “Life and that to the full “. Yes Skip you noted the defenition in the Hebrew for heart is more complex contains intelect as well as our feelers;, life is more complex, words are limiting at best. But they are all we have in this forum to share. Blessings and Shalom to one and all about this table. We do enjoy such a feast together. .
I started out life reading the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit with a Greek mindset. I read words like “patience” and “longsuffering” as absolutes: as in patience was ALWAYS a virtue, etc. So, accordingly, I set out to develop perfect patience! Well, a few decades later, I realized a few things. One of them was that those gifts only happened in the Presence of their Giver; I could no more apply patience correctly to my life than I could make little green apples. Each and every time I ‘used’ patience, it got used right back at me, or I got used. It never worked to accomplish the goal of love. I cannot tell you what a shock this was. Y’all, patience can be the wrongest thing to do sometimes. Not only was I not getting the timing right, I finally realized that I never had the motivation (power to implement) correct, even though I DID have the best of intentions. I learned then that intention is NOT motive power. Another shock!
I now suspect that power to implement comes AFTER a choice has been made – not before – and I now believe that it is supplied by whatever power team gets chosen in the act of that choice. For example, when I chose to love in my own strength and for my own reasons, all my efforts only ended up making the situation worse, and love less and less likely. Which was not my intention at all! This was where I began to be suspicious that there was no such thing as “my own way”, as I never got it! Further, I found myself cringing when I saw others seeming to get their own way, as it never seemed like it produced anything but hell. The practice of patience only worsened my problems. So did my attempts in my flesh to practice the rest of that list – applied in my ‘own’ strength (motivation) and timing, anyway. The timing always felt forced and ‘off’, and the motivations were never pure, even in my own honest eyes. I finally gave up when I found myself flat on my back. Best thing I ever did!
I thought that if I “endured to the end” I “would be saved” – me and my house. Endurance, y’all, I now know, is not an absolute virtue, either. I now am a lot quicker to suspect that I may be going in a wrong direction if my choices are not being powered by the God team, and the lights are not green. Pain is a big red light now, for me, too. Endurance CAN get you killed if you are forcing yourself to stay on the tracks when a really big choo-choo is coming around the bend!
Evil can condition us to toxic realities. I think we would be a lot better off to yell when it hurts, and take the time to be grateful when it’s good, and continually assess whether or not the fire from heaven is actually consuming our sacrifices or whether we are having to sneak a few matches in.
Thanks for sharing, Laurita. I could not agree more! For me the eye-opener was the difference between the “works of the flesh” and a “fruit of the spirit”. The harder I tried to work on my patience, joy, love and peace, the less of it I actually had and the timing was always off. Fruit, on the other hand, is something that happens naturally, at its appointed time without struggle.
Thanks for sharing Sister. I recall a teacher telling me once “most people judge themselves by their intentions and others by their actions”. I have since defined integrity as the aliment of intention and action. Getting the heart = spirit right often is the real chalenge.
Mark, “ailment of” do you mean “alignment of…”?
The Missing Link
I cannot be trusted. My feelings are fickle. I am a frail and fragile human, subject to moods, whims, weather, etc. But, it’s not about ME!! What I need is to be wedded and welded to this: “What do the scriptures say?”
Friend, it’s not about what I think – (I have a vivid imagination!) – it’s about what God says! THIS is my “reality.” Why? Because (again) as the scriptures simply sweetly state: “We walk by faith – NOT by sight!”
Perception (or attitude) is a big dot deal, but it is the Word of God that is our “sure foundation!” Therefore, I will sing with David:
~ He lifted me out of the miry clay and has set my feet upon a Rock!! ~ Looking for a place to stand? (or Something to stand on!)
There are (according to the Incarnate Word) two foundations: Sand or Rock. Two “choices,” if you will. O friends!! – What do the Scriptures say?
~ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned! ~ What is the only thing separating us from Him? Isaiah 59:1,2: “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
In short: Sin separates. Not only does it separate God from man, but man from man! (brother, sister, husband, wife)
I must ask.. Do we (I) need a Savior? Someone to “stand in the gap” for me?
From the Hebrew name יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (Yesha’yahu) meaning “YAHWEH is salvation”. Isaiah speaks unto us once more: ~ For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful- Counsellor -The mighty God – The everlasting Father -The Prince of Peace!!
Wonderful-merciful Savior!! Blessed Redeemer and Friend!!
Who would have thought that that a Lamb could rescue the souls of men!
Hallelujah! – What a Savior!
Halleluah with you, Carl!
He is my all in all, and when He is the theme of my thoughts and the end of my sentences, every place is heaven and every experience is a date with my Saviour. With my Knight in shining armor by my side, whom shall I fear?
That’s the heart of the matter..
(Again!) As the scriptures say: “When Christ who very is our life….” shall appear… Yes, ma’am! Our Source-Savior-Sustainer-Sovereign. (And again!..) ~ without Him I can do (?) “nothing!” ~
From TW, “Nephesh is the Hebrew concept of person, that is, EVERYTHING that makes me who I am . . . David wants to emphasize its significance. It’s the FEELING that is driving this statement”
I agree completely with this definition of nephesh/soul. It is not about our spirit but about our complete package. The body, its life, with our personality, desires, lusts, hopes and dreams, all here on earth. The Greek/Church may have tried to hijacked the meaning of “soul” making it into a “spirit” but it was not completely successful. The Hebrew understanding still survives in phrases such as soul music and soul food. These pertain to our emotional feelings and our physical comforts. The soul has its roots in the soil, not in heaven.
There is a lot to diesect in the reality of and meanings in the words; soul, spirit, heart, life, and love. Also with feelings, emotions etc. All profound words that represent deeply mysterious and wonderfully complex things.