Start Right
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; Genesis 1:26a NASB
Image/likeness – As we begin another “eternal return”[1] cycle, perhaps we should start with a decidedly different view than the one behind a New Year’s pagan festival.
The OT recognizes man’s total dependence with great clarity. Man is a creature of God composed of flesh, soul, and spirit . . . In contrast to man in our day, to the ancient Israelite it was a matter of astonishing reflection that he was brought into being through a mysterious embryonic process separate and apart from his own volition and help, and under conditions which were ordained by a Being wholly other than himself, in which he has no right to participate and against which he had no right of veto. The OT emphasizes throughout that life comes within the limits of birth and death. But man knows that he is dependent not only with regard to the basic structure of human existence, but also with regard to the possibilities which life offers and denies; he is weak and helpless. There is no guarantee that he can determine his own destiny or think that his life will be prosperous by his own efforts and accomplishments. Life has its own laws and an irreversible deterioration. For the believer, however, it is not a series of meaningless accidents, but a divinely determined sequence of events which are full of meaning.[2]
Notice the implications of Maass’ remarks. We don’t control the circumstances of our lives (we already knew that, didn’t we?). In fact, we don’t have the ability to manage anything of consequence about our lives. Why is this true? Because we belong to the God who created us. We are His product, not our own. We don’t have “inalienable rights” simply because we are human. If we have any rights at all, it is because the Creator God has granted them. We are utterly dependent creatures, perhaps more so than any of God’s other sentient beings. Our destiny is dependence. We become who we are designed to be when we embrace this utter dependence. It begins the moment we are born in a place we didn’t choose at a time we didn’t choose. We are, as Heidegger so aptly put it, “thrown” into the world. And while most of us spend most of our time trying to prevent or stop the fall, some of us learn (perhaps painfully) that falling is what we are supposed to be doing. We seek the safety and security of the city, but the truth is that we won’t find “home” until we venture into the wilderness where we cannot survive without Him. Along the way, we deteriorate. Not accidentally. In order to achieve the fullness of being, we must learn to die, to give up our futile attempts to grasp life and let the Creator have what has always been His.
Start right and see how it goes.
Topical Index: image, likeness, Man, Genesis 1:26
[1] See the work of Maurice Eliade for this concept in ancient pagan societies
[2] Fritz Maass, ‘adham, TDOT, Vol. 1, p. 86.
Falling from our certainty ends in a thud. Suddenly imperceptibly slowly the false reality of ‘our’ possession of our individuated life shows we don’t trust THE Catcher to be there. Hopefully we find out this thud is the reality, that He has already caught us in our attempt to fly by our own instruments & calculations….. such a compelling ignorance that is hard to release. We all desire to be skilful & know. This is not wisdom but that original choice to fly away from The Good that does Know. FJ
Who’d of thought that dying to oneself is the passageway to new birth
that God intends for us all!
Yeshua didn’t pull any punches when He clearly said: “By myself I can do nothing . . .
for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me.”
Let’s pray that we all see many others start right in 2018 as they cross our paths
and note “something” about us. May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
To put it simply… Reflecting and resembling upon the garden. Take this cup from me, and let your will be done not mine!
Simple reminder… Not one of his disciples could remain one hour with him.
I have truble standing if first I have not fallen. Falling on my knees, starting my day on my face is the only way I find I can get up to face the world these days. There is an old Christian saying, ” The devil only shoots from the waste if your on your knees you don’t get hit.” Their is a lot of truth in that old saying. Getting, your heart and mind in the right spirit sure beats having the right theology…
Written on my journey of death:
Losing. Dying. Living. by Sherri Rogers 1/3/2015
I am fighting, no – warring, to understand
This love, this connection
This way of being that demands more of me than is there
It is death of me
Of my rights, needs, wants, perceptions
It is relinquishing ownership
But ownership of what?
Something I only thought was mine – me.
I have been bought with a price that I did not pay.
Blood. Another death. The price for me.
Who does this?
Who buys my death?
How does the exchange happen?
A choice. A paradox. A contronym.
Death is life.
I only exist if I don’t.
It hurts, this losing who I think I am.
Its harder than the words imply
And I am fighting, no – warring, to understand how to do it.
“PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND SURRENDER!”
I used to love saying that to my “enemies” when I was a kid and playing cowboys and indians, or good guys and bad guys, or army, or space travelers and aliens. But I hated to hear it when I was caught by them, in surprise, and forced to surrender.
Who wants to hear that kind of command, whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy? When surrendering to another sinful human, I think most of us would often rather be figuratively shot to death than to surrender. Heck, when surrendering to YHWH, it’s not necessarily any easier, is it? But if we understand that all surrendering, as well as surrendering all, to Him, is our escort into everything working together for our good, putting our hands up and surrendering to HIM is a “dying” that will always lead to our deliverance, healing, and a better life. Besides, it’s the only way to stay on His good side, even when He is the one who is afflicting us.
Reminds me of when I was experiencing my third torturous gall bladder attack in less than two months. So painful it will make a grown man cry like a baby, and I did just that. Shame wasn’t even an issue. I was being forced to my knees. They say the pain is worse than labor pains for a woman giving birth to a baby, because it increases in intensity, radiates throughout your body, and doesn’t relent, unlike the pain in between contractions does.
I didn’t seek medical help because I had been miraculously healed before and I don’t believe in getting my body cut open and having body parts removed that YHWH put in me for my good, and when if I have a Creator and Healer who will hear my cries in surrendered faith and who will show Himself strong on my behalf, if requested for His esteem, and who will heal me! And as long as He gave me faith, I was determined to trust Him, even in my pain and suffering. Sooner or later, He would heal me, or kill me. He almost always has, except when I got back surgery for a ruptured disc and I was told I could end up being paralyzed if I didn’t have surgery.
So then, after hours of pain, again, He told me to stand up, “Put your hands up and surrender” and to praise Him. I did as He commanded me, even with true love, adoration, fear, and increasing humility. Soon, I was able to go back to bed and fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up, relieved of my pain, but totally wiped out, like I had been afflicted by Someone, forced to surrender, take my beating, and left to recover. I then went to a friend who does sonograms and was shown that my gall bladder was filled with gall stones. I saw it myself. However, being told the testimony of another believer that had the same condition, prayed for healing, and was miraculously healed, I decided to respond to that testimony in faith for myself, continued to live by faith, despite the tremendous pain and suffering I had experienced for the third time, and despite that my father had his gall bladder removed, and despite what I saw on the sonogram. So, I too, surrendered in faith to YHWH and prayed for my healing.
It’s been years, I have never been to a doctor since my back surgery years before that (except to a dentist), I did eventually change my diet in keeping with the dietary laws in the Hebrew scriptures, and I have never had another gall bladder attack since, all to His great esteem!
I share this not just as a testimony of faith resulting in miraculous healing, but as a testimony of SURRENDERING in faith, when commanded by Him, to “Put your hands up and surrender!”, do as He commands, and “take the beating”. You’ll go through a painful “death”, but you’ll come out better on the other side. HE’S WORTHY AND….IT’S WHO HE IS! In the end, He always wins and we shouldn’t want it any other way.
“Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, fugitives of the nations! Those who carry their wooden idols have no knowledge, praying to a god who cannot save. Declare and present your case, Indeed, let them consult together. Who foretold this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Is it not I, Adonai? There is no other God beside Me—a righteous God and a Savior—there is none besides Me! Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God—there is no other. By Myself I have sworn—the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness, and is irrevocable: that TO ME EVERY KNEE WILL, BOW, EVERY TONGUE WILL SWEAR. They will say of Me, ‘Only in Adonai is righteousness and strength.’ All who have raged against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. In Adonai all the seed of Israel will be justified and give praise.” [Isa 45:20-25]
STAND UP! “PUT UP YOUR HANDS AND SURRENDER!” EVEN IN YOUR AFFLICTION, DO AS HE COMMANDS YOU. GIVE PRAISE TO HIM WHO ALONE IS WORTHY!
BARUCH ATA, YHWH ELOHEINU, MELECH HA-OLAM!
PRAISE BE TO THE NAME OF OUR ALMIGHTY ELOHIM ON HIGH, KING OF THE UNIVERSE!
The big thing for me about surrender(to God) is I don’t like the terms(in part) . I know that God is good but I am not. Surrender has all sorts of bad press. Hey,even Jerimiah couldn’t sell the Babylonia Exile to Israel as a good deal. We all have trust issues which relate to recognising truth. We all have trust issues because our connection to The Source of Truth runs with an intermittent fault….. US as resistors. Generally we can deal with the reality we have generated even if it is against us in part. We trust to a point but it is in concealment, the lies those half truths we all imbibe in that ultimately make us untrusting because we are untruthful. I wish to be that child again that Christ says we need to be, to enter in. I find what should be simple at times so dreadfully complex because I/we/us just don’t want to give up lies. That is the self that needs to die. Scrub me with that Word and make me clean. I am lining up for a new heart every time I recognise and let go of that lie I used to know as me. Be blessed.FJ
FJ thank you for reminding me that the most difficult part about telling the truth is that we cannot do it bluntly we like colouring in it to make it acceptable. Being truthfully diplomatic instead of truthfully a servant of truth…
Yes Seeker
we express to impress, more often than not. Even when we have that desire to serve we slip instead to do our will or the will of the dance of relationship balance. Safety???? If we do the will of God we find how alone & bereft & out of balance truth stands. Can we bear the disconnect from others? ….That temporary bereftness compared to the wonder of drawing closer to eternal truth. Fear runs us… not love. So often we think of the defeat first and not the victory of impacting another in such a way as they may see what we see and hear what we hear. How we need His Spirit to overcome our weakness, our fear. I get encouraged reading Maccabees. Those words inspire me to chew down on the actions of bravery that make the difference in individuals and communities. I also am always encouraged that God does not expect more than I can give. The person going to battle did not go until all the questions for service or excuse were answered. Not that I want a sword of steel in my hand or an oxgoad but the strength to fight the good fight by trusting in God and getting ‘my’ doing and not just the thinking. Be blessed. FJ