Our soul

“Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.”  Psalm 33:20

Our soul – You are probably familiar with the word nephesh by now.  It means “breath” but it is not just about breathing.  It encompasses the entire being, whether human or animal.  It is the life force.  It covers the thoughts, emotions and decisions. 

But this we already knew.  What is startling about this verse is that nephesh is the collective whole of the nation.  It is our soul that waits for God.  Not just you or me in isolation, but all of us in community.  We, collectively, are a living force before God.  God deals with us as individuals and as the single collective creation called “His people”.

There is a great lesson here in the radical shift in thought patterns between the Greek and Hebrew cultures.  The Greeks viewed individual man as the fundamental unit of culture.  An individual determined his or her own destiny.  An individual voted.  An individual achieved or failed.  The Greek cultural model is the basis of our society’s preoccupation with personal fulfillment and fame.  But the Hebrew model recognizes the essential and fundamental role of community.  I am not an individual, standing alone in the universe.  I am my brother’s keeper!  My identity is tied to the identity of my tribe, to the history of my people.  I am the flow of the tribe, extended from the deep past into the unknown future.

Our soul.  Not my soul.  What happens to you happens to me.  What you wait for, I wait for.  Your God is my God (do you remember Ruth?).  You and I are one (do you remember Genesis 2?).  Always and over and over God reminds us of our unity, of our community, of our essential sameness before Him.

Get the Greek out!  Stop thinking like a single, solitary person alone in the dark.  Quit being a radical individual right now.  You are more than you are.  You are absorbed into the flow of His tribe, a part of the lineage that goes back and back through every one of the children of faith.  You are the family of God, the brother of Christ. 

Shout with me:  WE BELONG!  OUR SOUL WAITS FOR HIM!