1.9.25 ~ From Dust to Dust
Good morning!
I made it safely back to the cottage on the lake early this morning, 2:00 a.m. It's just slightly colder than Ft. Walton Beach, Florida (LOL). Thanks for your prayers for safe traveling and the wishes to return soon.
Pastor Dave and I had a wonderful meal together before I left. Immediately after getting to the airport, I was already missing everyone in Ft. Walton Beach. I love being around beautiful people who are beautiful inside and out. They are like a rising tide that raises all ships...I arrived full and left full. It's high tide for me :-)
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As we continue to move into this week's Torah portion, Vayechi/and he lived, there are so many things to consider...consider with me some simple, yet profoundly complex thoughts: Comprehending that the God of all creation loves us, for me, more times than not, it's overwhelmingly wonderful to meditate on! The fact that He would Create man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-28); that He provides all the good things for us to freely enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17); that in His wisdom He would make us like sheep, defenseless and dependent, yet prone to wander (Psa. 119:176; Jer. 50:6); that He created our frame and is always mindful that we are but dust (Psa. 103:14), the serpent's dietary choice (Gen. 3:14)...yes, in this incredibly long run on sentence, He's overwhelmingly wonderful. He's the reason why the rising tide raises all ships!
We would all agree that man was made from dust (Gen. 2:7). After the fall of man the Serpent was cursed to feed on us dusty critters the rest of his days (Gen. 3:14; 1 Pet. 5:8). Dust is how we began and that’s where we are heading when this life is over (Gen. 3:19). The seed of Abraham is like the dust and innumerable (Gen. 13:16; 28:14). Yahweh raises up the poor out of the dust to sit among the princes and make them inherit the throne of glory (1 Sam. 2:8). Yeshua commands us to shake the dust off our feet for those who don't respond to His shalom (Matt. 10:14). When you look at clouds, as I did last night on my flight, I was seeing the dust of His feet (Nah. 1:3).
Pastor Dave and I had a wonderful meal together before I left. Immediately after getting to the airport, I was already missing everyone in Ft. Walton Beach. I love being around beautiful people who are beautiful inside and out. They are like a rising tide that raises all ships...I arrived full and left full. It's high tide for me :-)
.
.
As we continue to move into this week's Torah portion, Vayechi/and he lived, there are so many things to consider...consider with me some simple, yet profoundly complex thoughts: Comprehending that the God of all creation loves us, for me, more times than not, it's overwhelmingly wonderful to meditate on! The fact that He would Create man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-28); that He provides all the good things for us to freely enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17); that in His wisdom He would make us like sheep, defenseless and dependent, yet prone to wander (Psa. 119:176; Jer. 50:6); that He created our frame and is always mindful that we are but dust (Psa. 103:14), the serpent's dietary choice (Gen. 3:14)...yes, in this incredibly long run on sentence, He's overwhelmingly wonderful. He's the reason why the rising tide raises all ships!
We would all agree that man was made from dust (Gen. 2:7). After the fall of man the Serpent was cursed to feed on us dusty critters the rest of his days (Gen. 3:14; 1 Pet. 5:8). Dust is how we began and that’s where we are heading when this life is over (Gen. 3:19). The seed of Abraham is like the dust and innumerable (Gen. 13:16; 28:14). Yahweh raises up the poor out of the dust to sit among the princes and make them inherit the throne of glory (1 Sam. 2:8). Yeshua commands us to shake the dust off our feet for those who don't respond to His shalom (Matt. 10:14). When you look at clouds, as I did last night on my flight, I was seeing the dust of His feet (Nah. 1:3).
Dust may not be a very popular thing in our homes, but it’s a pretty important topic in the eyes of our creator! He used it to form us, and He never forgets that we are but dust (Psa. 103:14)! Insignificant by itself, but when it has the Spirit of God breathed into it, it brings forth life miraculously (Gen. 2:7). Strangely enough, we are accountable to Yahweh Elohim for being dust! But not just dust, dust animated by the Spirit breathed into us. Borrowed for a lifetime to animate His image to mankind (Jam. 2:26).
Yahweh knows our frame/yetzar, that we are but dust/afar (Psa. 103:14). There are three forms of this yetzar in scripture that range in meaning from distress or frustration to shaping of a clay vessel (Isa. 29:16), devising a plan with purpose (Isa. 26:3) or use with our imagination (Gen. 6:5).
Yetzar is familiar to many of us because of the yetzer ha’ra/evil inclination or desire for self. The Lord God/Yahweh Elohim purposefully built it into our frame, which oftentime leads to frustration and distress in every emotion. It ranges from not being approved (1 Sam. 30:6) to sexual frustration (2 Sam. 13:2) to plans that go awry (Job 18:7). This framework, that He knows so well, resembles some people I know very well (me, myself and I ☺)!
I think David’s word play on Yetzar with Yetzer is no accident. To be man is to be framed for struggle, and our Creator knows it all too well. We may not admit it, but this life was fashioned this way by His amazing design.
This is all the more reason why we need to listen to the voice of the Shepherd more closely (John 10:27-29). Our dusty existence and yetzar/yetzer frame, are prone to wander from the Shepherd (Eze. 34:6). Fortunately, we have a Shepherd who knows our frame; He knows we are but dust, and He searches diligently for us when we’ve wandered far from Him (Eze. 34:11-12; Luke 15:6).
In the gospel of John we have two shepherds vying for your attention. One is the hireling, who flees in the presence of danger (Jn. 10:12, 13), the other is the Good Shepherd Who knows our frame and knows that we are but dust, yet He still wants to give us life and it give it to His sheep abundantly by filling you with His Word and His Spirit (John 10:10).
Be careful not to think of yourselves more highly than we should (Prov. 3:7; Rom. 12:3). Dust is dust and not worth too much without the indwelling Spirit empowering this framework through the Yetzer Hara realities of this life! Follow the dust of His feet and keep working in it to bring forth fruit (Gen. 3:19)...The Good Shepherd knows our frame very well!
In this week's Torah portion, Vayechi, we finish the book of Genesis with the reminder that Jacob is the stone of Israel (Gen. 49:24), a foreshadow of Yeshua our Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:10), Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20) and Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4). Our Shepherd doesn't sleep or slumber (Psa. 121:4) and He always considers our frame that we are but dust...Let's follow His example and do the same for one another.
Shalom
Commercial: I'll be in Honduras from January 20-30. Prayer appreciated! I bet there is a lot of beautiful dust there!
Commercial: All in one spot...the last couple months of studies, blog, audio studies and videos
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