3.26.25
Good morning!
Yeshua said it's more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20:35) and the one who gives is the one that will be filled (Prov. 11:25). The nation of Israel, above every nation in the world, continuously supplies aid to those in need; regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation or allied status. What Israel as a nation models for the world many individuals do on their own. They have learned the importance of giving as they have received (2 Cor. 1:3-8) and out of their merit they impact the world one person at a time.
The Land of Israel, the Promised Land, has a small, but famous river that fills 2 seas. The river is the Jordan river. The seas are the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Both are fed by the same river, but one produces life while the other is dead. Why? Because, as with this Torah portion, Pekudei (Ex. 38:21-40:38), when you give obediently and selflessly as you have received (1 Chron. 29:14), it always produces life and blessing and the presence of God (Ex. 40:34,35).
"But who am I, and what are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given to you. (1 Chron. 29:14)
You are familiar with some of the expressions that we hold near and dear to our hearts, such as, 'a quitter never wins and a winner never quits...well, my friends, that is definitely not true. Winners quit all the time, decisively and without regret! Or as I heard in most establishments: the customer is always right. Or there are no such things as stupid questions? Even though we say and employ them, I think we know they are not true statements. Unfortunately, we all have a bias to wishful thinking.
Have you ever asked yourself the question, 'What would happen if I were able to step out of the trees to see the forest, cut my losses and wasted energy then redirect that energy into other areas of profitability? A wise man once told me not to invest in low return ventures. I know we've always heard, it's better to be safe than sorry...or good things come to those who wait and/or you can't have your cake and eat it too, but in life those aren't true all the time either. Heaven knows it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks! Woof, woof!
In life, we all have at least one problem. We all want deeply satisfying relationships. Relationships that receive and give. Relationships that provide us a sense of worth, a place of safety, someone who knows us for who we really are. That’s the good part. The bad part is that in order to experience this we need to be vulnerable/vulnerare/to wound and that's not always safe. We need to risk who we are in order to be understood for who we are. There is no deeply satisfying relationship with walls in the middle. So we have to take down the walls, drop those fig leaves, the very things that protected us from being rejected, being misunderstood, being unsafe. And like so many things in life, vulnerability contains its own downfall.
We have to risk in order to be seen and then, potentially, experience rejection for being seen. No wonder we have walls to numb our feelings of helplessness, failure and shame! How do I get past these walls? How do I go against the normative current of our society? How do I live vibrantly like the Sea of Galilee, rather than the Dead Sea? It begins when we take a page out of King David's psalms, where he recognized only God was his Rock (Psa. 62:6) and then, as I shared with a new friend yesterday, "what does that look like"?
"He only is my rock/tzur and my salvation/yeshua He is my high tower; I shall not be moved" (Psa. 62:6)
A cursory view of David's life shows us that he was filled with innocence while he served King Saul and strayed from that innocence later on in his life. Regardless of his shortcomings, he kept pressing into and recognizing that God was his only Rock, whether in mercy or in justice; Yahweh was his only Rock (Ex. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; Ex. 33:21,22; Deut. 32:4; etc.).
What does that mean with all our human relationships? Accept that they are all flawed? All produce wounds? All potential sources of pain? Wounding seems to be an essential part of truly living. Even parents, as hard as they try to be loving, inflict emotional damage on their children. Perhaps unconsciously, they pass along those traumas they never settled in their own lives; as we've seen in previous studies. And it’s getting worse with modern gizmos to entertain our children.
Historically, we know that the industrial age brought about dislocation within traditional relationships, family, clan, tribe and village. Modern technology through the internet, social media, cell phones, etc. have magnified the need to be loved and it's exacerbated the dislocation. Consequently, even children in homes that have two parents have lost their primary emotional attachment with the nurturing adults in their lives, affecting profoundly healthy development.
The war in Ukraine, which I hope comes to an end soon, has revealed a lot about our country, our leaders and 'Dead Sea' mentality around the world, jeopardizing the lives of millions in order for a few individuals to float on the mineral rich, buoyant, but dead waters of the Dead Sea. As I reflect on life locally and around the world, I am reminded how spiritual poverty has taken over the world. It's this reality that starts the addiction process of replacing what should come from within by that which comes from without. The less inner strength we have, from The Rock, the greater our craving for power and pleasure. The less aware we are of Truth, the more desperate our search for certainty outside of ourselves.
We, speaking of me, myself and I, need to ask, 'Is God my only Rock?' By not quitting some things and investing in low return agendas, 'we've' paid a pretty high price. When will this 'avalanche' stop? When we choose to quit and truly become a winner!
Whether we recognize it or not, we all have one 'river source'. The question we must ask ourselves is, 'which sea do I want to be'? Let me know in a text or email so I know better how to pray for you :-)
Happy fourth day of the week! Passover's coming!!!
Shalom
The Land of Israel, the Promised Land, has a small, but famous river that fills 2 seas. The river is the Jordan river. The seas are the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Both are fed by the same river, but one produces life while the other is dead. Why? Because, as with this Torah portion, Pekudei (Ex. 38:21-40:38), when you give obediently and selflessly as you have received (1 Chron. 29:14), it always produces life and blessing and the presence of God (Ex. 40:34,35).
"But who am I, and what are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given to you. (1 Chron. 29:14)
You are familiar with some of the expressions that we hold near and dear to our hearts, such as, 'a quitter never wins and a winner never quits...well, my friends, that is definitely not true. Winners quit all the time, decisively and without regret! Or as I heard in most establishments: the customer is always right. Or there are no such things as stupid questions? Even though we say and employ them, I think we know they are not true statements. Unfortunately, we all have a bias to wishful thinking.
Have you ever asked yourself the question, 'What would happen if I were able to step out of the trees to see the forest, cut my losses and wasted energy then redirect that energy into other areas of profitability? A wise man once told me not to invest in low return ventures. I know we've always heard, it's better to be safe than sorry...or good things come to those who wait and/or you can't have your cake and eat it too, but in life those aren't true all the time either. Heaven knows it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks! Woof, woof!
In life, we all have at least one problem. We all want deeply satisfying relationships. Relationships that receive and give. Relationships that provide us a sense of worth, a place of safety, someone who knows us for who we really are. That’s the good part. The bad part is that in order to experience this we need to be vulnerable/vulnerare/to wound and that's not always safe. We need to risk who we are in order to be understood for who we are. There is no deeply satisfying relationship with walls in the middle. So we have to take down the walls, drop those fig leaves, the very things that protected us from being rejected, being misunderstood, being unsafe. And like so many things in life, vulnerability contains its own downfall.
We have to risk in order to be seen and then, potentially, experience rejection for being seen. No wonder we have walls to numb our feelings of helplessness, failure and shame! How do I get past these walls? How do I go against the normative current of our society? How do I live vibrantly like the Sea of Galilee, rather than the Dead Sea? It begins when we take a page out of King David's psalms, where he recognized only God was his Rock (Psa. 62:6) and then, as I shared with a new friend yesterday, "what does that look like"?
"He only is my rock/tzur and my salvation/yeshua He is my high tower; I shall not be moved" (Psa. 62:6)
A cursory view of David's life shows us that he was filled with innocence while he served King Saul and strayed from that innocence later on in his life. Regardless of his shortcomings, he kept pressing into and recognizing that God was his only Rock, whether in mercy or in justice; Yahweh was his only Rock (Ex. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; Ex. 33:21,22; Deut. 32:4; etc.).
What does that mean with all our human relationships? Accept that they are all flawed? All produce wounds? All potential sources of pain? Wounding seems to be an essential part of truly living. Even parents, as hard as they try to be loving, inflict emotional damage on their children. Perhaps unconsciously, they pass along those traumas they never settled in their own lives; as we've seen in previous studies. And it’s getting worse with modern gizmos to entertain our children.
Historically, we know that the industrial age brought about dislocation within traditional relationships, family, clan, tribe and village. Modern technology through the internet, social media, cell phones, etc. have magnified the need to be loved and it's exacerbated the dislocation. Consequently, even children in homes that have two parents have lost their primary emotional attachment with the nurturing adults in their lives, affecting profoundly healthy development.
The war in Ukraine, which I hope comes to an end soon, has revealed a lot about our country, our leaders and 'Dead Sea' mentality around the world, jeopardizing the lives of millions in order for a few individuals to float on the mineral rich, buoyant, but dead waters of the Dead Sea. As I reflect on life locally and around the world, I am reminded how spiritual poverty has taken over the world. It's this reality that starts the addiction process of replacing what should come from within by that which comes from without. The less inner strength we have, from The Rock, the greater our craving for power and pleasure. The less aware we are of Truth, the more desperate our search for certainty outside of ourselves.
We, speaking of me, myself and I, need to ask, 'Is God my only Rock?' By not quitting some things and investing in low return agendas, 'we've' paid a pretty high price. When will this 'avalanche' stop? When we choose to quit and truly become a winner!
Whether we recognize it or not, we all have one 'river source'. The question we must ask ourselves is, 'which sea do I want to be'? Let me know in a text or email so I know better how to pray for you :-)
Happy fourth day of the week! Passover's coming!!!
Shalom
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