1.2.26 ~ Isolation through imitation

So many people in the digital age have an obsession about what other people think about themselves. Jacob is giving to his children the blessings/brachot in this week's Torah portion, vayechi/and he lived; helping us to know what will happen in the 'end of days'..."The coming of the Messiah, finding something lost and the scorpion sting": What kind of discovery will that day be for you (Gen. 49:1) 


In one of Jacob/Israel's blessings he speaks to his son Dan/judgment. He looks at Dan and he blesses him with the statement 


"that his descendents will be judges over God's people, as one of the tribes of Israel, like a serpent in the way, like an adder in the path that bites the horses heels, so that his rider falls backwards. I have waited for your salvation/Yeshua 

(Gen. 49:16-18)


One of Dan's descendents, known as Samson, that super powerful person who demonstrated superhuman strength, found that his strength became his weakness. Why? How come? Because he doesn’t want to be different from everyone else. Consequently, he tells Delilah his true strength. 


I have met many individuals who similarly have got grips with their own individual talents and strength in the path that they will bring most fulfillment into the world around them. And, like Samson, they cling onto the path that others are taking. One major life lesson for all of us: we can only forge our own God-given path once we have come to understand and accept ourselves for the people we truly have been created to be.


Let me connect some thoughts with what might appear to be a random topic: heart attacks. Huh? Heart attacks are one of the leading causes of death in America.


Fortunately, because of modern medicine, with the use of stents, bi-pass surgery and even heart replacement life can continue. The physical can teach us a lot about the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46). The biblical idea of a heart attack is slightly different, but in the end they both separate. One is a physical separation from this life and the other is a consciousness of separation from God.  Both come from being overwhelmed/ataph with life and feeling alone in the world (Psa. 61:2; 77:3; 102:1; 107:5; 142:3,4). 


Internally, when we feel overwhelmed/ataph it describes that agonizing feeling of isolation; where no one really knows you; where your inner strife convinces you that if anyone else knew your darkest secrets, you would be rejected as unworthy of love. This is the most concerning heart attack. 


Hatred is not the opposite of love, isolation is. Hate is a word of action, a devoted intensity that has both positive and negative application. Hate is ambivalent. It's a 2 sided coin. David hated those who opposed the Lord and that's a good hate (Psa. 139:21). Hate also displays itself in violence/hamas. 


Isolation is not ambivalent. Isolation is that experience of being unworthy, of having no value, of knowing that who you really are under the surface pretense is unacceptable to you and to others. Isolation is the world of addictive medication, the place where there is nothing left except the pain that must be silenced. Isolation is a world without compassion, care or concern. It is the heart attack of being completely alone. And between you, me and the fence post, it's the worst of all the feelings! 



Isolation is not solitude. We all need solitude, especially in the midst of this 'rat race' we call life. Isolation is the absence of connection, the last step before extinction! To love is to be in harmony with the universe. Experiencing isolation is just the opposite. To be isolated is the feeling that you don't belong; you're home, but not at home. A stranger in a strange and foreboding land. To be absent from others, from God and from oneself. 


Heart attacks are isolating events. Suddenly you are cast into a place where there is no exit, no retreat, no bond. The world caves in on you and you are left in the dark. Alone. King David knew this feeling all too well. He knew if it wasn't for God's presence, heart attack is the reality! Closing out 2025, I was inundated with Aaronic blessing gifts. In a 24 hour period it's amazing how the flip side reality manifests...heart attacks everywhere! 


You may know what I'm talking about. That place where no one really knows you, where there is no way out without revealing the things that kept you isolated and afraid. Perhaps your life is under attack from some inner demon, constructed by a lifetime of medicating fear. And now there is no place else to go. Now you feel the breath of your life escaping and death, spiritual or physical, is right there, staring you in the face. Wow! The realities of our lives.


Happy preparation day and Shabbat shalom!


Alan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25

Good morning! Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to ...
Read more