Complicated Grief: Heart- rending

 

Rending means  tearing, so when something makes you feel deeply saddened.

Hebrew word study:

lev – לב means, heart-  which is defined as the seat of all passions.

ayakah/ AYEKAH – איכה means  “where are you?”

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” - Genesis 3:9-10, (KJV).

Ayekah is an ancient Hebrew word that is still used in daily life today. It means, “Where are you?” It is used today when a person, parent, friend, compatriot wants to know about your inner world, the heart experience of you. 

Can you picture God wandering through the garden, weeping, and saying, “O woe is Me!”?..... If we believe we are created in the image of God, then we have a heart like His- a heart that can be broken. Haven’t you ever lamented over a broken relationship? Most Christians seem to have a hard time picturing God as weeping over His lost children. Hence, we use the more appropriate rendering  of “where are you?” But while ayakah is an interrogative,* it is also an expression of grief. So, what is causing this grief? Adam and Eve were not hiding from God; they were hiding from the presence of God. They had willfully separated themselves from His presence. God is grief- stricken because the sin has caused to hide one from His presence- the presence He longs to share with us. After searching for the heart of God and capturing a few glimpses of His heart, you may no longer see Him as a task master ready to whip you into submission to His will, but as a lover who has His arms open, ready to embrace you, to forgive you, and win you over to submission to His perfect will through His passionate love for you. - Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study- Revealing the Heart of God, (2016). 

If God had problems locating where Adam was hiding in some bushes, this does not inspire in me much confidence that God is watching over me all the time and protects me and knows my going out and my coming in! So, what is the literal rendering of the verse, Genesis 3: 9-10? The complicated grief which came out of original sin (peccatum Originale- Latin) is heartrending, and this is something that  rends God’s heart, rips it apart, like a tale of a terrible tragedy! Looking at the effects of Fall, ayakah- this rendering makes more sense, to me in my search for God’s heart!