When I am Thirsty....

           Reminiscing a time, while running  for my connecting flight, experienced this deep thirst, which was  painful, hurting and sore. It was as if my tongue was cleaving to the roof of my mouth, and it was not at all pleasant but agonizing. 

           Thirst – Hebrew: Yisemah – thirsty, overwhelming desire for either the natural, or for the hidden knowledge of God. Every English translation says the “people were thirsty”  past tense. One version even says they were tormented by thirst. (Chaim Bentorah).      

         The Exodus story of Israel in (Ezekiel 17:13) speaks volumes on crossing the desert on the way to the promised land. We can see perspicuously that people were murmuring and complaining at this place, Rephidim, against Moses. This muttering is basically, because they were in fear, being filled with the desires of the flesh! 

          Thirst is one of the most powerful natural appetites, the cravings for water or other drink. Besides its natural significance, thirst is figuratively used of strong spiritual desire. The soul thirsts for God, recorded in (Psalms 42:2; 63:1). Where are we camped now in our personal journey? Are we camped at Rephidim? 

       But they were filled with desire, desire for the flesh. May be the situation around us are not in favour of us, in all areas, and it is possible everything around us are against our normal desires. Is it possible that we are like the people of Israel, fretting over the fear of funds drying up, health failing, relationships falling apart, even before they do?  Are we fretting over no water even before we get thirsty? 

      What do we thirst (Yisemah) for?  Are we (thirsting, desiring) for natural security? We all need security and protection in this fallen world. Is our desire and thirst on the flip side of yiseman, is to discover the hidden secrets in God’s Word, and the God who loves us? Do we seek to use this experience of thirst, to know God, and improve our personal relationship with Christ? If our thirst is on the flip side of physical thirst most of the times, it is a sign for growth and learning.

         No one need to shuffle through lives in an unconscious stupor- susceptible to emotional highs and lows, suffering in anxiety, fear, worry, hatred, bitterness, anger, guilt and other heart issues, which can negatively impact our soul strength. It is because, in Mark 15:23, Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, was thirsting at the Cross. Thirsting for what?

       The One who made the waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and oceans, was in thirst. Many saints and scholars have noted, and most of us can agree that Jesus is groaning for something greater and even more significant, than the physical thirst. This thirst is the similitude, for the thirst of all the souls. This thirst was full of pain, misery, agony, distress, suffering, anguish, torment, and torture for the souls of humanity, the world, John 3:16. In His great thirst He brought the fountain of Living Water which flows from God’s Throne Room. Keeping our feelings, desires, and thought pattern tethered to the truth of God’s Word will be our lifeguard, and the key for a joyful heart.

Route to uphill

 

The word for way or path here is linethiboth and not derek. This word comes from the root word: nathav which is a path of uncertainty.[1] This word simply mean as “paths.”

"Heart" (Hebrew lebab/leb [b'bel], Gk. kardia [kardiva]) occurs over one thousand times in the Bible, making it the most common anthropological term in the Scripture. It denotes a person's center for both physical and emotional-intellectual-moral activities; sometimes it is used figuratively for any inaccessible thing.[2]

Heart is the seat of all emotions, and we make choices, based on emotional intelligence. So the concept of the “heart” can be better understood as our inner person. The inner person: becomes the seat of our mind (thought), emotions (feelings), and will (intentions); Prov. 4:23.

Now, “soul” consists of mind, will, intellect, heart and emotions, the intellectual property God has endowed to man. God’s Word emphasizes soul health for man, is exceptional, extra special, memorable and notable much more than riches of the earth.

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein; Jer. 6:16 (KJV). How do we go through the hard paths, if it is orchestrated by the counsels of God, for a believer in Jesus Christ?

1.      Prayerfully consider/contemplate the journey!  Make sure we take the right path.

2.      Stand firm and be immovable. This means at crossroads, stand firm, and contemplate!

3.      See: this means discernment and spiritual seeing like a prophet or seer.

4.      Ask, for the old paths, our forefathers who walked with God did. This old path could be a path of uncertainty, and hard path, linethiboth. 

God instructs us to stand firm, and God of Omniscience may open up a door, to His heart and presence. When you contemplate on the revealed, written word of God, this will lead you to a presence of Omniscient God. When you are walking through this path of uncertainty, difficult path (linethiboth) God teaches us to follow the path in faith, with His Divine guidance, which whispers to us the path that will lead to God’s heart! Isn’t that humbling, and wonderful?

It is in this hidden, secret, “old path” some things which are good for the soul is concealed! When we in this “old path” come in agreement with God’s will, coming in harmony with God, our souls find rest. This is the path we have to walk in complete faith, and this will lead us to “rest for our souls.” We find rest in the midst of turbulence! Christ is supreme over all creations, especially over the powers of darkness.

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[1] WORD STUDY – REST FOR ONE'S SOUL – מרגוע לנפשׁימ Chaim Bentorah https://www.chaimbentorah.com › 2016/08 › word-stu...

Aug 23, 2016 — The word for way or path here is linethiboth and not derek. This word comes from the root word: nathav which is a path of uncertainty. The word ...

[2] What is the Bible term for the heart? https://www.google.com/search?q=heart+hebrew+word&rlz=1C1CHBD_enCA896CA910&oq=Heart+Hebrew+word&aq

 

The Only Friend in the Dale

         Prologue: The story that could be greeted with derision and disbelief but truthful. 

        It is time for the aircraft to land, but it propelled in circles and then headed Eastward bound far away from the airport for another 2 and half hours. Coming home after visiting mum, sitting almost at the front of the aircraft, alone without my family members, saw the air stewardess walking around with oxygen masks, in her hand made me very quizzical, and decided to converse with her. The response was her sobs which made me spell bounded and frozen for few minutes!  Absolutely no information and instructions from the pilot, possibility of threat detection, and fuel running out, must have given quite a mental anguish, pain, agony, grief and discomfort emotionally for all in the flight. I realized that we are either going to land in water, or in a remote island, or I am going to meet my Saviour in the air!

       Usage: Dale, vale, valley (often used as a part of proper names). Definition: A vale (i.e., broad depression). …(Dale, vale, valley in the Bible (64 verses). Hebrew: עֵמֶק, ʿēmeq, …Web Jul 19, 2017). 

      Deep calleth, unto the deep, the waves and billows, and water falls of fear, worry and anxiety trickles down, swells up the ebb and flow of rising emotions. Being in despair, of the possibility of not seeing my immediate family members and friends in this part of eternity, and as my soul faints within me, I align my thoughts toward God and remembered the Hebrew Names of God, El Roi, and Elohei Khol-Nechamah.

        El Roi means “The God who sees me.” Ro’iy in the original Hebrew can be translated as shepherd, or as seeing, looking, or gazing, (Bible study tools). Remembered, El Roi’s Faithfulness in hindsight, (Ref: Gen. 16:7-16).

      Elohei Khol-Nechamah (e-lo-hay khol-ne-kha-MAH).

This means “God of all comfort.” Blessed, be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 2 Cori.1:3 (KJV).

     God’s promises resonate within, built faith and hope helped with preparing for teaching, with the hope of possible landing! To keep it precise, when I reached home, the phone call from mum asking, “Where are you? Are, you safe? Japan had a bad earthquake when you were supposed to be there, and I am glad to hear your voice again” gave shivers in my spine. There was deep silence from my end, with numbness, and the shocking news felt like a thunderbolt. It appears as though I walked on water in the darkness! Sure indeed, God is our helper in times of trouble, when no one is there to lift us out of a storm. Thank you, God, El Roi (God who sees), and Elohei Khol-Nechamah (e-lo-hay khol-ne-kha-MAH) God who comforts.        

        Epilogue:

    Hebrew word, Yadiyad is often rendered as love and/or beloved as we find in Song of Solomon, (Chaim Bentorah). It is a huge privilege that we could call on Him with endearing words, with intimacy, and with respect as Abba Father!  Beloved friends can walk hand in hand and heart to heart and God is our friend if one would invite Him. This conviction transcends intellect and human rationality. Hebrew word Mitsapah, (Mizpah- Ref: Gen. 31:49) meant as Watch Tower who can protect our hearts and mind and is indeed a Tender Emotional Bond, one can share with our Father in Heaven. Being a true believer in Christ, is the start of that deep personal relationship with Him, and this never ends, and it runs to eternity!

     “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny” C.S Lewis. Universal grip of lies on every soul, the notion that we are all in varied time- bombs, living in borrowed time, and the brevity of life itself, God witnesses our struggles, comes along our side in our deep pockets of hopelessness. He even sees the sparrows and takes care of them (Ref: Matt. 6:26). As we are anxiously waiting on God, He is thinking beyond our anxious heart, to fine-tune us through adversity and create in us a man or women after His own heart! It leads one to live in Truth and Love in this part of Eternity. My soul leaps with joy when I remember the Only Friend in the Dale!

 

Limitless Bounty!

            Here is the Hebrew text for “Ki le’olam chasdo.”  The Hebrew phrase “Ki le’olam chasdo” (כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ) translates to “For His mercy endures forever.” (Hebrew word study: Chaim Bentorah)

           In times faced with insurmountable problems, the relationship between hope and faith are very essential for the well being of a person, both spiritual and emotional and God had made it this way for the necessary fulfilling of life.

            Veils of our private sphere: when the enemy of our souls, buffets, pointing finger and says, “you are doomed, imperfect, you will starve, homeless, opposing factions with a series of verbal altercations, and when the challenges seem to appear as a series of rapid- fire encounters, …doom, doom, doom,” then one’s faith and confidence can be suddenly shaken. Fear can cripple a person, and a good example is the story of Elijah in 1Kings 19:4; Elijah was running for his life, fearful of Jezebel. In a situation like this to overcome the fear, faith and hope are the necessary to counteract, antidotes!

            Soul (mind, will, intellect, and emotions) is the intellectual property endowed to man, from above. If the soul is well, all is well and vice versa. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil” Heb.6: 19 (KJV). Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. (Prov. 13:12) NLT. 

            Hebrew word for soul: nephesh: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion (Strong's Concordance). Accordingly, the Hebrew word נֶ֫פֶשׁ‎, nephesh, although translated as "soul" in some older English-language Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being". Nephesh was translated into Greek in the Septuagint as ψυχή (psūchê), using the Greek word for "soul" (Wikipedia).   

           The Anchor of Hope fastened on the Rock tears the dark veil. The grave, which was conquered at the cross, which tore the Temple veil, gives one hope, faith and courage to walk through the veils of our private life. The grave is robbed of its captivity, and the tomb a borrowed one as in the Garden, for those who are called according to His purpose. No heart could fathom this limitless, boundless bounty of God’s loving kindness and mercy, and this is God’s gateway for us to His heart! “My abundance is as limitless as sea, my love” says Shakespeare, William. This refers to the prize being endlessly replenished having no limit just like the sea!  

         The stars of heaven twinkle brightly in the deep darkness of night, to guide us. As Evening Star brightens our dark night, The Morning Star at daybreak, which symbolizes the Presence of Christ in our earthly walk gives us courage, faith and hope in the presence of tumultuous times!