We Remember....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So...I have been kinda incommunicado of late; we had an Event in northern Indiana ...gosh, it's been two weeks ago already...and I came home to a dumpster fire at work that was mostly my fault.  To be honest, I have just kinda of not pushed my brain any harder than recovery.

But I do need to address The Event before I resume Normal Blogging, because it is such a pivotal thing.

My precious mother in law came to the end of her life...having just turned 97...on December 12.  The decision was made to hold off on the memorial until after the holidays, so it was on January 31st that we all gathered...except for one young wife who could not get off of work...to, as my sister-in-law so aptly put it when we made the same trek home for my father-in-law's service two years earlier, 'to honor [her] and comfort one another.'

There is a lot that I could say about the trip itself...but I would like to talk about Her.   She was the polar opposite of the trope of the meddling mother-in-law.  She was engaging, encouraging, and always ready to help.  She was an amazing hostess; I remember one Christmas when unexpected guests arrived; she put on the coffee, pulled out tins of goodies she'd baked over the previous couple of weeks, set out the Royal Doulton Poinsettia china and - boom - instant party. 

She sang in the church choir, was one of the organizers for the Christmas bazaar her church hosted for many years, taught high school biology and, along with her hubby, who taught math and chemistry, was a senior class sponsor year after year.   

She loved to travel; my inlaws were chaperones on high school trips to Europe...and then traveled on tours themselves.  They  retired young, made good use of time share points and even rode the burros to the Grand Canyon floor.  

A couple of days after my hip surgery a year and half ago, she called to see how I was doing and let me know that she was praying for me.

At the end, she was more than ready to go; the struggles with her health wore her down but she never lost her mental acuity.  

Beyond what her passing means to the family...and I may or may not get into that at some point...I am going to miss her for herself.  I was blessed to have such a caring mother-in-law.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Ezekiel, part 2

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our cruise through the NIV 84, looking at words translated 'Heart/ hearts' , has brought us to the middling chapters of Ezekiel. We'll look at four selections today, starting in chapter 18...

"Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and and a new spirit.  Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD.  Repent and live!"  -- Ez. 18:31-32; 'heart' is the familiar Strong's H 3820,  Leb inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding 

Here's another passage that foreshadows the concept of a new birth... a new heart and a new spirit.  The plea to repent and live...Why will you die? strikes me as especially poignant.  Why indeed?  It's just as relevant today. 

In chapter 20, Ezekiel is doing a review of Israel's history:

"Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would  not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands -- because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths.  For their hearts were devoted to their idols."  -- Ez. 20:15-16; 'Hearts' is H 3820 again.

A heart devoted to an idol cannot be a heart devoted to God.  

"Therefore groan, son of man!  Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief.   And when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say, 'Because of the news that is coming.  Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water.'  It is coming!  It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. -- Ez. 21:6-7; the second occurrence of 'heart' is , once again, H3820, but the first one is a word we have not seen yet, Strong's H4975, Matnayim - loins, side, greyhound (? 'perhaps an extinct animal').  I actually think this is a literal reference to, um, broken loins....let's just say acute, excruciating pain.  The NIV translating it as a broken heart is an idiomatic translation that's a little more delicate than an exact translation would be.

In any case, Ezekiel is instructed to grieve over the coming judgment.  His timeline is that he is prophesying after the first deportation of Jewish leaders to Babylon, but before the final destruction of Jerusalem.    The context of the chapter is very clearly prophesying the final and utter defeat of the nation of Judah. Judgment was coming...and the people were not believing it.  

The warning continues; we have another reference to melting hearts...

"So that hearts may melt and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at their gates.  Oh! It is made to flash like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter."  -- Ez. 21:15; 'Hearts' is, again, H 3820.

It actually did not matter one whit that the people didn't think it was going to  happen; that they were doing what seemed right to them.  Horrible, tragic, absolute judgment was coming.  

And all the people had to do to avert it was listen to the prophet, confess and repent of their idolatry, and follow God's covenant.

Why will you die?

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Ezekiel, Part 1

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Why does it always take so long to get back into the routine after Christmas?  Or is it just me....?

But better late than never and it's a new year and we are jumping into the final stages of the Old Testament; if I am looking at my notes correctly, we have about 10 weeks left before we come to the end of the minor prophets in our look at 'heart/ hearts', as translated by the NIV 85.  And today we are starting the surreal book of Ezekiel.

There are not a lot of references to 'heart/ hearts' in Ezekiel, given the length of the book. He focuses on ...other things, mostly.  But there are a few verses for us to look at, and we will begin in chapter three, with God giving instruction to Ezekiel:

And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you." -- Ez. 3:10; 'Heart' is the second most frequent word we've seen,  Strong's H3824, Lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding. Also, as we have seen of late, it has a particular connotation of joining one's heart to God's.

God is about to give Ezekiel some very specific instructions about what he is to say and do and charged him to listen carefully and 'take [it] to heart'.  

Sound instruction not just for an Old Testament prophet, but for all of us today.  We listen willingly enough to the word from God...but falter at the 'take it to heart' part.  James warns us of being hearers of the word but not do-ers of the word.  If we don't take God's word seriously, applying it to everyday life, letting it influence our actions and deeds...have we even really heard it?

There are consequences for not taking the word to heart.

"Then in the nations where they have been carried away captive, those who escape will remember me -- how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.  They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices." - Ez. 6:9; 'Hearts' is the most common Hebrew word translated 'Heart/ hearts', Strong's H3820, Leb: Inner man, mind will, heart, understanding

Rebellion and idolatry ...turning away from God and embracing idols (of any kind) bring judgment.  Judgment either leads to rejection of God completely or conviction and repentance.  It's rough to see oneself from God's perspective and recognize our self centered behavior for what it is.

We go all the way to chapter 11 for the next mention of heart/ hearts, and what happens when there is repentance and restoration:

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." -- Ez. 11:19;  all instances of 'heart' are H 3820.

This, to me, is one of the most amazing concepts in the Old Testament, foreshadowing the whole idea of a new birth.

But, for the folks who get angry at the judgment and reject God

"But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."  -- Ez. 11:21; 'Hearts' is H 3020 again.

For a bit more detail on the consequences of idolatry...

Then the word of the LORD came to me:  "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces.  Should I let them inquire of me at all?  Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicket stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.  I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'"  -- Ez. 14:2-5;  all instance of 'heart' are H 3020.

This is an interesting concept...that one who holds idols also puts a stumbling block right in his or her own way. Something that causes a trip and a fall.  And...here's the thing.  That idol doesn't have to be a  Baal or an Ashtoreth.  It could be ANYTHING that takes precedence over taking God's word to heart.

Anything.

That takes some soul searching.

" 'When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself.  I will set my face against that man and make him an example and a byword.  I will cut him off from my people.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" - Ez. 14:7-9; 'Heart' is, once again, H 3820.

Serving idols in one's heart and still going through the motions of devotion to God...brings judgment.  Not just to the individual, but, as you read on down in the chapter, the prophet who ministers to him also falls under the same judgment.  

Idolatry is a serious thing, and the worship of God can NOT be contaminated with it.  We see this over and over in the prophets.  But this is not just a warning to not have little stone statues with burning incense in the house...it's a warning to not give up heart space to serving something that is not God.  

That heart space matters.  

A New Year...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

WHAT an original title for the post, lol.  I started writing, left, came back, looked at it and rolled my eyes.

Eh.  It works.

It's January, which means we have a crew of folks at church doing The Shred...which is not a diet-and-exercise routine, lol.  It's a plan to read the entire Bible in 30 days.  I did it two years ago, and debated doing it again, but decided I'd do another personal challenge instead.

It's still a repeat, but it's a test to see if I can do something I've been thinking about for a while.

One of the past challenges I've done is reading the Bible through in a year, following a simple formula of reading 3 chapters in the Old Testament and 1 chapter in the New Testament every day. If you stick to it faithfully, you'll actually finish before the year is over...sometime in October, I think.  But everyone misses a day here and there, so finishing in a year is a definite challenge...but one that's attainable.

But I added another layer on it.  One of the Bible study tools I teach is what I call the Bible Survey, that basically involves writing a sentence summary of each chapter as you read it.  We did that in four years when I was teaching the High School Girls class. 

I wondered if it would be too hard to add the Bible Survey on top of the 3 + 1 reading.

I grabbed a college-ruled, three subject spiral notebook at the grocery store last week and started on Sunday.  Two chapters in Genesis on page one, one chapter in Job on the first page of the second division, and one chapter in Matthew on the first page of the third division.

Today I'm on day 4 owing to a bit of a late start, but, like I said, there is a bit of wiggle room in the 3 + 1 plan.

I will still be doing the Heart/Hearts study on Fridays (or maybe Saturdays...lol).

I feel good about this.  If I am instructing folks to do this, I should be doing it myself, no?  

Here we go...

'Tis the Irrational Season....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

It was Madeleine L'Engle who educated me on Advent...what she called 'The Irrational Season'.  That was also the title of book three of what is termed her 'Crosswicks Journals' (Books one and two being A Circle of Quiet and The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, respectively).  Reading The Irrational Season, I learned that Advent is not really just about anticipating Christmas, but is eschatological, looking for the coming of Christ, in all aspects.  Irrational to think about Christ coming to us, or returning, especially in our current scientific-facts-based thinking.  But irrational is not fake...is not imaginary...just contrary to what we consider logic.  Irrational numbers are factually existent...as is irrational faith.

It feels highly irrational to me that Christmas is a mere 3 days away.  My inner clock wants the calendar to be somewhere in early November.   I hurt my back; I caught a nasty respiratory virus; I was Elizabeth, mother of John, in our church Christmas production.  All of which contributed to the missing time.  

A lot of words to say that I decided to put the Heart study on hold until after the holidays.  It's a convenient place to take a break, having just finished Lamentations, so we will dive into Ezekiel in the new year.

But I am still finding myself reflecting on things...and reading seasonally appropriate thoughts.

I have a slew of Christmas/ Advent related books...and they occupy the space under the tree, giving the feeling of 'something there' before and after the gifts show up.  The cat comes and goes, lol.

I wish I had time to sit down and read through all the books there...so much Good Stuff.  But tonight I picked up Miracle on 10th Street, which is a collection of seasonally appropriate writings from none other than Madeleine L'Engle.   Tonight I landed on an essay titled 'The Other Side of Reason'...I am not sure where it was first published.  I could look through my collection of Madeleine's writings but...time...I'm just going to quote it from the anthology in front of me.

To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity.  The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver.  In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command....Mary did not always understand.  But one does not have to understand to be obedient.  Instead of understanding -- that intellectual understanding which we are so fond of -- there is a feeling of rightness, of knowing, knowing things which we are not yet able to understand.

Irrational.  But somehow solidly right.

Merry Christmas.

Blogging Bible Study - The Heart of the Matter: Lamentations

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

In the holiday season...posts will just come when they come, lol....My schedule is all whacked and most of the time I'm not even sure what day it is....although I confess I am completely dumbfounded that Thanksgiving is in 4 days.  I'm kind of afraid I'll forget to do something critical.  But, we are still proceeding to look at 'heart/hearts' as translated by the NIV 84...and we have arrived at Lamentations.

I don't know if you all have notes in your Bibles; my NIV 84 has Scofield's notes and there is some interesting information about the poetry in Lamentations.  The first four chapters are rather like Psalm 119...Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 have 22 verses; in chapters 1 and 2, each verse which starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Chapter 3 has 66 verses...22 sets of 3 verses, and each of the three verses in a set starts with the same Hebrew letter, so that each of the 22 sets is alphabetical (like the 8 verse sets in Ps. 119).   Chapter 5 is not alphabetical; however, it is poetic in the sense that the second phrase of each verse is shorter than the first phrase, which has a somber cadence.

So Jeremiah wasn't just a prophet, he was also quite the poet.

I am just going to comment on the context and the words used here; the depth of grief Jeremiah expresses in this short little set of poems is sobering.  This is a small little glimpse of his sorrow.

In chapter 1, Jeremiah is writing as if he were Jerusalem/ the nation of Judah

"See, O LORD, how distressed I am!  I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious.  Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me.  All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done.  May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me.  Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins.  My groans are many and my heart is faint."  Lam 1: 20 - 22;  both instances of 'heart' are Strong's H 3820 - Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. 

Jeremiah is writing out his own grief in chapter 2

My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.   -- Lam. 2: 11  'Heart' is a word we haven't seen before, H 3516 - kabed - liver, heaviest organ.  This is another one of those words that I think has been translated idiomatically as modern English speakers don't have a concept of the liver being poured out in sorrow...but the heart, yes, we would definitely have a concept of the heart being poured out.

The hearts of the people cry out to the LORD.  O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.  Arise, cry out in the night as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.  Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.  -- Lam 2: 18 - 19;  both instances of heart are again H 3820. 

Jeremiah identifies himself with his nation in chapter 3::

He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. Lam 3: 12- 13; 'Heart' here is H 3629, kilya  -- kidneys, reins.  I'm just going to observe that the ancient Hebrews were varied in their organ references; us modern folks do not associate emotions with organs so much.  The NIV has translated this, as was done above with 'liver', as 'heart' because...idioms.  

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven." - Lam. 3:40-41; 'Heart' here is the second most common Hebrew word, Strong's H 3824, Lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.  I am also reminded that 'lebab' has the connotation of joining one's heart to God, which certainly makes sense here.

At the end of chapter 3, Jeremiah laments the treatment he has personally received from those in positions of authority, and asks God to avenge him.

Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.  Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!  -- Lam. 3: 64-65; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.

There are no references to 'heart/ hearts' in chapter four; chapter five is a prayer on behalf of the people:

Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.  The crown has fallen from our head.  Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this, our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.  -- Lam. 5:15-17; both instances of 'heart'  here are H 3820.

Aside from the bit in Lam. 3:21-26, which is the famous 'Great is thy faithfulness' passage, reminding us that there is hope even in the bleakest judgment...this is a very sad little book.  As it should be, lamenting the fall and destruction of a nation.  Hearts faint.  Hearts melt.  Hearts are poured out on the ground; hearts are pierced.  Joy has departed.  

Repentance was declined. Judgment fell.  Jeremiah, who had seen all his warnings ignored, lamented.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Jeremiah, part 7

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, I'm going to be honest here... due to December time off blackouts at work, I can't use vacation/ non-emergency PTO in December.  And since my hubby has been using up most all of his time off on  boys ministry related events...I have extra to use before, like, Thanksgiving. This means I have been taking random days off since I got back from Indiana...as a result, I am completely lost in any given week, lol, and have no idea what day it is.  So until I get back to a normal schedule, I might be, you know, off a day or so.

But be that as it may, we are finishing Jeremiah in our look at the words translated as 'Heart' and 'Hearts' in the NIV 84.

There is no mention of  'heart/ hearts/ in the narrative of the fall of Judah, the final exile, and the disobedience of those who were left in Judah, which is documented through chapter 45;  in chapter 46, the text shifts to a pronouncement of judgment of the nations in the area, and that is the context of all the verses we will look at today. 

This is what the LORD says: "Look!  An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.  Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken.  In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor. Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD. -- Jer. 48:41; both 'hearts' and 'heart' are Strong's H 3820, Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.

Ok, as a woman who has gone through natural childbirth four times, I am slightly offended at the surface implication that a woman in labor is weak.  Just sayin'.  But I suppose the actual connotation is that a laboring woman is totally absorbed in the task at hand and certainly is in no shape to fight any other battle.  And that IS the truth.  Once things hit a certain point, I couldn't even carry on a conversation.  The outside world did not exist. Imagine an entire army so preoccupied with...whatever...that they couldn't even raise a token resistance to the invaders.  Because she defied the LORD.

The next declaration is against Edom:

"The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill.  Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.  - Jer. 49:16; 'Heart' is, once again, H 3820.

The high ground is no advantage when God declares judgment.  Whatever victories have happened in the past, when judgment falls...everything falls.

And, once more, the 'woman in labor' analogy...

"Look!  An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah.  In that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor." -- Jer. 49:22.  Both instances are, as before, H 3820.  Edom will fall.

The last mention of heart/ hearts in Jeremiah is in the pronouncement against Babylon...but this verse is directed towards the people of God in exile in Babylon...

Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler. -- Jer. 51:46. 'Heart' this time is H 3824. lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.

Interesting that this form of 'heart is used here.  As we saw last week, this form has an extra emphasis on joining one's heart to God's.  The Jews in exile were going though some stuff, no doubt about that.  But God is actually encouraging them to keep their hearts towards him through the uncertain times.  

If we truly know the one who's ultimately running the show...he's got it.

Good for folks in these uncertain times, too.