Mark 11
We are walking in today: 30 Day Tongue Fast, The Doubting Tongue--Day 27
Teaching from the book 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue by Deborah Smith Pegues
Witness to be shaky throughout the Bible--H4571 ma'ad--to cause or make to shake or totter
Deuteronomy 28:66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
Witness to be shaky throughout the Bible--H4571 ma'ad--to cause or make to shake or totter
Deuteronomy 28:66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
Torah:
Prophets: 2 Samuel 22:37
Writings: Psalm 26:1, 37:31, 69:23; Proverbs 25:19
Prophets: 2 Samuel 22:37
Writings: Psalm 26:1, 37:31, 69:23; Proverbs 25:19
2 Samuel 5:19 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. MARK 11:23 NKJV
Nothing in the world is entirely good or bad, every choice, every decision has a cost, and in many ordeals, the combination of factors on either side of the moral choice is so complex that we respond with paralysis. When man attempts to hide, to blur reality into a crazy, fractured version of itself, God responds in kind, and allows man to see the world that way; measure for measure exactly.
The Hebrew people's arch-rival is the nation of Amalek. The numerical values for the Hebrew forms of the words Amalek and doubt are identical. The descendant of Amalek who tried to destroy the entire Jewish people was Haman (from the Purim story): the Talmud indicates his name in the Garden of Eden, at the time of Adam's sin; when God asks Adam that second question "Did you eat from the tree? – 'Hamin Haaretz' the word "hamin" ("Did you?") is the name "Haman." That gap between reality and perception, the gap of doubt, opens with the sin. And that is our enemy. A fascinating insight into the subject of doubt can be gained from examining the root words themselves, as always in Torah. The Hebrew word for doubt is "safek," and for certainty, "vadai." Amazingly, these commonly-used words are not to be found in the entire biblical writings! Nowhere does the Torah mention the Hebrew forms for doubt or certainty. Both these words are of Rabbinic origin.
Now we know that the essence of an idea is contained in the Torah word for that idea; if there is no word, it surely means that in essence, that concept does not exist. And of course – the world as formed by its root in Torah contains no doubt: things either exist or they do not. There is nothing in the world that exists "doubtfully," tentatively; doubt is our problem, a feature of our perception, not an objective reality! And if there is no doubt external to us, of course, there is no certainty – certainty exists only where doubt is a possibility; if there can be no doubt there can be no certainty, a thing simply "is"! So doubt is truly brought into being by us. And we must fight our way towards certainty. As we develop our consciousness in spiritual terms we can approach it. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we struggle for ultimate clarity, we say "God's name is 'certainty,' so be His praise"; the name we attach to God, as it were, in our struggle to see Him more clearly, is "vadai," certainty. The word for "certainty," too, is of human origin; our battle is to crystallize perception, to make truth shine clearly.
So our ordeals are confusing. That is their essence. Our task is to develop the tenacity to hold onto the truth even when tempted to see it change. Our goal is to break through into clarity – that is transcendence! And that is the meaning of "there is no happiness like the resolution of doubts." The greatest happiness is simply knowing one's direction. Even if one has not yet started along the road; simply knowing which road to follow in life is a great elation. Torah is that direction, and one's personal portion in Torah is that road.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Anything is possible for me if I believe. Therefore, I will declare my faith rather than discuss my doubts. IT SIMPLY IS!! Shema Selah let us pause and consider this awesome teaching!! Facebook LIVE video
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. MARK 11:23 NKJV
Nothing in the world is entirely good or bad, every choice, every decision has a cost, and in many ordeals, the combination of factors on either side of the moral choice is so complex that we respond with paralysis. When man attempts to hide, to blur reality into a crazy, fractured version of itself, God responds in kind, and allows man to see the world that way; measure for measure exactly.
The Hebrew people's arch-rival is the nation of Amalek. The numerical values for the Hebrew forms of the words Amalek and doubt are identical. The descendant of Amalek who tried to destroy the entire Jewish people was Haman (from the Purim story): the Talmud indicates his name in the Garden of Eden, at the time of Adam's sin; when God asks Adam that second question "Did you eat from the tree? – 'Hamin Haaretz' the word "hamin" ("Did you?") is the name "Haman." That gap between reality and perception, the gap of doubt, opens with the sin. And that is our enemy. A fascinating insight into the subject of doubt can be gained from examining the root words themselves, as always in Torah. The Hebrew word for doubt is "safek," and for certainty, "vadai." Amazingly, these commonly-used words are not to be found in the entire biblical writings! Nowhere does the Torah mention the Hebrew forms for doubt or certainty. Both these words are of Rabbinic origin.
Now we know that the essence of an idea is contained in the Torah word for that idea; if there is no word, it surely means that in essence, that concept does not exist. And of course – the world as formed by its root in Torah contains no doubt: things either exist or they do not. There is nothing in the world that exists "doubtfully," tentatively; doubt is our problem, a feature of our perception, not an objective reality! And if there is no doubt external to us, of course, there is no certainty – certainty exists only where doubt is a possibility; if there can be no doubt there can be no certainty, a thing simply "is"! So doubt is truly brought into being by us. And we must fight our way towards certainty. As we develop our consciousness in spiritual terms we can approach it. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we struggle for ultimate clarity, we say "God's name is 'certainty,' so be His praise"; the name we attach to God, as it were, in our struggle to see Him more clearly, is "vadai," certainty. The word for "certainty," too, is of human origin; our battle is to crystallize perception, to make truth shine clearly.
So our ordeals are confusing. That is their essence. Our task is to develop the tenacity to hold onto the truth even when tempted to see it change. Our goal is to break through into clarity – that is transcendence! And that is the meaning of "there is no happiness like the resolution of doubts." The greatest happiness is simply knowing one's direction. Even if one has not yet started along the road; simply knowing which road to follow in life is a great elation. Torah is that direction, and one's personal portion in Torah is that road.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Anything is possible for me if I believe. Therefore, I will declare my faith rather than discuss my doubts. IT SIMPLY IS!! Shema Selah let us pause and consider this awesome teaching!! Facebook LIVE video
