Chesed of Gevurah
If love (chesed) is the bedrock of human expression, discipline (gevurah) is the channels through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Take a laser beam: Its potency lies in the focus and concentration of light in one direction rather than fragmented light beams dispersed in all different directions.
Gevurah - discipline and measure - concentrates and directs our efforts, our love in the proper directions. Another aspect of gevurah is - respect and awe. Healthy love requires respect for the one you love.
Day One of Week 2 (8th day of Omer): Chesed of Gevurah
The underlying intention and motive in discipline is love. Why do we measure our behavior, why do we establish standards and expect people to live up to them - only because of love. Even judgment of the guilty is only to express love. In other words punishment is not vengeance; it is just another way to express love by cleansing anything antithetical to love. Tolerance of people should never be confused with tolerance of their behavior. On the contrary: love for people includes wanting them to be the best they can and therefore helping them be aware of anything less than perfect behavior.
Chesed of gevurah is the love in discipline; awareness of the intrinsic love that feeds discipline and judgment. It is the recognition that your personal discipline and the discipline you expect of others is only an expression of love. And that comes across when disciplining. It is the understanding that we have no right to judge others; we have a right only to love them and that includes wanting them to be their best.
Ask yourself: when I judge and criticize another is it in any way tinged with any of my own contempt and irritation? Is there any hidden satisfaction in his failure? Or is it only out of love for the other?
Exercise for the day: Before you criticize someone today think twice if it is out of care and love.
Malchut of Chesed
Mature love comes with - and brings - personal dignity. An intimate feeling of nobility and regality. Knowing your special place and contribution in this world. Any love that is debilitating and breaks the human spirit is no love at all. For love to be complete it must have the dimension of personal sovereignty.
Exercise for the day: Highlight an aspect in your love that has bolstered your spirit and enriched your life - and celebrate.
Yesod of Chesed
For love to be eternal it requires bonding. A sense of togetherness which actualizes the love in a joint effort. An intimate connection, kinship and attachment, benefiting both parties. This bonding bears fruit; the fruit born out of a healthy union.
Exercise for the day: Start building something constructive together with a loved one.
Thought for Today: Sunday April 16:
Spread love everywhere you go today; first of all in your own home. Give love to your children, your wives, your husbands, to a next-door neighbour and remember your mothers! They have the hardest work of all, they are the ones who have to put up with everything, to take care of what is possible and trust YHVH with the impossible!
SERIES M --- PROPHESIES AND MIRACLES --- LESSON 10
ELIJAH TAKEN UP
ELIJAH IS TAKEN INTO HEAVEN
From 2 Kings 2
The time for YHVH to take Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind came as Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. [Stay here while I go to Bethel,] Elijah told Elisha, [for Adonai has sent me there.] [As surely as Adonai lives, I will stay with you,] Elisha replied. Both of them went to Bethel. As they approached Bethel, the young men who were training to be prophets came out to meet them. [Do you know that Adonai will take Elijah away today?] they asked Elisha. [Yes, I know that,] said Elisha. [Please be quiet about it.] Then Elijah spoke to Elisha again. [Stay here,] he said. [I must go on to Jericho.] [As surely as Adonai lives, I will stay with you,] Elisha replied. They went together to Jericho. As they approached Jericho, the young men who were training to be prophets came out to meet them. [Do you know that Adonai will take Elijah away today?] they asked Elisha. [Yes, I know that,] said Elisha. [Please be quiet about it.] Elijah spoke again to Elisha. [Stay here,] he said. [Adonai wants me to go across the Jordan River.] [As surely as Adonai lives, I will stay with you,] Elisha replied. The two of them went on toward the Jordan River. Fifty of the men who were training to be prophets also went, staying some distance behind them. When the two reached the Jordan River, Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water of the river with it. The water parted and they walked across on dry ground. When they had crossed the river, Elijah said to Elisha, [Before I leave you, tell me what I may do for you.] [Let me have twice the spiritual power that you have had,] Elisha asked. [What a difficult request you make!] Elijah answered. [However, if you see me as I am taken from you, your request will be granted. If you do not see me, your request will be refused.] As they walked farther, talking together, a chariot of fire swept down from heaven, pulled by horses of fire and separated them. Then Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw the whole thing and cried out, [My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!] Then suddenly Elijah disappeared from his sight. When Elijah was gone, Elisha tore his own cloak; picked up the one Elijah had left and returned to the Jordan River. There he struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and said, [where is Adonai YHVH of Elijah? The water parted and Elisha walked across on dry ground. The young prophets who had been watching cried out, [The spirit of Elijah is now in Elisha.] They ran to meet him and bowed down before him. The young prophets said to Elisha, [There are fifty strong young men with us. Let them go and look for Elijah, for perhaps the Spirit of Adonai caught him up and placed him on some mountain or in some valley.] [No, you must not bother to look for him,] Elisha answered. But the young prophets kept urging until Elisha finally gave in. [Go ahead,] he said. They sent fifty young men who looked for three days, but they could not find Elijah. When they returned to Elisha at Jericho, he said, [didn’t I tell you not to bother to look for him?] One day the men of Jericho came to see Elisha. [Our city is located in a beautiful place, as you can see,] they said. [But our water is bad and causes miscarriages.] [Bring me a new bowl filled with salt,] Elisha told them. When the men of the city brought the new bowl filled with salt, Elisha took it to the spring of water and threw the salt into it. [This is what Adonai declares,] he said. [From now on this water will be good, so neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.] The water has been good since that time, as Elisha said it would. From Jericho Elisha went to Bethel. Along the way some boys came from the city and began to say rude things to him because of his bald head. [Go on, old bald head!] they jeered. Then Elisha turned toward them and placed a curse upon them. Suddenly two female bears came from the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces. From Bethel Elisha went on to Mount Carmel and then returned to Samaria.
COMMENTARY
CITIES OF THE PROPHETS
Although the prophets are some of the most important characters of the Old Testament, little is known about where they came from. Almost nothing is known of Elijah’s childhood. This early prophet came from Gilead, a mountainous section of Transjordan. He was used to living in the wilderness and tradition claims that people recognized him by his wild appearance and his rough garments of animal hair. As a young man, Elisha lived on a farm in Abel-meholab, the [Meadow of Dancing.] Elisha’s familiarity with working people and their problems was clear in the compassion he often showed the poor and needy. Both Amos and Jeremiah came from towns on the edge of the Judean wilderness, an empty desert region known as the bad lands of Palestine. The strong character of the prophets may have come from living in such a hostile environment. Micah’s home in the Judean hill country provided him with a unique understanding of his people. His awareness of injustice and poverty grew from his own background and experience among the poor farmers. Isaiah too, seemed especially prepared for his audience. Nothing is known of Isaiah’s home or early life, but his high level of education and his speaking ability were unusual among the prophets. He stayed within the southern kingdom, primarily addressing the royalty in the capital of Jerusalem. Other prophets, such as Jonah, were called to leave familiar surroundings and proclaim YHVH’s message in a foreign city. When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and took the Israelites captive, Ezekiel also found himself a prophet in a strange land.
"If thou seek him, he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever."
1Ch 28
God has been revealing Himself for thousands of years. You might think we would all be on the same page by now, with the same understanding and interpretation of scripture. That’s not what we see. There are thousands of unique expressions of faith in the Almighty from the Christian and Jewish sides of the family. Is there some clue in nature that might help us understand why?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023/04/15/happy-mules/
God has been revealing Himself for thousands of years. You might think we would all be on the same page by now, with the same understanding and interpretation of scripture. That’s not what we see. There are thousands of unique expressions of faith in the Almighty from the Christian and Jewish sides of the family. Is there some clue in nature that might help us understand why?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023/04/15/happy-mules/
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