My three year old grandson was experiencing the acrimonious separation of his mother and father. His mother took him to visit some friends. He asked the host this staggering question: “Who do you belong to?” The host looked astonished and laughingly responded: “That is a very theological question.” The three year old was terribly earnest and followed up with another zinger: “Do you belong here?”
This three year old was caught up in the turmoil of family strife, he was disorientated and the pain of his restless heart came out in those two existential questions. At the tumultuous heart of every being lies the agony of those two questions: “Who do you belong to?” “Do you belong here?” When the gospel extends peace to us, it is setting our hearts at rest concerning those two fundamental existential issues. God is wrapping His arms around us to say: “You belong to me.” “You are at home in my Presence.”
The Apostle Paul starts his letter to the Romans with this gigantic phrase: “Grace and Peace to you.” Those two concepts address the existential questions troubling every heart.
Grace
Readers of Romans are not goaded to find peace, as if it were at the end of some obstacle course as a prize or reward for accomplishments. Peace is imparted as a gift. And that is the meaning of grace. Grace gives what we cannot earn. Our response to grace is often downright disbelief. We cannot fathom how we can possibly be given such a spectacular present. It is too good to be true. So we ask, correctly, “Is this a hoax?”
“Mow the lawn,” says a younger sister. “Who says?” is the belligerent retort. Should I act on the information or can I simply ignore it? “Dad says!” brings an immediate obedience. “I say!” would bring a sneering jeer of contempt.
“Grace and Peace to you.” “Who says?”
The Apostle says, and he has provided ample evidence that he has been commissioned by God to be His direct spokesman, therefore God says.
Peace
Distill every desire in your heart, and the residue will be peace. We crave it for our world, our neighborhood, our families and our hearts.
How will we achieve peace, this universally intense desire?
Two solutions come to mind:
The first is daunting.
Work for it. Organize and invest and strive and labor. Understand the system of rewards and punishments and work hard to enjoy peace as a reward. The trouble is that many things are beyond my control. Life requires co-operation and some that I need may be dancing to different music. Others are inept and keep treading on my toes. Circumstances often dictate nasty twists of destiny, and inner turmoil is generated by emotions that I cannot always control. Peace is an eel with a soaped skin. Just when I think I have a grip on it, it slithers out of my grasp.
The second is delightful.
Peace is a gift. Peace is not at the mercy of emotions, other people or circumstances. It is not an onward search, promoted by self-effort. It is the result of a relationship with God, the gift of his friendship. Security and satisfaction are nowhere else to be found. It cannot be engineered. So the promise of Christ is different to popular conceptions. “Peace I give unto you … not as the world gives,” he says. He promises it and also provides it. It is there for the taking. How do you accept a gift of friendship? With gratitude you accept the invitation to walk and talk together.
Notice once more how Paul phrases the concept. He does not exhort us to obtain peace. It is an impartation of grace and not an incitement. He can only do that because peace is the gift that grace bestows. Life with all its sin and strain is in constant interplay with grace that leads to peace. Without the stress and pain there could be no appreciation of the grace of peace. The greater the stress, the more we lean on him and the deeper our friendship becomes.
Reflections
In what areas of your life are you struggling with the enjoyment of peace?
How have you sought to find peace in the past? How successful have you been?
When offered a gift that is non-tangible, how do you go about accepting it?
Does the offer constitute the enjoyment of the gift, or is there some responsibility for the recipient to exercise?
We recently attended Caversham Evangelical Church in the UK. Pastor Bruce Jenkins gave an extraordinary exposition of Psalm 100.
One phrase was not explicitly addressed, “We are the people of his pasture.” I discussed it with him over lunch, and he reflected on a book by a genuine shepherd turned theologian, who commented that as a shepherd he kept watch over the pasture from a vantage point, with binoculars and a rifle. He saw and shot dangers of which the sheep had no inkling! They grazed with contented security. I have let this occupy my mind, chewing the cud like a cow, meditating day and night:
1. Jesus has the binocs out, scouting for danger, ready to respond even when we are not aware of danger. (Like the chained lions in “Pilgrim’s Progress”; or Bach composing, “Sheep may safely graze ..”
2. But more, It is HIS pasture, so it provides the perfect toxic free, (organic is the mod word), grazing – pleasurable joyfulness and free abandon to the abundance in the meadow. “Or, as the Hebrew may be rendered, the flock of his feeding, whom he takes care of and provides for. He that made us, maintains us, and gives us all things richly to enjoy.” (Barnes’ Notes)
3. And also, poetically, the sheep graze on Him! We feed on His word. Consider the lush grass of the pasture in Gill’s Exposition: “… we are his people; by choice and covenant; by his Father’s gift, and his own purchase; and by the power of his grace, bringing to a voluntary surrender and subjection to him; even the Gentiles particularly, who were not his people, but now his people, 1 Peter 2:9”
The hymn by William Kethe, “All People that on earth do dwell… ” sets the Psalm to music. It has the line, “Him serve with mirth, His praise forthtell”. Pastor Jenkins underscored the element of joy throughout the Psalm, and then pointed out that the word “mirth” was changed somewhere in time, because “mirth” was considered too flippant. So many hymnals today have the line “Him serve with fear.” But the Psalm has this bright element of mirth about it! The word “mirth” comes from the Old English word “myrgth” or “myrth,” which means “joy, pleasure, or gladness.” “Psalm 100:1 consists of but a single clause, and is like the signal blast of a trumpet,” (Expositors’ Bible Commentary) like a herald opening a celebration. Jesus said, My burden is light, and talked about our joy being full. And what is more delightful than good company that cheers the heart, mirthful company!
God hosts mirthful company!
What a wonderful thought! God hosts mirthful reunions! Pointing beyond the painful experiences of Job (38:7) is this mirth inducing phrase about the act of creation: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” verse 1 of Psalm 100 exhorts us, literally, “Make a joyful shout”. There is an air of jubilation in the phrase that carries throughout the Psalm.
The verb “Make” is an imperative. It is not a suggestion but a command that requires active participation. The noise is to be joyful.
Celebrations are noisy. Consider how an audience reacts when their team takes the lead in a sports competition – the stadium erupts.
We enjoyed an evening in England with good, long-standing friends. The evening was anything but sedate! We laughed out loud with joyful memories in a free for all, rowdy reunion. It was mirthful. That is what Psalm 100 calls us to, with God Himself as the host.
There is marrow in the bone, you can access some more of it here:
War, terrorism, refugees, famine, climate change, political polarity, shootings, road rage, dictators, (insert your own nightmares here) all tangled up in our consciousness like roots in mangrove swamp, \making our walk torturous and dangerous.
Inside of me is a resigned paralysis. I am bewildered, not just by the outward circumstances, but by the murmuring of my anxious heart that seems arrhythmic right now, and worse, by the strong, even violent, unChristlike thoughts and emotions that overwhelm me at times.
I responded: “No. But a great idea! I will start thinking about it. I think it’s a process of resting in God every time the anxiety registers at a conscious level. I mean deliberately and then persisting. You got any ideas? Some scriptures spring to mind: Phil 4 (be anxious for nothing); 1 Peter (casting all your care on Him); Can you by thought add a cubit to your stature – consider the lilies (Jesus in Sermon on Mount). Maybe something on how to love them that hate you as well as those who distress you. How to turn worry into relaxed concern? “
Inside of me is a resigned paralysis. I am bewildered, not just by the outward circumstances, but by the murmuring of my anxious heart that seems arrhythmic right now, and worse, by the strong, even violent, unChristlike thoughts and emotions that overwhelm me at timesJoan Kruger wrote: “So Anton, have you thought about doing a series on how to let go of one’s rising anxiety level during this election? Would help a whole lot of people!”
Joan: “You made me laugh. What really got me going was the Habakkuk study. Totally paraphrasing. God why aren’t you doing anything with these evil people. God, I’m using them to bring you back to me. And guess what, you ain’t seen anything yet. My point is more that God is using the world’s turmoil for our good and to advance His kingdom but turmoil, even for our good, can be painful.””
So with Joan as a collaborator, here we go.
A Map of the Journey
Entering a wilderness without a map is lunacy. It is dangerous lunacy, survival is at stake.
It is my prayer that these articles will provide a map so that we can gain insight and grow. I do not think we will ever fully understand, always seeing through glass, coated with sticky smoke from the wildfires, until we see Him Face to face in glory, but distress is dealt with in numerous ways that will hopefully provide secure stepping stones through the quicksands.
Let’s keep our concentration on these scriptural stones.
Habakkuk says he rushed to the Temple to await God’s response, and Asaph the Psalmist was deeply distressed by the prosperity of the wicked until … he entered the temple:
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, (not sure pure of heart) my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply…
… UNTIL
Until … I entered the sanctuary of God (Psalm 73 NIV)
Always, The First Response, Always
Set the problem to one side, and go straight into the Presence of God. He will enable you “to be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This is so important, because it immediately changes the context, putting the issue into the background and God in the forefront. Now the problem is no longer free to float in the frame of your life with its limitations, but is placed in the orbit of God’s infinite care. You can heave a sigh of relief and let go while you figure out the next step with your Heavenly Guide navigating the map of God’s Word.
HINDS FEET ON HIGH PLACES
Earlier Habakkuk said:
“ … will climb up to my watchtower
and stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says
and how he[a] will answer my complaint.” (Hab 2:1 NLT)
concludes in a similar way:
YET
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights. (Hab 3:18 NLT)
Life is not lived from an armchair, it is a journey, sometimes in a jolting stagecoach through rough terrain with masked bandits committing life threatening hold ups.
A map with an experienced guide is getting the best of two worlds.
May these meditations be like oasis’ on the map, and may the Holy Spirit be your guide.
I laughed out loud when I saw a plaque in the entrance hall of a friend’s house, “I am the boss in this house, and I have my wife’s permission to say so.”
HARMONY
Men and Women in This Biblical Perspective
I laughed out loud when I saw a plaque in the entrance hall of a friend’s house, “I am the boss in this house, and I have my wife’s permission to say so.” Upon reflection, however, it is no laughing matter. It is actually very sad. If taken at face value without the twinkle in the eye, it says there is a game being played.
The game “I’ll pretend to be the boss,” has the corollary, “I’ll play along and manipulate you.” She may pretend to be a devoted follower, but any astute observer is immediately aware of the game being played. Clare Luce expressed it succinctly: “The great trick in diplomacy is to let some unwitting man think your idea is his idea, and women have been doing that all their lives.”
In many situations the woman in a marriage is obviously in control, yet both husband and wife pay lip service to male leadership as a biblical principle. What makes these scenarios worse is that this false relationship is perpetuated in the name of God, and is not only defended but also actually promoted as God-honoring. It takes the twinkle out of the eye.
The consuming question is: Why is this pathetic, nonsense perpetuated? And in “many other silly situations, for example, women may teach on the mission field but not in their home churches, as if heathen men were not men.
Genesis Chapter 3 explains it in an allegory .
Allegory
ChatGPT scoured the literature and defines it: “An allegory is a literary device or artistic technique in which abstract ideas, moral principles, or complex concepts are conveyed through a narrative or story that operates on both a literal and symbolic level. In an allegory, characters, settings, and events are often used to represent broader themes, often with the intention of imparting a moral, political, philosophical, or social message.
Allegories are commonly found in literature, art, and even everyday expressions. They enable creators to communicate profound ideas in a more accessible and engaging manner, as the symbolic elements help the audience relate to and understand the underlying meaning.”
An allegory makes use of parables, symbols and metaphors. It enables deeper understanding of complex issues. In John 15 Jesus does not just tell us to be good followers. He invites us into deep communion by using the allegory of a vine producing grapes. He is the vine, His Father is the vine-dresser, his disciples are branches. They are pruned for fruitfulness, they require attachment, non-producing “runners”, new growth that will grow wildly, sap energy and be non-productive are ruthlessly pruned. All this opens the door to discover the joy and pain of love and of discipleship.
Jesus likens Himself as a Shepherd, a Sower, a Bridegroom, a Door, a Cornerstone, a Vine, Light, Bread, and Water. The kingdom of heaven has many enriching metaphors to describe it; a wedding feast, a seed, a tree, a field, a net, a pearl, and yeast. Each one of them expands our understanding and invites us to explore..
The Bible contains dozens of other symbols.
There is a simple way to distinguish a literal meaning from a figurative one: if the literal meaning of a passage leads to obvious absurdity, but a figurative meaning yields clarity, then the passage is probably using symbols. For example, Isaiah 40:31 promises “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles.”
These all enrich our understanding by engaging with us more intensely. Instead of stating a truth for us to learn by rote, to pass a multiple choice test, to check a box, we are led to contemplate, explore, compare and probe. Spiritual truth that is mere intellectual knowledge leads to self righteous pride rather than thrilling discovery.
In Genesis chapter 3 there is a talking snake that God consigns to slither on its belly, a tree whose fruit symbolizes The Knowledge of Good and Evil and a tree whose fruit symbolizes Everlasting Life. The episode is exploring the temptation, male and female relationships, the different approaches of men and women to relationships (“Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” – the Roman gods of war and love – was a bestseller), isolation, alienation, chauvinism and feminism. The list is not exhaustive! Our allegory sets the stage for humanity.
Genesis 2:21-3:7
21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 And the LordGod fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.23 Then the man said,
“At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
The Fall of Mankind
3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”4 The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings. (New American Standard Bible)
Expanding Genesis 3 as Allegory
Now come along with me as we visit the garden where the woman that God created to live in harmony with Him and the man is about to encounter an enticing stranger. Using our imagination to uncover the thoughts, words, actions and motivations in play, we can deepen our understanding of what happened and its catastrophic consequences for God’s creation and all mankind:
The man and woman are enjoying the beauty of the garden, admiring its plants, enjoying the various animals, and humming to herself about the glory of Paradise. “Ahem”, says a voice from a bush beside the path. They pause and look around to see a beautiful snake sitting on a limb, its claws gripping the branch like a bird on a twig.
“Oh, hello! How nice to see you!” she exclaims the woman. “How are you!”
“Well,” he says with his forked tongue darting hither and thither, “I was thinking about what a wonderful place we live in, and a random question popped into my head. We may eat of all the fruit of the lush trees in the garden? What about that one with the delicious looking fruit right in the middle? We must leave it to rot? Really? It looks so juicy and flavorful! The prohibition really spoils the enjoyment.”
She laughed. “Of course we are free to eat it, but God said not to eat it because it is actually poisonous. Even touching it is fatal.”
The snake shook his head from side to side as he hissed conspiratorially, “That is an outright fabrication! Are you interested in the real reason?” He winked at her as if to say “This is confidential insider information that I am sharing with you.”
She nodded uncertainly, dubious that God would lie. Wouldn’t it be treason to even suggest it?
The snake, sensing her hesitation uncoiled another loop of his body and whispered in her ear, “That’s ludicrous, of course you won’t die! The real reason is that God is robbing you of something so delicious it will leave your senses reeling. Do you know what it is?” he said, knowing that by teasing her like this he stoked her curiosity.
She nodded for him to proceed.
“The fact is,” the snake lisped in a velvety voice, as if he was an innocent child, “The fact is,” he repeated it for emphasis, “that it will give you a greater awareness of the beauty of our garden! Your eyes will be open to things only God knows. You will be able to decide for yourself what is good and what is bad. You will be able to choose as you please. Just think, He will no longer make demands of you. He is bossing you around with this silly rule. He wants to prevent your full experience and enjoyment of a full and abundant life.” He snorted derisively, “Death! How pathetic.”
She was filled with uncertainty, looked bewildered and turned her body sideways towards the tree, her body-language indicating she was uncertain about the invitation.
But it all sounded rather convincing, so she reached up tentatively and touched one of the fruit dangling enticingly right in front of her, a quick stab with her index finger. It looked so delicious and maybe it was true, maybe she would gain a new world of knowledge that was being denied her, find a new level of wisdom, become her own boss.
The tempter saw that he had managed to prompt her to use her freedom to deceive herself into thinking that she could defy God and more fully enjoy life by being her own boss, and that she could get away with it. So the snake upped the ante:
“You see!” cried the snake! “You didn’t die! I told you God was having you on! Go on, eat it! You have just experienced being your own boss by doing it!”
The serene exchange took a vicious turn. His slit eyes narrowed even further: “So, how do you like God exercising bossdom? He lied when he said you would die if you touched it, and it’s outrageous that God would deny you an abundant life. Simply outrageous! Take control, be your own boss! You have proved God cannot harm you, the threats are merely manipulative to control you.”
“Will it really make me as wise as God, all knowing?” she thought.
The snake stretched out further, aware that she was on the point of agreeing, “Yes, you will be your own god! It’s the absolute truth. Trust me, and trust your own common sense. You will be free to live as you please without these annoying restrictions.” There was a subtle suggestion that God was imposing a host of restrictions, that He was a crabby killjoy.
So she plucked the fruit and sank her teeth into it. Flavor exploded in her mouth and juice dribbled down her chin. It was spectacular, so she ate the whole thing. Then she plucked another fruit, handing it to the man, said, “This is fantastic! And see, I am not dead! Try it!” Without another thought, enticed by the opportunity of pleasure, and beguiled by the promise of a new freedom, he took and ate it and agreed wholeheartedly it was the nicest fruit in the garden.
Like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky, it hit them! They had disobeyed God! What would he think? More importantly, what would he do? The reality began to sink in, they had defied God. It was blatant and they had no defense to offer. Up till now their friendship with God had been harmonious, nothing hidden, intimate even. For the first time they felt they had something to hide, as if they were naked.
There were no excuses for what they had blatantly done and like naive children caught out in a deliberate lie, they thought up something completely ludicrous and feeble.
The woman suggested tentatively, “We could try and hide our shame? Let’s use fig leaves. . .”
The man retorted with annoyance, “That’s really pathetic, even childish.” It was the first time that they disagreed.
“I know, I know – It’s feeble,” replied the woman tartly, “but have you got any other wise guy suggestions?” There was another new emotion too, the unsettling sensation, almost like vertigo, a disorientation caused by the squabble.
As they were completing the task, they heard God coming down the path. “Quick!” exclaimed the man in an urgent whisper, “You take that bush and I’ll hide behind this one.” They skittered into hiding.
They previously looked forward to walking with God, straining to hear His voice, delighting in the time of intimate communion. Now they hid, ran away. There was glory in the relationship, now shame made them run and hide. Shame entered the human condition as a permanent fixture.
“Hey Buddy! Where are you?” called God cheerily.
There was a rustling of branches and the man replied sheepishly from behind his bush, “I heard you, I was afraid and I was naked, so I hid.”
Four times he talks of himself, “I heard, I was afraid, I was naked, I hid”. Egoism is now the axis of his life.
“Aah! That’s it! You ate from the tree that was forbidden! You wanted to be The Boss. You wanted to go into the god-business for yourself, eh?”
The man was ready for this accusation so he said bitterly with a sideways accusation of God, “Well, I was doing just fine till you gifted me that woman,” he spat the words “that woman” out distastefully. “She’s shameful, she’s the one you should blame! She picked it and handed it to me. I am not responsible.” He raised his hands, palms out, shaking his head, in an attempt to signal he was merely obeying orders.
God had lost all trace of cheer by now, and he frowned as he confronted the woman, “Have you any idea what you have done! Who put you up to it?” They had never seen him frown before, and they felt a deepening sense of alienation. It felt like something really significant changed inside of them, something they would later identify as a sort of death. Their relationship with God was dead, the harmony they had enjoyed with him was shattered and they experienced his disappointment and anger as sharp shards of glass piercing the peace they had enjoyed. Dodging responsibility by blaming and shaming remains the basic instinct among the guilty to this day.
The snake was watching all this with growing satisfaction. She pointed to him, “There he is! He’s the one who bewitched me, and under his spell I ate the fruit.”
Disappointment and frustration cloudied his usually welcoming demeanor, as the man and women were about to experience another aspect of their loving God in His role as Judge.
He shook his head in disbelief, then said to the snake, “You are singled out among all the animals and cursed to grovel in the dust on your belly. From now on the woman and her children will be your enemy.”
God thought for a moment, and a look, a bit like the welcoming smile of a new day dawning on an east facing beach, softened his features. “But I am not giving up on my image bearers: the snake bit my ankle, but one of her children will crush his head.
When the time is right, I will send a Redeemer to solve this problem and restore our relationship at great cost to Us”
Turning to the woman he predicted, “There are unfortunate consequences to your disobedience. As a result of getting out of step with the man, you will have deep longings for the harmony you have enjoyed, but he is physically stronger and he is going to deepen this severance by bossing you around. The children born to you will cause you pain – you will labor in birthing them and ever be pierced with pain over them. What you initiated, they will manifest – they will have the same streak of independent rebelliousness. You will experience, to a degree, the pain I have endured due to your disobedience. You will experience the pain of having children who disobey you, and who are strong willed to go against your wisdom. Family life will involve ongoing conflict. His supremacy is neither a divine right nor a male prerogative, and your subordination is neither divine decree nor female destiny. It is all the result of this dreadful rebellion and disobedience that ripped the fabric of your unity to tatters. Bossiness is the new order of society and you will feel it most. Consequently, your strong character and willfulness will come to the fore, and you will resist and want your own share of bossiness”
Then he turned to the man and predicted, “You listened to her reasoning and followed her example and ate the fruit. In the new world of being your own boss, as the physically stronger, you will win the struggle but she will naturally resist. I am expelling you from the Paradise you enjoyed, and now you will have to work for existence. It’s going to take sweat and cause tears for your daily sustenance. There will be weeds to eradicate and thorns will tear your skin.”
God paused for the reality to sink in. The relationship was no longer intimate, it was actually hostile.
“I said you would die if you ate the fruit, and you are now dead people walking – I molded you from clay and you will return to dust. This looming physical death is accompanied by banishment from my presence, a spiritual death, and by hostility between you and the woman, a psychic death that includes a divided self – you are going to perplex over your existence and often be at odds with yourself.”
Adam turned viciously on the woman. “I welcomed you with jubilation as a companion and we lived in joyful harmony, but your actions prove you need ruling. So just like the animals, I am going to exercise my authority over you. I called you woman when I first saw you, now I am deliberately naming you. You are Eve, the mother of our children.”
Then God took pity on their vulnerability, and tailored clothes for them made of animal skins, a sure token that He had not given up on them.
And God added, expelling them, “You have dethroned Us and each of you now occupies a throne of your own choice. Ego will become the axis on which each of your worlds revolve, like a grinding wheel generating sparks. You are banished from Paradise because to live forever by eating the fruit of the tree of life would be unbearable.”
As they bed down outside the barricaded gates of Paradise, it is easy to imagine the hostility that bristles as the reality of the situation sinks in. Looking with longing at Paradise forever lost, the flaming swords waving to underscore the finality of the situation, the man on the hard ground, pricked by thorns under his own bush furiously scolds the woman, “Look where you have landed us you blankety-blank-blank!” The famous St Elmo’s Fire, the lightning caused by static electricity evident in volcanic eruptions, crackles and darts in the fury of his angry face. Some choice words to express these new thoughts and emotions were undoubtedly used for the first time by both of them.
Now the air becomes opaque with volcanic pumice stone from the erupting volcano and not only is harmony shattered, but hostility, like razor wire in a concentration camp separates them.
Continental Drift Has Consequences
According to the American Museum of Natural History, earth originally had a single huge landmass, named Pangaea by geologists. “This gigantic continent slowly broke apart and spread out to form the continents we know today.”
Male and Female were created as continents contiguous with God. The great rift into distinct tectonic plates occurred with their assertion of themselves as boss, a repudiation of God as Boss. Now God, male and female are distinct continents, drifting and bumping, grinding and, when the friction becomes really intense, erupting.
There are remarkable differences between the confession of the man and the woman:
The man blames God and the woman does not.
The man blames her, but she does not implicate him.
The woman introduced the antagonism, destroying the harmony between man and woman, and now the man promotes it.
This power struggle will define history. Even the joy of motherhood will have painful moments of disharmony. She will long for intimacy and he will be set on conquest.
It is a remarkably accurate metaphor of human reality.
This telling differs from the traditional approach in two important details:
1 The creation is not male centered with the woman helping the man fulfill his destiny. It is God-centered with male and female given joint dominion as stewards of God, made in the image of the Divine Community to fulfill God’s purposes.
2 God does not PRESCRIBE male domination; he DESCRIBES the consequences of their disobedience. To the strongest belongs the victory.
Lucifer, the Snake
The man rationalizes and justifies himself. Ego is prominent. Four times he talks of himself, “I heard, I was afraid, I was naked, I hid”. These are new negative feelings and destructive passions. Until now ego has been the servant of community, working in harmony that satisfies.
In the book of Isaiah Lucifer seeks to be like the Most High, and also refers to himself multiple times:
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’ Isaiah 14:12-14
“I will” dominates the monolog of Lucifer, The repetition of the personal pronoun is repeated by Adam in a striking way.
Concluding Observations
The snake, or Lucifer, or Satan, or the Devil, is now “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4); he continues to hold humans captive to do his will (Ephesians 2:1-3, 1 Timothy 2:26), blinding humanity to their dilemma and wreaking havoc in the earth. Critically, this is the rationale of The Book of Revelation, where the havoc is played out in apocalyptic terms and the triumph of Christ the Lamb is played out in another allegory of history..
He continues his beguiling deception, promising life but delivering suffering and pain, tragedy and terror. His deceit is so cunning that while he visits calamity as the reigning god, freely chosen, the world continues to believe that God is the author of the devastation. Therefore it is a common, almost universal practice, to exclaim, “How could God have allowed this to happen!”
Neither the man nor the woman is cursed. The ground is cursed because of them. If they were cursed, the following words, “you will rule over her”, would be prescriptive and their fulfillment would be mandatory. Since there is no curse upon them, the consequence of their sin is predicted. Ego, in allegiance with the cursed serpent, will behave in a predictable way.
The original paradigm of harmony is a thing of the past. The new reality of hierarchy is in force. Male will dominate and woman will want equal status.
Ego is a puppet king with “his turf” to protect. His real sovereign is the serpent Lucifer.
Prescriptive or Descriptive?
This is a crucial question. If it is the pronouncement of a sentence, then women must bear it and men are empowered to rule over their wives.
Not Prescribing
It cannot be God prescribing a new law of existence, since two women, Deborah and Huldah, are appointed by God himself and lead. Significantly, there is no comment or censure of them. (Their stories are explored in the next chapter.)
Describing Dead Men Walking
God describes, as He had warned, what inevitably is going to happen. Verses 14-19 are not judgments; they are not commands for structuring life. They explain the consequences of what happened and expound the new reality: life will now be a burden. They are now fallen creatures and this is what it is going to be like living under the newly chosen authority:
First, in relationships, the power struggle commences;
Second, in nature, thorns and thistles replace friendly benevolence;
Third, spiritual communion is shattered – angels with flaming swords enforce alienation.
They now assert their individual rights over each other. “Who’s the boss?” becomes the primary consideration. The altered Ego insists on its rights.
Death Becomes Destiny
The moment the woman disobeyed God, in that instant death was human destiny. Existence itself took on a deathly pallor:
– Negative emotions like fear, anger, anxiety, shame and guilt shape the psyche;
– Strife replaces harmony;
– Hiding from God takes the place of walking with God;
– The life lived in free abandon becomes covert;
– Shame, hiding and covering up are “natural”;
– Safety is replaced with insecurity;
– Communion is replaced with isolation;
– Loneliness is a tormenting dominance;
– Security is replaced with anxiety;
– The ego becomes narcissistic;
– An aching heart replaces a fulfilled life;
– “Who’s the boss” is the dominant human quest;
– Our Friend is our Judge.
Any one of these consequences even individually is a disaster. Combined, even in the least degree, it is a catastrophe. This devastating reality is made worse since it is accepted as the new normal.
It is a powerful metaphor addressing the inadequacy and impotency of human solutions.
The act of rebellion impacts life at its Source:
– God the giver became the God of withholding;
– Communion with God, the author of freedom, was exchanged for the bondage of Satan, the deceiver;
– Human autonomy was asserted over the benign divine benevolence;
– They exercised their independence from God and their existence became an ordeal;
– A life of joy was exchanged for hard labor;
– Communion was exchanged for the loneliness of isolation;
– Harmony was replaced with a pecking order;
-Peace was exchanged for hostile alienation.
They face harsh and dangerous conditions; the universe has turned hostile and is out to get them. They are in mortal danger and need armor, but they make clothes out of fig leaves. This “covering” of leaves underscores the human predicament and at the same time prefigures the atonement, Christ providing the covering of his own righteousness to hostile sinners. Interestingly, this cloak of righteousness comes through the seed of the woman. (Genesis 3:15).
The Richter scale would be inadequate to calculate the magnitude of the earthquake that fractured the human race when allegiance was given to the Devil. Gender relationships underwent a tectonic shift. The physically stronger male tightened his grip with increasing restrictions; over time women were progressively repressed until the position was institutionalized. The subordination of women from that moment was like a snowball plunging down a mountain, momentum gathering with accelerating force.
The Redeemer
God does not abandon the cause, He promises deliverance. Grace and mercy are expressed at the outset. The promise of a Redeemer who will crush the head of the serpent is given. From the seed of the woman will come One speaking words of life, and those who hear them will pass from death into life (John 5:24). Those who are buried with Him in baptism will walk with him in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
He has pity and provides for us when our own efforts are laughable.
Christ Redeems our Relationships
Servitude was inevitable when the man pointed a finger at the woman and accused God of giving him a wayward partner. The woman was wayward; waywardness needs to be disciplined: and the man would provide it.
Christ redeems these relationships. Those filled with the Holy Spirit practice mutual submission, a wonderful working definition of harmony. (Ephesians 5:18- 31):
The wife submits in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, out of reverence for Christ, with a joyful sense of vocation, and not out of fear of her husband or because of societal binding.
The husband submits, also with a joyful sense of vocation. His sacrificial love is informed by the action of Christ Himself in humbling Himself to the obedience of a slave, not even shrinking from death by crucifixion in the pursuit of his love.
The power struggle ends as each considers, “How, in the full communion with the Holy Spirit, and in the redemption that promotes full harmony, can we mirror the Tri-unity?”
Mapping the Journey
The image bearers shattered the mirror and now reflect a different reality. God was dethroned and allegiance given to the devil. As a result King Ego ascended the throne with malicious consequences. All of life operates on new principles – “every man for himself” is the battle cry.
In the next chapter, the rest of the Old Testament is explored; strong women are appointed by God Himself and are outstanding leaders. As expected in a world dominated by men, they are rare. And since it is not prescribed as a new law to govern life, women leaders are completely acceptable and there is not the slightest hint of censure.
I looked at the nurse checking me in for cataract surgery with bemusement – why she was asking questions related to the elderly. Why was she doing that? Then I recalled – I fit the category. I am “elderly”, a euphemism for “old”.
After watching my family leap off a forty foot cliff into clear cool water, I lamented the inability to do certain things. I would have jumped with alacrity but getting out of the water and back up required dexterity over slippery rocks. My hip replacements held me back. My surgeon warned me to break or dislocate them would require a more complicated surgery with increased risks. So I watched them with real pleasure. And frustration. One grandchild retorted in annoyance: “Aging is purely mental – you are as old as you choose to be!”
I replied, “I wish someone would let my body know: my forgettery improves every day, I had retinal surgery on my left eye followed by the implantation of a plastic lens, I have Barrett’s esophagus, a hernia repair, diverticulitis and two titanium hips. I struggle to put on my socks and tie my shoe laces.”
There was merriment all round.
In the light of this process called aging that at times causes me resentment, I found John O’Donohue’s insight refreshing, rewarding and enables me to celebrate this stage of life.
“In the autumntime of your life, your experience is harvested. This is a lovely backdrop against which we can understand aging. Aging is not merely about the body losing its poise, strength, and self-trust. …
In actual fact, if you can come to see aging not as the demise of your body but as the harvest of your soul, you will learn that aging can be a time of great strength, poise, and confidence. To understand the harvest of your soul against the background of seasonal rhythm should give you a sense of quiet delight at the arrival of this time in your life. It should give you strength and a sense of how the deeper belonging of your soul-world will be revealed to you.” (in “Anam Cara”)
“Your experience is harvested.” Savour the thought and enjoy your expanded soul.
A good portion of a Pastor’s service is to be with people in distress. Visiting in the hospital and in homes where folks were seriously ill, calling on the newly bereaved, talking to those wrestling in personal relationships, those with pink slips and few job prospects, calming disgruntled church members, as examples.
I generally felt a small grumble of complaint in my mind about these encounters, I was unqualified, inadequate, unwilling. So there was always the sighing instant prayer to God; “Unless you go before me and with me, I will not go.” The thing of wonder is that the reluctant servant always came away with a deep sense of satisfaction, humming a little tune of joy.
I was involved with a family that had a member in a Care Facility with Frontotemporal Dementia. The patient would be uncontrollable every morning, screaming and thrashing around in deep distress. Then as the husband stepped out of the elevator he sang a hymn. She instantly calmed down and was settled for the rest of the day. One special hymn was “What a friend we have in Jesus.”
I saunter with two friends on a regular basis. We amble and ramble while we go flaneuring. I recently checked with them to confirm our ramble and got this response:
ChatGPT explains the concept:
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that represents the intersection of four elements, each contributing to a fulfilling and meaningful life. The word “ikigai” itself is a combination of two Japanese words: “iki,” meaning life, and “gai,” meaning worth or value. The concept is often depicted as a Venn diagram with four overlapping circles, and the areas where these circles intersect is considered one’s “ikigai.”
The four elements of Ikigai are:
What you love (Passion): This is what you enjoy doing and what brings you joy and fulfillment. It’s about identifying your interests and the activities that make you lose track of time.
What you are good at (Vocation): This involves recognizing your skills, talents, and strengths. It’s about understanding what you excel in and what comes naturally to you.
What the world needs (Mission): Consideration of the needs of others and the world around you. It involves finding a purpose that contributes positively to society, whether on a small or large scale.
What you can be paid for (Profession): This element involves identifying the activities for which people are willing to pay you. It is about finding a way to make a living while aligning with your passions and skills.
The intersection of these four elements is your Ikigai, representing a balance and harmony between what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Achieving Ikigai is seen as a path to a meaningful, purposeful, and satisfying life.
It’s worth noting that Ikigai is not a static concept; it can evolve and change over time as people’s passions, skills, and life circumstances change. The pursuit of Ikigai is a continuous journey of self-discovery and adaptation.
Reflecting on all this brought joy and gratitude to me. Just as there is “an American Dream”, there is a “Disciples Dream” – A Venn diagram that best represents it – ikigai within the embrace of our Magnificent Creator. My own growth as an individual has been entirely within the context of an intimate relationship with the Tri-Unity, who is God.
I was involved, as a Pastor, with a family that had a member in a Care Facility with Frontal Temporal Dementia. She would be uncontrollable every morning, screaming and thrashing around in terrible distress. Then her husband would step out of the elevator and sing a hymn. One special one was “What a friend we have in Jesus.” She instantly calmed down and was settled for the rest of the day.
Has my life counted for anything? I will be remembered for a short span after I die. My great grandchildren will maybe do a bit of research … just maybe … and then . . . obscurity.
I recall once walking out of a visit with a man who had advanced Alzheimers. He smiled and listened and nodded, but never initiated any conversation. As I left, I sighed deeply. Did the visit matter? He would not remember it, and no one else who cared knew about my visit and I was not one to tell them lest they think I was seeking applause. Was there any point in repeating my bi-weekly visits? A friend who headed up the local Alzheimer’s Association said, with some heat, “But you enlightened him in the moment! That is an eternity of time for him!”
Then I recalled, God lives in the eternal NOW. He has no past, present or future, only now. That is because He is, as the Creator, outside of the universe, and therefore outside of our linear sequence of time. I refreshed my resolve to live in the Eternal Now with Him.
Even when I wasn’t constantly aware of God’s unwavering presence, living in the Eternal Now meant “He knew the path” and was a silent companion on the journey. It is impossible to calculate the impact of His unseen Presence, and I know that, once we get the full picture, the knowledge of His action in the unfolding of our lives will astonish us.
Christian Wiman wrote in the Quarterly Magazine Plough, “Ifs Eternally”: “The revelation we want – or at any rate the revelation we need – is not ultimate, but intimate. Who could guess that one of life’s most piercing discoveries would be a kind of edgeless entropy, this feeling – or is it a lack of feeling? – slowly creeping into all the crannies of your consciousness, a kind of claustrophobic panic that neither the events of your life, nor the people therein, nor the whole “million-petaled flower of being here” have added up to anything at all? What is the final revelation that life grants you? That there will be no final revelation.”
And he quotes Melville from Moby Dick:
‘There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause: – through infancy’s unconscious spell, boyhood’s thoughtless faith, adolescence’s doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood’s pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally.
—Herman Melville, Moby-Dick.
And he concludes
“What one wants as one grows older is some assurance that between the endless errands that crush the soul and the sudden warbler that ignites it, between the bills and births and meals and funerals, all the graces and losses of any life attended to no matter how erratically or imperfectly – under it all there must exist some intact tissue of meaning. Not meaning such as one might fully articulate or grasp, but a deep instinctive sense, an assurance, that in the “incorrigibly plural” swirl of life there abides some singularity of being, however fleeting its presence:”
Joseph Heller, in God Knows has King David say: “Who would have thought back then that a king like me might someday find himself embarrassed by hemorrhoids and an enlarged prostate, or that one with so hale and suspicious a beginning would eventually lapse into moldering spells of solitary depression and anxiety? Who needs it? Who can stand it? Desire has failed. I get up with the crickets. I can’t keep awake and I can’t fall asleep. In the morning I wish it were evening, in the evening I wish it were dawn. “How a person feels at the end of his life will tell you about the quality of it all.”
“How a person feels at the end of his life will tell you about the quality of it all.”
Does my life matter? In the moment, amazingly, yes!
In all the moments, absolutely!
Our English teacher, affectionately, or maybe maliciously, known as Muff, at Capricorn High School in Pietersburg asked the question: “What is life?” The class was dumbstruck. I was 15 years old and had not even a hint of an answer. The question, however, tweaked my interest. He called on various students for an answer, and there was a lot of bumbling mumbling. His answer was, “Life is intensity of awareness.” That registered, and I resolved to practice it.
Resolved: Enhance the quality of life by being intensely aware in every moment, in every step: of the people, of nature , of events, of situations. And yes, most important of all, awareness of friendship, and the ultimate friendship with God.
“The revelation we have is not ultimate, but intimate.”
The similarities were eerie. New Brighton and Ferguson were both about 20 miles away from my place of domicile at the time. The pictures on TV were all reminiscent of Apartheid: police, armored cars, sirens, flashing lights, rocks thrown, tear gas fired, dogs and batons, people dragged into black paddy wagons. Black people demonstrated and it turned nasty, with looting and burning. I heard many statements that could have been made by an aficionado of Apartheid: “Looters have no respect for property”;“There are legal ways to address the issue”;“Why don’t they go get a job”, the very things I said at one stage of my journey. I felt contempt for these uncomprehending snobs who built a wall of Apartheid-like ignorance around their ivory towers. As South Africa kept whites in ignorance through the Nazi-like propaganda ploys, just so does privilege filter life through the lens of advantage. And that mires the privileged in arrogance.
There was also a rumbling of discontent that would not leave me in peace. There were issues that I had never dealt with, festering sores on the psyche that could only be resolved by lancing to relieve the pressure of decades of pus. I need to tell my story as a catharsis of my own sins, and maybe it will help another pilgrim. A college student once asked to interview me for a paper he was writing on Apartheid. Since I was born and lived under Apartheid in South Africa for over four decades, he thought I might add some zip to his research. His first question was: “Why is the study of Apartheid important?” My mind did a wheel spin. Exactly why was it important? I reflected and then replied: “Because the walls of Apartheid run through every human heart.”
That is what I mean when I say I was born a racist. That inborn tendency is like an addiction. It needs many steps to identify and act in order to be delivered from the addiction. The first implement required in the toolbox of an addict is a mirror. An addict not only lies to everyone but also is actually living a lie inasmuch as he does not think he has a problem. Ferguson was one such mirror that forced me into the realization that I was living in a paradox. Paradox is the examination of a subject from opposite extremes that appear illogical. Thus a new perspective develops, one that opens new horizons; true depth and rich color are thereby revealed. Learning to live with paradox is a constant necessity, and those extremists who insist on a pure black / white environment, cannot expand to enjoy the grey middle ground, where life is actually situated. I was a Pastor in an all-white church that was avowedly anti-racist, yet signs of racism were all around me. Incidents like the Ferguson riots shocked our church community, but generally the shock was momentary and public opinion soon prevaricated and “said let’s wait to her the full story, the police have a difficult and dangerous job,”
Then the process would take months and the agitation would die down and only the activists remembered.
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