Joy of Being

I have almost 12 posts in my drafts on the "Names of God" that I have been meditating on.... but the Lord is teaching me more and more in the discipline of 'Being'. Though, I have mentioned this elsewhere the state of being in the presence of the Lord is becoming very clear yet intensely paradoxical & mysterious to me...strange isn't it? I have mentioned the picture He has been

impressing me for a few months is that of Mary sitting astounded, enjoying and being in the lavishness of His presence. The state is not about doing, yet in a way it prepares for doing so much more.

The state is not just about wasting time but investing in what He is making and revealing you to become. God is a relational being and He always starts out with defining our relationship with Him; which means though we want our honey do lists be satisfied by Him, His first yearning for us is to be in Him and He in us; to be extravagantly loved in the identity He has called us into. The mystery just does not stop there but continues in the same marveling of the nature of who He is.

God is relational and His motive begins with love in relationships. I may not be making any sense here but the idea is paradoxical indeed, so much so that this state is what He was referring to in John Chapter 15. Imagine, how awful it would be for a wife and a husband if they only talked to him/her when they just wanted their needs met or a child only talks to the father when they want something. Our heavenly father wants us to have fellowship with us, His eternal purpose is in crafting this story to reveal His Son so that we might have fellowship in their love. He is not here to just meet our desires, goals and to do's He yearns for our fellowship and hence He purposefully and masterfully puts the divine hole in every being. And even in the ones that know Him intimately, the Lord's desire is to take them into a journey of infinite revelations of His Glory.

The Bible tell us Moses was acquainted and accustomed with the presence and the ways of Lord whereas Israel was only expectant to receive the next level of His miracles. Clearly, though a continuous transformation occurred in Moses life, his only desire was to be in and abide in the presence of the One who had called Him from the burning bush. During the 40 year journey Moses's relationship grows so intimate that the scriptures reveal that He talked to Him like a man talks to his friend. Moses reveals his desire that He would not move till the presence of the Lord moved with them. The joy of being is also the greatest leadership quality a person can have as abiding in the one who is wisdom itself, relying on the one who reveals and transforms situations, the one who goes before our enemies and the one who wants me and you to abide in forever in His goodness.

Blessings,

Sam

Names of God - "Elohim"

I am thinking of meditating for a while on the "Names of God" and re-living some research I have done in the past. I will make these posts concise devotionals and spend more time as the Holy Spirit wants me to live on the strength of His mighty name.

Today's concentration will be on the hebrew word "Elohim" - The Biblical writers used the singular verb 'Elohim' to express the equivalent in English  to say "Almighty God" and does not refer to anything specific. It is rather  difficult in any language to express the infinite God in anything else and contain Him in a name.  The jewish rabbis of the old very well knew this and thought it even unworthy to spell it out completely while writing it. The idea expressed is of the plural magnitude of the one who saved the children of Israel from bondage.

The wikipedia entry on Elohim has an interesting passage which may be enlightening to some but I suspect it encompasses this idea of trinity very much early in the life of the patriarchs. I paste here for your reference:

Jacob's ladder "gods were revealed" (plural) In the following verses Elohim was translated as God singular in the King James Version even though it was accompanied by plural verbs and other plural grammatical terms. Gen 35:7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed (plural verb) himself to him when he fled from his brother (Genesis 35:7, ESV) Here the Hebrew verb "revealed" is plural, hence: "the-gods were revealed". The Authorized Version wrongly translates: "God appeared unto him".[21] This is one of several instances where the Bible uses plural verbs with the name elohim.[22][23] [edit]The Divine Council of Elohim Marti Steussy in “Chalice Introduction to the Old Testament” discusses: “The first verse of Psalm 82: ‘Elohim has taken his place in the divine council.’ Here elohim has a singular verb and clearly refers to God. But in verse 6 of the Psalm, God says to the other members of the council, ‘You [plural] are elohim.’ Here elohim has to mean gods.” [24] Mark Smith referring to this same Psalm states in “God in Translation:…” “This psalm presents a scene of the gods meeting together in divine council…Elohim stands in the council of El. Among the elohim he pronounces judgment:…” [25] H. M. Stephenson in “Hulsean Lectures for…” (p14) discusses Jesus’ argument concerning this Psalm (82) in John 10:34-36 “And then, in answer to the charge of blasphemy, he (Jesus) replies ‘Is it not written in your Torah (viz in the Asaph Psalm xxxii) ‘I said Ye are gods? If he called them gods unto the word of God came, the Scripture cannot be broken.’ Now what is the force of this quotation ‘I said ye are gods.’ It is from the Asaph Psalm which begins ‘Elohim hath taken His place in the mighty assembly. In the midst of the Elohim He is judging.’” [26] That righteous humans ascend to become part of a council of holy gods/elohim composed of one-time mortals is a tenet also discussed in depth by Wade Cox[27][28] Michael S. Heiser[29][30] and Martha Helene Jones.[31] As such this use of elohim is recognized as distinctly different from YHVH/YHWH who, being infinite[32] has no image.[33] and who becomes the spirit of all the living.[34]

“Know therefore that Yahweh thy Elohim, he is Elohim, the faithful Elohim, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,” Deut. 7:9

For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
Psalm 97:7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

God is all powerful and He should be our first, the source and the beginning for everything.

Blessings & Shalom,

Sam Kurien