2507AFC021425 – Patiently hoping in the Lord.
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Jeremiah 17:5, 7 –
5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
Psalm 1:1-2 – (GNT) 1
1 Happy [Blessed] are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners
or join those who have no use for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
and they study it day and night.
1 Corinthians 15:19-20 (GNT) [1] – 19 If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world.
20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope! Happy Aloha Friday! This week I have been thinking about two BIG things: Hope and Obedience. We can take another look at something from a long time ago call The Circle of Hope. Let’s begin with Obedience. We all can be more comfortable obeying someone we trust, right? We can obey someone who is forcing us to do something, but it is reluctant obedience because of our disdain. It is much more natural to obey those whom we trust. Here are some thought on that:
- Obedience without understanding is fright.
- Obedience with understanding is trust.
- Obedience with trust is faith.
- Obedience with faith is righteousness.
- Obedience with righteousness is the foundation of Hope.
- Hope is the outcome of humble Love to the very end of everything.
Jeremiah tells us those who do not – will not – trust in the Lord are cursed, whereas those who do trust in the Lord are blessed. Their Trust is the outcome of Humble Love. Humble Love can be visualized like this: As Jesus carried the cross to Calvary, the entire world was on his back and he carried all of it – including us – to God his Father. It was more than those three terrible nails that held him fixed to the wood of the Cross. It was something much more powerful. It was Love. Jesus’ Love is Love which is humble unto the very end. Many martyrs have Loved humbly unto the end. Many parents have Loved unto the end despite tragic consequences of disobedience and betrayal of Love by their children.
Humble Love unto the end is a gift of Grace, and that gift is the seed from which Hope sprouts and bears fruit. Hope comes from humble Love because Hope is neither selfish nor proud. Indeed, Hope is selfless and humble. There is a Latin phrase, “Semper Idem, Semper Fidelis, Spes Numquam Deficit.” This means: “Always the same, always faithful, Hope never fails.” Hope is always the antecedent of Peace. Peace is the realization of Hope.
Remember that old aphorism “Where there’s life there’s Hope.”? Well, where there is Hope, there is also Peace because true Hope truly is always the same, always faithful, never broken by greed, or pride, or any other evil. Many seek Hope in religion like Simon the Pharisee (See Luke 7:36-50) who felt his own righteous compliance with The Law justified is judgment against those whose sins he deemed greater than his. Religion can show us the effects of humble Love until the end, but only Hope can help us Live like that. Humble Love seeks only to give Love because Love that is freely given always returns, and that is a lot to Hope for. If we look back at 1 Corinthians 15:20, we will see the word “guarantee.” Belovéd, my Dear Friend told me somewhat a humorous quip: They say there’s no guarantees in life, but The Apostle Paul tells us there is certainly a guarantee to be found in Death.”
My Hope for you today is that you will know you are freely Loved in ways that surpass all understanding, and that is a Love so great that it most surely will engender greater Hope.
Hope is a Divine Gift from God, a gift of Grace, Grace that is greater than all our sins. Do you remember the Circle of Life as Disney presented it? It portrays a cycle of destruction and renewal, of birth and death, of fate and destiny. There is something greater than the Circle of Life, and that is why I also want to share with you something from many years ago called the Circle of Hope.
And so it continues. Make it a great day, Belovéd
And even in the darkest hour
SHINE.
“I am come that they might have Life, and have it more abundantly.”
(and where there’s Life . . . )
There is no hope without Trust. In Adam we lost our trusting in the evidence that God had made us for eternal life and fellowship with him. Satan broke that treasure of Trust when he beguiled Eve and Adam to disbelieve God gave them the maximum access to his Glory and his Eternal Presence. Our Creator’s response was to immediately put into place the Hope The Creator had prepared against that eventuality – the promise of Salvation and restoration of that Wholley Holy Union of First Innocence (See this reference). Let’s get into the Wayback Machine and listen to a Golden Oldie Hymn: Trust and obey (↔ Music Link) “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” Trust becomes obedience. It takes courage to trust what we cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. Could it be that courage, obedience, and Love are somehow related? Try this out for a clue:
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 – 13 Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. And The Apostle Paul continues with: 1 Corinthians 16:22 – 22 Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come. Many translations read “let him be Anathema Maranatha.” I agree with the position that, in Koine Greek there is no punctuation, so that could read “let him be Anathema. Maranatha.” The Aramaic word, Maranatha, as we have often discussed here can be Maran atha and/or Maran atha. Here is a sampling of the words’ origins and meanings, starting with the Greek words: Μαρανα θα! Μαραν αθα! Maranâ thâ‘! (↔ Click it) Maran ‘athâ’ (Aramaic: מרנאתא) – Come Lord! Our Lord has come! This word occurs only once in Scripture in 1 Corinthians 16:22 (follow this to see multiple translations of how this is used – and sometimes abused!)
Why do we want Our Lord to come? BECAUSE WE TRUST HIM TO RETURN LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD, and that, ʻŌmea, is guaranteed HOPE!!
Now, who can recall the name of the Bible Personality alluded to last week? It was JUDITH. The Book of Judith is one of the so-called “apocryphal books,” that is, it is one of the 7 books in the “Catholic Bible” that are not in the Bible most non-Catholics use – the King James Version or similar translations. Who, then, was Judith?
The book of Judith (← Check it out!) is regarded by modern scholars as a work of historical fiction – a docudrama in current terms – and it draws information from disparate times, places, and persons. The name of the main character, Judith, is the first clue to it’s unique formation. Judith means “Jewess” aka “Jewish woman.” It is cast during the time of Nebuchadnezzar. There are other characters included which do not fit that timeline. Judith is a virtuous widow who is portrayed as a faithful, brave, resourceful, and attractive woman (as in drop-dead gorgeous). Her home town is “Bethulia.” She boldly steps forward to say she can, with God’s help, defeat the enemy and save Bethulia.
Bethulia was an imaginary city that was endowed with a theophoric name for the purposes of a historical-romance novella. The construction of the name could be a theomorphic portmanteau of “Beth” – house, and Betulah – a woman set apart, such as a virgin or a widow. Bethulia, then, is the house (home) of a woman set apart – i.e., a chaste widow. Bethulia is under siege by Holofernes (hah-lah-FUR-neez), an Assyrian general intent on capturing Bethulia because of its strategic location near Jerusalem and the hills of Judea. The town was in bad straits and on the verge of surrender, when Judith says she can save the town.
She put on all her finest apparel, jewelry, got a swanky hairdo, and went out with her maid (and coconspirator) to meet with Holofernes. Holofernes had been hard at war for a long time, and the attention of a gorgeous woman was very appealing. She and her maid were admitted to his tent, and she assured him she would lead him through Jerusalem and into Judea. She ended up staying three days and nights, all the while using her own provisions and only pretending the match Holofernes’s copious consumption of strong wine. In the middle of the night she would get up, go back into town, bathe, and pray for God’s guidance and protection. On the 4th day of her infiltration into his camp, he threw a big banquet for just the servants (no officers invited!).
The beguiled general got “totally plastered” and passed out. Everyone else left and she was alone with Holofernes in the sleeping area. She said a quick prayer of courageous love of God and Country. She went to the top of the bed where his sword was hanging, pulled it out, took a mighty swing, and cut off his head. She had her maid put his head in the basket they used for bringing provisions into the camp, and hustled back to Bethulia. Once inside the gate, she pulled out the head and declared victory over the encroaching Assyrians. She kept her promise to Holofernes because she said she would “lead him through Jerusalem and into Judea. That’s exactly where his head went!
That’s all for today adelphos. Tune in next week for more Bible study and a new Person of the Week. Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Be at peace in the Hope found in the Spirit of God (↔ Music Link)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
