Fear Not

The Enemy Is Hate - PART II

Chapter 68
January 13
Psalm 41:2-3
They are counted among the blessed in the land--He does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.
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Preface
In yesterday's chapter we dug into the message of the verses as revealed through some of the original Hebrew. This allowed us to explore the enemies of internal emotional states with which David was most concerned.

By turning his attention back to faith, he was given victory over the enemies that fear produced within him. These enemies were: distress, grief, hurt, misery, sadness, sorrow, being vexed and wickedness.

Whenever we find ourselves feeling as though the walls of emotional darkness are closing in, the most powerful weapon we have in our spiritual arsenal is action. We have internal actions we can take. And we have actions that involve investing into the betterment of others.

Regarding the internal actions, the moment painful emotions begin to well up within us, the worst thing we can do is follow the world's lead. It teaches to "feel" them fully. But wallowing self-indulgently in a vat of poison isn't the answer. And giving them expression into the world may seem to provide a measure of relief in the moment, but it's temporary. And expression will only wire the practice into the body, embedding it deeper, making it stronger while simultaneously spreading the dis-ease into the world through the example we set.

Our actions are teachers to the world, whether we want them to be or not.

The world's teaching about the handling of negative emotional states comes from a lack of spiritual understanding about what the feelings represent and what they immediately begin to create into the lives we lead in the world.

What rises within us starts to manifest in related events in our lives, because we tend to sow into the world from our internal emotional states. For most people, feelings direct behavior.

First, we are not to fear negative emotions. That's just replacing one idol of fear for another, doing more of the same. And it just delays us taking the simple step of shifting from F2F.

Second, we're not to repress feelings, which would be the internal mental action of fear. Repression is like a panic response, trying to forcibly "push" negative thoughts or feelings out of the mind, or back down into the body, out of sight, out of mind. But the more a feeling is directly resisted, the stronger it becomes. (Try not thinking of a pink elephant.)

A law of the universe is "What we resist, persists."

Our shift to faith relocates our conscious awareness to a quiet, relaxed space of objectivity. And it's easier to make the shift if we first flip our attention to breath, the in-Spirit. It's from here we're then able to stand outside of any negative thoughts and feelings that arise. And by doing this, we come to realize that, though occurring within the body, they're "objects" of a kind that exist external to "us," our true spiritual selves that exist before thinking and feeling begins.

Faith provides this sort of transcendent perspective. We can see dark feelings, or feelings of any kind, like watching clouds flout by in front of the sun on an otherwise beautiful, blue-sky day. They come and, when not engaged with, they go.

We're just sitting in our Adirondack chairs sipping iced tea, hanging out with Jesus, finding the clouds' desperate fishing expeditions amusing.

Negativity is needy. It'll do anything for attention.

But if we look at the light of the Son, and in that light send love to the clouds, we initiate a process of change. Over time we turn the darkness into more light, dissolving the clouds from within.

These are internal actions that we can take. But when we marry these practices with the external actions of helping those in need, it's like igniting a supernova.

Free of the world's darkness, we experience what it means to be 'eser,' blessed through giving.

The opportunity to do "for one of the least of these," (Matthew 25:40), is seen for what it is: being able to do it for love. It's a celebratory event that David reveals garners us six promises.

Yesterday we considered the first two. The remaining four are:

3) We are counted among the blessed in the land;4) We're not given over to the desire of our enemies; and,5) The Lord sustains us on our sickbed;6) He restores us from our bed of illness.

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In the third promise, "We are counted among the blessed in the land."

Here "blessed" is translated from 'aser.' It's interesting that this expression was used nearly 3500 years ago. Because it means to 'be straight,' 'level,' 'right'--happy.

When asking people how're they doing, I often hear them respond "I'm straight," or "I'm alright." In other words, we're still saying we're 'aser' without realizing it.

"Level" implicates a level mind, a balanced internal state. Faith is a centering point that keeps us from being knocked off balance from everyday life events. (Though they may not be everyday for us at the individual level, they are at the collective level. Only ego narrows perspective to feed itself with the feelings born from thinking that we go through anything in life alone. One of fear's favorite tag lines is "You don't understand what I'm going through," because ego desperately wants to feel special.)

A committed, focused center reveals the need for us to, for example, "... no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:14-16).

"...when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do" (James 1:6-8).

In faith, when "each part does its work," action speaks louder than words. Having "regard for" the poor and needy, from the internal state of being blessed, sets an example for others, showing them the joy that comes from doing work that edifies those around us.

'Aser' (blessed) also means to "go forward, be honest, prosper."

So, being counted as blessed in the land, means to be a sort of lighthouse that's lifted up and provided for abundantly by the surrounding community we serve.

"Land" is taken from 'eres,' which means 'to be firm.' It can mean the 'way of the wilderness,' or 'of the world.'

We bring light to the way of the world, positively effecting others. Faith prevents the world from influencing us with its ideas, attitudes and beliefs that would only dim our light, adversely affecting us.

In the fourth promise, "We're not given over to the desire of our enemies."

"Desire" comes from 'nepes,' which means the enemy's 'will.' It directly translates to 'a breathing creature'--the mental and physical force of a living animal. The applicable definition is 'beastly appetite.'

"Enemies" is translated from 'oyeb,' 'hating an adversary.' It's derived from 'ayab,' to hate (one of an opposite tribe).

This means that the "enemies" mentioned aren't people. It's hate. And only those in the dark represent the opposite tribe of the light.

In other words, the fourth promise assures us, when we joyfully help out the poor and needy, we'll not be given over to the beastly appetite of hating those who're still lost and hurting in the dark, knowing not what they do.

It's difficult to hate people at the same time we're working side-by-side with God with helping people in need.

Without this understanding, as we covered in PART I, how would we of interpreted the promise from a surface reading? What does this promise mean for us now?

An example like this helps uncover the subtle nature of fear. It's like sodium. Fear's an implicit bias, embedded into the social fabric of and actively working to undermine society. It thinks in terms of the material external. So what it reads gets filtered through the bias, making the reader, for example, think of enemies as actual human beings.

To flash back for a moment, the third promise essentially says that we'll be happy in the places where the people around us are miserable. Not because they're miserable, but because we see life differently than they do. This will allow the living example of our happiness to help lift others out of the dark. We're their opportunity to realize, maybe for the first time, that there's a better way of seeing things.

This leads us into the fourth promise, which is telling us that the celebratory happiness we receive from the Spirit due to our good works will ensure that we won't look down upon, make fun of, mock, judge or despise people who, lost in darkness, live according to the way of pain and suffering.

We'll be saved from doing what those in the fear of the dark do all the time toward each other and toward people in the light.

In the new covenant, the Greek word for "enemy" is 'echtho.' This too means 'to hate,' and it means 'Satan.' As God is love, the enemy is hate, which is Satan.

Human beings themselves are not hate or Satan, despite pop culture's obsession with painting God's likeness (us) with a broad judgmental brush.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:43-45).

When Jesus spoke "You have heard it was said," He wasn't talking about anything written. He was talking about the Pharisees, who had mis-interpreted Leviticus 19:18, which says: "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." The Pharisees interpreted this to mean that they should love only those who love in return. Moreover, they incorrectly concluded that Psalms 139:19-22 and 140:9-11 meant that they should hate their enemies.

And so they taught to others this error in interpretation, resulting in an echo of hate, reverberating violence, murder and war across time even into today.

Fear warps the way people's minds work, affecting the way the mind sees. When people in roles of authority hold within them pockets of hate, their minds will look to the law, a policy, or an isolated event, anything it can find, for justification to support their hate. And since we'll always "find" what we look for, considering that, how the brain works, we predominantly see what we believe, a warped perspective will warp what it reads.

This is why it's so important to develop the ability to discern between what we hear and read and how we interpret it.

We don't want our underlying fears to bleed in and risk turning light into darkness. Because, as history has proven, we'll never know how far an incorrect conclusion will carry across history, nor the degree of harm it'll inspire others to cause.

Instead of avoiding the enemy "hate," the Pharisees gave themselves over to it, wielding it as a weapon, often to quell disagreement.

The Pharisee's fear told them that if someone disagrees with what they say, then the human beings behind the disagreement were the enemies. The Pharisees didn't know that they had made themselves into puppets for the enemy the whole time.

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27-28).

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked" (Luke 6:35).

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil" (Romans 12:17).

"On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12: 20-21).

How else will light be able to differentiate itself from darkness? If light does the same thing that darkness does, then what makes it light? What would make those in fear interested in the light if, when they look for rescue from the dark, they only find more dark wearing "light" clothing?

If someone's on fire, they look for water to put the fire out, not more fire.

In the fifth and sixth promises, which go hand in hand, "The Lord sustains us on our sickbed; He restores us from our bed of illness."

"Sustains" is 'sa ad,' meaning 'to support,' comfort, strengthen.
"Sickbed" is 'deway,' meaning 'sickness,' but figuratively it means to loath, be sorrowful, languishing, unable to create life.
"Illness" is 'holi,' meaning malady, anxiety, grief.

Every promise so far listed results from us partnering with God in the care of the needy, the work that's most important to His heart. When we do this, God promises that we'll find support during those times we feel down. We'll receive comfort when we are:

sad, lacking the drive to get things done, andworried about the future.

"In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, 'Lord almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."

When she prayed, her lips were moving, but she prayed silently, from her heart. Eli the priest saw her mumbling and thought she was drunk. Not surprising, considering she'd not been eating and she'd been in emotional turmoil for a while. She couldn't have looked well.

But in response to the priest Hannah said, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. ... I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ... I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."

Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him." And after doing just this, "The Lord remembered her," and she became pregnant with Samuel.

(1 Samuel 1:10-20)
When emotionally distressed, she was thought to be drunk. But once Eli learned that wasn't the case, the first thing he told Hannah was "Go in peace." Then, in peace, "may God...grant" what she asked for. (1:17)

In the state of sorrow she only received:
1) ridicule from her rival for not having a child (1:6-7);2) a worried husband (1:8);3) a loss of appetite (1:7);4) a downcast face, and being confused for a drunkard (1:14); and5) no child (1:7).

But, after Eli's words, Hannah shifted from sadness to peace. From F2F.

Then she received:
1) a return of her appetite and healthy looks (1:18);2) a reconnection with her husband (1:19);3) her prayer answered.

"I will refresh the [sorrowful] and satisfy the faint" (Jeremiah 31:25).

"But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

Hannah was first refreshed by changing her internal state. And then pregnancy resulted.

And when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, his use of the term "thirst" was analogous. He was talking about the difference between fear and faith.

Fear generates within people a general sense of dissatisfaction. This feeling, at best, presents as a low-grade craving, one that sort of vibrates as background noise in the body; at worst, self-sabotaging compulsiveness. It's vampiric in nature, always seeking external experiences that'll satiate the thirst.

Because fear keeps people in compromised emotional states, de-pressing them downward, they seek out external stimuli that they hope will lift them back up. But the upliftment they receive comes from a comprised source, providing a sort of false light. It serves to only compound the de-pression, by developing dependence. The upliftments reach lower heights, demanding more stimuli. But more begins to fail, by design. Eventually no matter how much stimulation in which people engage, the only thing achieved is lower lows.

Addiction results. But the addiction is to the feeling of upliftment, not to the randomly available means by which the feeling is achieved.

Nothing external is lasting. Fear eats at even the best of experiences like piranha, tearing bite-sized chunks out of relationships, jobs, opportunities until there's nothing left. But the cravings remain.

The means by which the woman by the well got her high was new relationships. She loved falling in love, but the high she received from the experience didn't last into the commitment part. She'd have to look for a new man. As Jesus pointed out, she had been married five times, and the man with whom she lived wasn't someone she was married to. It was in this context that Jesus spoke about the different kinds of thirst.

When we shift from F2F, faith's not externally reliant for stimulus. It achieves satiation from within. Inside of ourselves there's, for example, an endless well of love that we can give away.

And it's the giving it away that gets us high. In fact, the more we give away, the more that springs up within us to give away, by design.

Fear is only concerned with what it can get, always feeling as though it needs more.

Faith, though, is about what it can give, knowing that there's plenty more where it comes from.

As David wrote, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing. ... He refreshes my soul. ... my cup overflows." (Psalm 23:1,2,5)

David knew that our eternal spring for peace, joy and happiness resided within.

Whenever we find ourselves sick with sorrow, grief, anxiety, regret...it'll always be traced back to having downshifted into a state of fear. And the fear will always take the form of desire.

Wanting things in and of itself isn't fear. It's just that fear can only create desire for external things. And when this desire leads the enemies of sorrow and grief into a person, it's because we either want something we don't have, or have something we don't want.

There's no other base cause. Realizing this, though, provides us with "actionable intel." As the fifth and sixth promises share, by helping others, giving to them what we desire, we'll receive it in turn within ourselves.

We'll be restored and sustained into eternity.