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The Tapestry of the Word

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There are many themes, references, and symbols not readily apparent from a simple scan of the Bible. They tie the whole book together from beginning to end, which is a feat since each book of the Bible comes from different eras and cultures, especially the Old and New Testaments. The written Word is a tapestry of many threads and designs that tie together in ways we may not always realize.

The first theme we’ll discuss is that of trees just because it’s forefront in my mind from listening to Bible Project podcasts. From the moment Adam and Eve are shown the trees of both Life and knowledge of Good and Bad (the Hebrew usually translated as “evil” actually means a more genetic “bad” (Strong’s), trees entered the mind of the children of God. Time and again, trees are mentioned in ways that point back to the garden of Eden and the choice between life and death that first humanity had there. It comes to mean sacrifice (as we sacrifice our own belief of what is good and bad to obey God’s truth on good and bad). In many ways, humans are symbolized by trees, vines, and branches, fruiting when living in the way of the Holy Spirit, serving others. Finally, it springs forth again to show us Eden come again.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelations 2:7

Another theme is the temple, which should be looked at as our true home. The first temple was actually the garden of Eden. It was placed on a high place, with the Holy of Holies in the center (i.e. those pesky trees of Life and knowledge of Good and Bad). The entirety of the Bible is about the journey of mankind searching for the temple to return to their rightful place as priests, ambassadors between heaven and earth in the Promised Land. Noah’s ark (a symbol of salvation), trees, animals that Noah (as a type of Adam) had to rule over, are more symbols of a temple. Mountains count many times as temples, high and close to heaven as to connect man and God, Abraham and countless others perform sacrifices on altars there. Then, of course, Moses and the Israelites built a tabernacle to serve as a traveling temple in order to commune with Yahweh. Solomon and many of his descendants built or maintained actual, permanent structures used as temples where the practice of priesthood was elaborated and cemented. Once Jesus showed up on the scene, as little as they realized at the time, He spoke of another traveling temple that would last until his return: the Holy Spirit would reside in God’s children, and no longer would people have to find the temple: It would come to them. Of course, in Revelations, the final realization of the temple becomes reality, and all of earth will become a grand temple, a massive Eden, where God will walk once again everywhere and with all people.

Honey and honeycomb is a relatively obscure symbol that pops up time and again. It tends to stand for God’s wisdom and decrees. Let’s consider these verses:

The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:9-10

The above is pretty obvious.

One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

Proverbs 27:7

When someone is full on their own or the world’s “wisdom,” they don’t long for God’s. However, those hungry for God will seek even His most hard to swallow words. By the way, I’m not stretching anything here. See this source that says something similar.

Someone’s it’s symbolism will help you understand other passages where honey shows up.

All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. When the people were come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped: but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath.But Jonathan didn’t hear when his father commanded the people with the oath: therefore he put forth the end of the rod who was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.

1 Samuel 14:27

Jonathon was symbolically enlightened with God’s wisdom despite his dad’s oath, and it ended up saving his life and Israel’s in the end. During the Great Exodus when Israel comes across manna, and that’s the only food for a long while, it tastes of honey as well, for good reason. They were living off more than just bread but off of every word that came from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Revelation 10:7-11

The truth is not always pleasant.

These are just a sample of the many threads that are woven from Genesis to Revelations. Can you find any other symbols, themes, or references that are consistently sewn into the fabric of the Bible? Does it change how you read the Word?

God bless!

My Crazy Testimony

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I didn’t grow up “in the church,” so churchy terminology feels strange and archaic to me. For the longest time, I honestly didn’t know I had a testimony.

So, for those, like me, who didn’t know, this is the definition of testimony according to Google:

tes·ti·mo·ny

/ˈtestəˌmōnē/

noun

noun: testimony; plural noun: testimonies

•a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law.

•evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of something.

•a public recounting of a religious conversion or experience.

What’s interesting is the Bible and Torah has ideas that formed the backbone of many legal systems around the world. One of these ideas is the testimony. If you were pulled as a witness in a court of law and questioned as to the existence or the character of God, what would you say?

When I was 11, just about to turn 12, my aunt’s boyfriend (who was Muslim) told me that Islam has something called “the age of accountability.” Basically, this is the age people are old enough to be held accountable for their own actions. I may not have grown up in the church, but I grew up with very religious/spiritual parents, and I was very determined to be perfect for God.

I could envision a forest, each tree a person. In order to be noticed by God (whom I’d already fallen in love with), I needed to be the tallest one, and I figured the way to stand out for God was to be sinless. So, I’d been reading the Bible (understanding it in my limited way as a child), and in the old testament there are a heck of a lot of rules, laws, and ordinances. It was overwhelming for me at the time.

One night, I lie in bed and prayed to God. I needed something simpler I could remember, so no matter what I faced in life, I’d know I was doing the right thing.

Now, I was 11, remember, so I still believed in a magical God, in which many adults have probably lost faith. So, I expected to be answered, but not directly of course. Perhaps, He would communicate by way of a TV program or a song that would hit the right message.

I was hoping for a paragraph or something I could memorize. Surely, it would take at least a page to summarize the Bible’s laws.

In the dark of my bedroom, I heard a single solitary word:

Love.

It was like a thought, but it also felt separate from me.

So, of course, I immediately started arguing with it. No way that was it. That was too easy to remember, too simplistic, idealistic, rainbow, unicorns …

My mother once told me if I ever heard anything pertaining to God, to check the Bible before absorbing the message. If anything conflicted with what was said in the Bible, it wasn’t of God. So, I turned on the light and went to my bookshelf. Picking up my Bible, I flipped randomly through. It fell open to a page in the new testament – Matthew 22:36-40:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I can’t even explain how dumbfounded I was that night. I still argued with the word “love” for the rest of the night, tossing the idea to and fro in my mind until I fell asleep.

I have since realized this event was too coincidental to be anything but God answering my prayer, and nothing has conflicted with the idea that “love” summarizes all of God’s laws. In fact, Love is the meaning of life, and as the Bible will also say, God is Love.

This is one of the reasons behind this blog. No one but God can be perfect, but we will always be loved. We are also called to love.

That moment has shaped the rest of my life, and I hope my testimony will shape yours.

Juice Fast Part 1

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This is the first of two posts I will write about my juice fast experience.

I thought I would share a few things I learned during my juice fast a few months back. This is not to brag or show my works in the world, but it was originally done to glorify God and create a clean devout spirit in which to hear God’s voice in my life (ya know, not necessarily literally ;)). It was a movement started by my church, and not everyone in the church was called to do it. They simply asked for everyone who could and who had the calling to fast in some way. It could be a fast of electronics, facebook, certain foods, certain activities, etc. This was not connected in any way to the Catholic day of a different name. Some, like me, felt called to do a food fast of sorts.

Easier than a water fast (which is a fast of all foods and drinks except water) is the juice fast. At least this way, I would be getting some nutrients from the juice and not completely starving myself for days. It was still scary to not eat whole foods. Actually, the experience was scarier than I imagined. Now, hear me out. This is still an experience I wish every healthy-bodied spiritual-minded person would undertake at some point in their life. It is very moving and definitely brings you in communion with God. Even if only to beg him for time to pass so you can go back to eating. Just kidding! Well, not completely…

I learned (again) that I have a highly sensitive reaction to my blood sugar levels. Everyone does in some way, and no, I am not diabetic. I might be hypoglycemic. Probably, this was a horrible idea to juice fast, but I did not know that ahead of time or I would have talked with a nutritionist on how to do this safer. Case in point: Several times I had panic attacks sometime in the afternoon/evening to the point of sweating and beating heart. I quickly realized that blood sugar has a fine line to balance. A little fruit juice with nothing else on my stomach, and my sugar levels would skyrocket causing panic attacks and dizziness. Only vegetable juice for hours, and my sugar levels would drop causing panic attacks and dizziness. Yeah, it was a pain.

The surprising fact is that cravings for food mostly go away after the first couple days of a juice fast. That’s about when real hunger kicks in. See, I have thought all my life that this grumbly stomach and ache I get in my gut was hunger. Nope. That is just the tip of the iceburg. That is just my body saying hey I sure would like something. It is a polite request. After a couple days, my body was starting to get a little upset with me for denying it a chewing, real food experience. Real hunger is experienced in the throat and mouth. It is a watering, yearning need but honestly a bit of a weaker feeling than cravings. It was still difficult to concentrate on anything but needing food. Check out this link on feelings of real hunger if you do not believe me:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-fuhrman-md/redefining-hunger_b_789980.html

I did not go past three days. I slowly reintroduced myself to real foods starting with the same vegetables and fruits I had been drinking, just in whole food form. Then, after a couple days of that, I reintroduced some meat and dairy products. Please, if you do this kind of thing, whether it is a water, juice, or any other type of food fast, talk to your doctor about it first if you are unsure of your health. Also, find out the best way to prepare and even come back off of the fast. If you do too much too quickly, you could actually die from shock.

What did I learn from my experience besides it is hard to fast (which you should know anyway)? I learned how to lean on God when I am in pain and turmoil. Yes, I was not really dying, but I really felt like it sometimes, especially when I had panic attacks. As this was a spiritual fast, I made sure to focus on God and pray several times a day, continually really. I did yoga (only yoga because I did not want to overexercise when I was depriving my body of the energy it would need for more). During yoga, I prayed and prayed, bringing my concerns about the process and life in general to God. Also, it is important to note that I tried to keep my mind open to God speaking back to me. It was not all about what I had to say. It was more about what God had to say. So, I kept a journal about things that I learned during that time and messages that seemed to repeat themselves over and over while I fasted, which I will share with you shortly in my next post.

It was an amazing, scary, and most importantly HUMBLING experience. I feel closer to God because of it.

Have a blessed day.