Yesterday we explored one Hebrew word for trust, chasah, which was a physical support, like when you lean on a person for support. You trust that person because you can feel her physical presence helping you. When have you felt that kind of support? Another word for trust in Hebrew is, betach. This kind of trust is one of clinging to ~ like a melon clings to the vine. Wait, you might think, how is this different from yesterday’s word for trust?
I am so glad you asked.
When you think of a fruit clinging to a vine ~ the vine is small (frail even) and the melon or bunch of grapes is large. Also, the vine does more than offer support or strength, this is a kind of trust that nourishes us. Yesterday, chasah was a trust in time of need, to get us through a moment. Betach is a kind of trust that supports the slow ripening of our lives.
Prayerfully ponder as we begin the second week of October, where you have grown this past year? Don’t wait until December 31st to investigate and reflect in the rearview mirror of life. Begin to listen to your life and learn the curriculum of the last nine months ~ don’t worry there is no test. As you look back, what is growing in you? The invitation of trust is to keep growing and going toward what God is awakening in you. The Psalmist says it this way, In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. (Ps 56:4)
Note those first two words,
“In God,” that is where we are grounded and guided. “In God” is what stirs our souls. This is a kind of trust that moves us in a
particular direction and purpose. Elijah
had this kind of trust when he moved his tent from the stream to a foreign
land. The widow of Zarephath had this
kind of trust when she rolled up her sleeves and started mixing the last bit of
meal and oil. I wonder if she
immediately saw that though she thought she had used all the flour, when she
set down the jar there was more? Did she
empty it into the bowl, set it on the counter, look over to see that suddenly the
amount of meal had not decreased? Trust is not abstract, our Hebrew brothers
and sisters teach and tell us, there are traces of God’s grace around us. But as the Psalmist says, there are plenty of
voices telling us to fear, especially that person over
there. We have never quite outgrown our
five-year-old self who thinks there are monsters under our bed and there are so
many voices committed to fanning those flames of fear today. To trust, betach, is to cling, like a
bunch of grapes to the vine, to God’s generous and generative love that feeds
us in real ways these days. Amen.
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