Let's See If You Can
My Accidental Immersion and Discovery on The Issue of God, Trial, and Temptation.
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| Illustration of an outstretched arm (image by pixabay.com) |
I decided to quote to you from Luke's Gospel, the one that leave no room for partial understanding of what the ultimate gift from The Father is.
While we may ask for any earthly provision, The Holy Spirit is the least expected and ultimately encouraging gift of all. Who would expect that God will give himself, totally? The third person of the Triune God is revealed, the only Person left to be revealed is revealing the wholeness of God, making the ascended Christ ever available for us, through many colors & expressions of worship, through the reading of The Word, through The Communion, ever available, revealing The Father, empowering the journey back to the fullness of salvation, what gift can be more rewarding? And this lengthy "litany" of amazement is how I best describe what was previously a "learn and share" session turned revelation. But to have a clear picture, there's going to be some language lesson as this story progresses, so bear with me.
It all began as I was sharing my Hebrew discoveries with a socmed based collective learning group I helped to establish. I was sharing about the word "Kan" כָּאן (here) because our Pastor was trying to check if everyone's present in the church chat group, so I was searching and found the expression אָנִי כָּאן "Ani Kan" (I'm here/present).
I soon found a more "biblical" expression, rather than saying "Ani Kan" אָנִי כָּאן, people in the Old Testament used an expression "Hineni" הִנֵנִי (Behold, it's me) as they were found in Isaiah 6:8 and Psalm 121:4. However, as I came across the third reference for "Hineni", I began to notice things I'm about to show you in the following detail.
Genesis 22:1 (KJV) And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
בראשית 22:1 (WLC) וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת־אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי׃
Vaihi achar hadvarim ha'ēle vahaElohim *nisah* (try) eth Avraham vaYomer elaiu Avraham vaYomer *hineni*
I'm fully aware that the Hebrew reading is overwhelming for most of us, so let me shorten the report. Observe the last word (both English & Hebrew version) that I mark bold, yes, they are "Hineni" (Here I am/Behold, it is I), now observe the other bold words, there are the word "tempt" and a Hebrew word "Nisa/Neesah" נִסָּה.
This was when things get more interesting, I was drawn to that lingering, "half understood", nagging sense you'll get whenever a preacher or skeptic is asking or testing you, "Do you think God is tempting humans?" And you might here this in an accusing tone, that God is no better than the devil, setting a trap, waiting for us to fail and fall.
And just to have an inhale pause, no, I don't have "easy" answers to that, but I'm going to give my best shot, still with a limited, novice, "humbly open for correction" theological & linguistic perspective and horizon.
Back to the findings. I failed to find modern Hebrew expression to fully comprehend what נִסָּה means, but I found come example with other word with the same נסה (nun-samech-hei) root*, and the word is "Naseh" which conveys several meaning including testing, and what drew my attention was that it can also be translated as "Let's see if you can ..."
Here's an example of the usage of "Naseh" נסה in modern coloquial Hebrew.
נסה למצוא מקור חום.
Naseh limtso'a maqor chom.
(Let's see if you can pickup the heat signature).
Should that also be the meaning of "Neesah" נִסָּה, then clearly, accusing God capable of finding fault in a situation we perceive as "trial" of our faith would seem out of context. God (who's all knowing, even regarding the future & outcomes of things) was somehow in His "present-ness" looking to see IF we can, not IF we can't. To approach this philosophically, "if" is only relevant to the present because the future is still unknown, so it's a human context interacting with a "present tense facade" of God.
This "present facade", physical/mortal universe bridging, relatable & naturally sensed personality of God, is what's been believed by many scholars as the epiphany (God's "Son" appearance in the Old Testament), "Angel of God", "Metatron" in Judaism prose/Talmudic related fables, and finally .. Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
I personally believe it's not the case that God can tempt a person to sin or that it shows how God was also helpless to "secure" the best outcome of trials, but the trials themselves are a human specific condition where the requirements of God (which is always holy, righteous and perfect) would constantly clashing with our fallen fear, insecurities and egoistic desires. This totally in line with what St. James wrote ..
James 1:13-14 (KJV) Let no man say when he is tempted , I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
But finally, as always, God's the best when it comes to making happy endings. Even in the tragic & ironic story of Cain & Abel, we can see in Genesis 4:6-7 that God was instilling His hope that Cain might prevail against evil. Many of us knew Cain failed, and the first murder and the first sin ever committed by a man to a fellow man is recorded in the Bible, all in the context of offering and worship. But still, in the thread of salvation promised mentioned earlier in Genesis 3, God placed a protective mark on Cain thus showing time and again His desire that as good prevails over evil, His mercy will always have the final say, not His wrath.
Now that we've understood God's holiness, His legitimacy in making this fallen world's dynamics into a trial of our faith in Him, and that our own sinfulness which sparks temptations, what do all these benefit us?
There are no doubts that while we can handle most of the trials by supplies of faith on what He's done for us in the past, we would face special defining trials, much like many godly people mentioned in the Bible. It is in these times when the storm of ordeals, hardships, even tragedies would beat us black and blue so bad that in our eyes God's barely recognizable, in the hardest unthinkable trials, we'd have the ground and courage to believe in His heart.
Being a daily depression survivor myself, I can share this with utmost empathy to some of you who might still be struggling in making sense of God's existence and love in the complexity of problems or pain your in as you read this blog. I get it, it's hard to think otherwise when the reasons for spiritual distancing and apathy seems real, feels right, and makes more sense. I can simply appeal that you'd consider these findings, knowing that I came to this through research rather than just selling or repeating the same "feel good, self help Gospel" you've might've heard before.
Through these readings and propositions, I hope to not just ministering to you readers, but also making a credible note which I can benefit from in my "rainy days". I believe God is constantly showing His supremacy right in the midst of our metaphorical "watery chaos" as His Spirit is beckoning us with spiritual "curve balls" by which we can move from the point of confusion and sense of fatalism into seeing His purpose. Just like a mechanic trying to see if things will work, like a teacher, or a parent trying to see if a child can sum up into something more then the previous less ideal state, God has our best interest in mind. We can work out ways through the twisting and turnings of life and at the same time being at rest, knowing that to us, things yet unknown is expected to turn out good, the puzzle will fit in place, He is seeing to it that we CAN. God has formed a team and He's letting us know that we and Him are on the same side.
Romans 8:31-39 (KJV) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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