For full transparency I am writing this while on a train. I face a day of connections, schedules I do not control, and the potential that things will not line up for transferring this person, me, to and from my destination. Here I am.

For the record, I’ve never hitchhiked. It never appealed to me. I have, however, traveled to many remote locations, remote to me, around the world. In order to do so I had to go out. Leave my home, my safety and security to do so. I could not go out unless I left. Sounds simple enough, but there’s more.

Upon leaving the above noted security, and therefore familiarity, I need to be comfortable where I am. “Where” might not be the “there” I had in mind, but that is the risk of going out.

In this weeks Torah portion of לֶךְ-לְךָ/Lech Lecha, the Lord tells Abraham in Genesis 12:1 to “go out”; but it is more than that: “Go out to yourself.” Yet, He also says:

אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ

Go, “to a land that I will show you.”

Abraham was told to go out, even “go out to yourself,” but the destination was not in his control. Control belonged to God; but the journey was Abraham.

Common sense would tell us that it would be unwise to leave arrival at an important meeting to chance. We wouldn’t just say, “Oh well. I’ll get there when I get there.”

Here is the lesson: While we live in the present, it is not for the present that we live.

By calling Abraham to go out to himself, the Lord was telling him to be alive while on the journey to the promise, as the author of Hebrews writes, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

What does this tell us? Abraham connected, by faith, the journey “to yourself” with eternity. The beauty of the story of Abraham is that he wrestled on the journey. He had moments of great faith, and moments where he took matters into his own hands. We can certainly learn from his triumphs; but also his mistakes.

Going out, no matter how long the journey takes faith; yet it also causes us to learn to be content where we are, especially when things are not going as planned; not because we are unfazed by the circumstance; rather, we are connecting the circumstance with eternity.

Paul wrote, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Phil. 4:11-12).

How can we do this? Yeshua, Jesus is the destination in whom we are now, but not yet (Eph. 2:6). As the world is filled with His glory and presence, where we are is in Him, even while we are faithing to Him.

No matter where you are on the journey, God is making the moment, and He remakes our past moments, even the mistakes.

Abraham trusted Him, and he rejoiced to see the day of his rest in Yeshua (Jn. 8:56).

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

When we know that God, in Christ, loves us, we know, ultimately, nothing on the journey is left to chance.

Be well. Shalom.

Noach/נֹחַ/Noah in Hebrew means “comfort.” His father Lamech beheld his son and said, “This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh from the ground which the Lord hath cursed” (Gen. 5:29).

How?

Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8). This grace wasn’t deserved, otherwise it wouldn’t be grace. Noah believed God, in a generation bereft of faith; God showed grace to Noah, and as the Torah says, “Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted; Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).

Righteousness, according to the Torah, is the result of faith (Gen. 15:6). How did Noah show that wholehearted, righteous faith? He responded by building the Ark.

How did Noah know how to build it? Did he have the skills necessary to take on such a project? Well, God called him, and he did it.

Noah brought forth the internal witness of his faith, by the external building of the Ark, work prepared beforehand for him to do (Eph. 2:8-10).

Faith did not remain alone. It was coupled with action, and that action became a comfort to those who listened to his work; yet it also became a judgment.

Noah lived his name by comforting those around him by an action of faith. He trusted the Lord, and that trust brought humanity to a new beginning.

The message of his labor was simple: come into the Ark. Another way, come into the תֵּבָה/box/word. We find in this a picture of entering Messiah, the Word made flesh, for safety for the judgment, deliverance, comfort: because He, Yeshua/Jesus, gives us rest.

Noah continues to comfort us by his faithfulness to fulfill what the Father called him to, and equipped him for. May we do the same, to the glory of the Messiah. When we think, or believe we can’t, the calling of God says yes (II Cor. 1:20).

Shabbat shalom.

I vividly remember standing on Mt. Haystack in the Adirondack high peaks region facing 50 mph wind gusts. It was the first time I actually felt that I might get blown off a mountain.

The power of that wind was amazing. With nothing to stop it, it hit with full force. Interestingly enough, it was as beautiful a day as a hiker could ask for: sunshine, blue skies, fall colors; but the wind, fierce.

The wind made its presence known, even though it could not be seen. You could see its presence. You could feel it; and it moved me, not emotionally, but physically.

There is considerable debate as to the nature of the human soul, it’s purpose, and even its reality.

In Genesis 8:1b we read:

וַיַּעֲבֵר אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, וַיָּשֹׁכּוּ הַמָּיִם

“And God caused wind/spirit/breath to cross over the earth; and the waters receded.”

To subdue the waters of the flood, the Lord caused רוּחַ/ruach/wind/spirit/breath, to move over the earth. This power, even though it could not be seen with the eye, had impact on the earth, and the lives of those in the Ark.

There are differing opinions among Jewish commentators regarding how to translate, or understand רוּחַ/ruach/wind/spirit/breath in Genesis 8:1b. Should it be wind? Should it be spirit? Or perhaps, it was the breath of heaven renewing the earth.

All three are invisible, but all three can be felt. The wind, by the gentle movement of the leaves on a fall day, or the fierceness of a storm. The breath, the inhale and exhale of the human body. But what of the spirit?

The ancient Hebrews understood abstract concepts by concrete visuals. Why the same word for what we might consider three separate concepts?

As noted above, each are invisible, but each play an important part in life. The wind moves as a breath in creation. Human breath moves in us, renewing life. The spirit moves us, every part of our being in the natural and spiritual worlds.

The human spirit cannot be measured, yet it can be observed as it moves us in life. An invisible force animating us, moving every part of our body. The divine breath, enlivening, moving, and renewing man, created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7; Jn. 20:22).

Where is your spirit? Look at your life, listen to your breath, see how He is moving in your life.

Be well. Shalom.