How to Go Forward

I had a call from a colleague and friend today, asking and wondering how do we live life when the world seems to be spinning in ways we did not expect it to be? What do we do when we are fearful?

I would like to share my response because I believe that it will inspire you.

The first chapter of the book of Habakkuk is essentially a long complaint followed by God’s response. It then continues with yet another complaint and another response from God. The book concludes with a prayer or a Psalm from Habakkuk. This book was written, proceeding the fall of Babylon, yet the date of composition of the book cannot be guaranteed just by perusing the book itself. Most likely, individuals who lived after the fall Babylonia in 539 BCE understood much of this book is a meditation on life in an unjust world. They wondered how to relate to God when nations “slays nations without pity,” and “seize homes not their own.”  What do we do when individuals do not place thier trust in God, and how can a pious person deal with this unwieldy situation?

God responds that the answer is clearly written on tablets, perhaps as described in the book of Deuteronomy.

He then says:

הִנֵּ֣ה עֻפְּלָ֔ה לֹא־יָשְׁרָ֥ה נַפְשׁ֖וֹ בּ֑וֹ וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ יִחְיֶֽה׃

“Lo, his spirit within him is puffed up, not upright, But the righteous man is rewarded with life For his fidelity.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

This verse, initially describes a person whose life is swollen with not good things and who lives a twisted or  unjust life. Perhaps it is one full of deception or one full of egotism. It then moves to a pious person whose faith is in God even under the most dire circumstances. Even though they must live life where justice is delayed or denied, that time according to God will be short-lived. Habakkuk goes on to draw a parallel with Isaiah chapter 11:9, that there will be a time when everyone will know God...

Perhaps today we wonder and struggle, what can we do to make this world a better place? To me the answer is that the most impact we will have is on those who surround us. It is their lives that we can make better. We can speak up when we see injustices, and we can remove blind spots by becoming more aware of the world around us and the systems that work in it – systemic poverty and racism for example. We need to focus our energies on walking in the footsteps of God as a community. The book of Habakkuk ends by saying: “my Lord God is my strength: he makes my feet like the deer’s and lets me stride upon the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:19).   

For me God is found inside of us all and when we unite our hands together we can bring the divine into this world through our very actions.  It is my prayer that we live our lives full of tackling difficult and challenging issues, causing ourselves to grow and become better individuals and communities more focused on God and assisting those around us.

Will We Have Faith and Will Our Faith Have Children?

“Rachel is weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.” — Jeremiah 31:14

This excerpt from the book of Jeremiah seeks to highlight the pain and anguish that the Israelites experienced upon their exile to Babylonia. Jeremiah stood in the moment of deep pathos. The poetry of Jeremiah describes Rachel weeping and her fear that there will be no more children - there will be no more future. The anguish of wondering about the future when all appears as barrenness and desolation is the fear of loss encapsulated in her very being.

Jeremiah saw the Temple burn, he saw the charred city walls, he saw an absence of the royal court, he named the names of those carried away to Babylonia. Jeremiah took note of the brutality of the Babylonians, the damage incurred to the land, the loss of life, the undervalued women damaged and focused instead on the human cost and the human heart. He saw that the exiles were not statistics on the nightly news nor numbers to appear in a book, but that each of the people who died or were captured had mothers and fathers who cared for them, who made them suppers and taught them how to tie their shoes.

The gift that Jeremiah has given us is a language to help us grieve over loss and brutality. He forces us to ask, will we have faith in the face of uncertainty and fear, and will our faith have children? I think it is only fitting that Jeremiah used the metaphor of Rachel weeping for her children. The agony of a mother who has given birth, and experiences the pain of labor only to lose her child to death is something we can relate to even today. Simply put, there is no comfort. The people who lost their lives or were exiled, have evaporated into NOT. “Your injury is incurable, Your wound severe” (Jeremiah 30:12).

The miracle of Jeremiah is that he takes the pain of humanity and causes it to become the verbalization of God’s pain over the exile: “Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me, A child that is dandled! Whenever I have turned against him, My thoughts would dwell on him still. That is why My heart yearns for him; I will receive him back in love —declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:20). It is not enough that we ourselves are in agony but that even God is in agony for us. Hosea touched on this briefly and other prophets dangled their toes in the water of describing God’s pain but it was Jeremiah who had the courage to do so. Instead of this being God’s punishment inflicted upon us and God judging us harshly, God was described as a grieving mother for her children and her future. Even God is described therefore as helpless. Perhaps God is wondering why history has taken such a ruthless course and expressing an enigmatic yearning for something more compassionate to be revealed during human history.

Today, Jeremiah reminds us to also recognize that as much as we are crying out and wondering why we’re in the agony of loss, God is there as well. That God is embracing us even in the darkness because God is like a grieving mother, an image we can all relate to. I hope to bring the poetry and prose of Jeremiah alive so that perhaps we can find the words to explain not only our feelings but a recognition that our feelings are not in isolation nor are we alone in them. We are at a time in our nation’s history and a point in Jewish history of both excitement and fear. This time is significant but not wholly unique. Perhaps in the study of Jeremiah we can find great comfort and inspiration.