Immersed in The Word

 All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living;  thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work. 

– 2 Timothy 3:16-17

There is a blessing that Jewish people say before their study of Torah.  It goes like this:  

Baruch atta ADONAI Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kiddeshanu bemitzvotav, vetzivanu la’asok bedivreo Torah.

Translation:  Blessed are You YAHWEH our God, King of the universe, Who sanctifies us in His commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of Torah.

I have simply been enamored with this blessing!  Why?  Because this is exactly what He expects that we do with the Living Word He has given us.  The more we study His Word, the more we realize what a depth of Treasures It actually is.  The more we search out His Word by His Spirit, the more He unveils Truth, connects all the holy dots and shows a greater portion of His purposes and plans for all humanity – and because of this, we are also able to put the problems of this world into an eternal perspective even as the wild winds of life beat against us. 

Look at the word la’asok.  It literally means ‘to immerse oneself’.  It sounds an awful lot like ‘soak’, doesn’t it?  In fact, that is precisely the way it can be read – we are to ‘soak ourselves in the study of Torah’.  And we know that anything soaked in something else will inherit the properties or flavor of whatever it was soaked in.  Now, let’s look at another Hebrew word – Torah.  It means ‘precept or statute’ and comes from the root word yarah which means ‘to flow as water’; transitively ‘to throw’ as in an arrow; figuratively ‘to point out, to teach, instruct, lay and shoot’.  Torah (an archery word) is God-breathed and is the process of aiming toward a very specific target.  

In the Redemption Story, to hit the target our LORD has eternally purposed is to ultimately look like or have the flavor of His Son Jesus Christ.  Paul explained to the church at Corinth that we are New Covenant ministers not of ‘the letter’ or written text that kills, but of the Spirit Who gives life!  In other words, without our total surrender to The Holy Spirit, we are just a bunch of aimless arrows wildly flying in an attempt to hit a target we cannot even see!  (It is worth noting that the Hebrew word for sin is an archery word as well – chata – and it means to ‘miss the target’!)  The evidence that we are hitting the target manifests itself as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control in the believer’s life.  Are you on-target by His Spirit’s precise aim?

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe! I pray we each wholly devote ourselves as arrows in Your mighty hand, Faithful Father.  Aim us according to Your good pleasure and be magnified in Your servants’ lives today-in His Name.