Footsteps of Messiah:
No Place for Chickens
Part Two
Prayer makes you think.
For instance, who was better prepared for what happened after midnight in the Garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua or his disciples? Why?
Apparently, Peter needed to go to bed with the chickens, and by the time the cock crowed three times the next morning, he’d denied Yeshua and run away. Just hours before, Peter didn't imagine such a thing were possible.
An often-quoted proverb helps us to understand the inner process of prayer:
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“As a man thinks within himself [b’nafsho], so is he...” (Pr 23:7)
"B'nafsho" is "in his soul." The soul is defined as a bundle of appetites, emotions, desires, and intellect. The soul thinks. We don't usually hear the beginning or the end of the proverb, though. The beginning of the proverb is:
- “Do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies...”
The rest of the verse is:
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“...he says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart [lev] is not with you.”
The heart is sometimes seen as the mind, interconnected with the soul. Even scientists understand there is a "heart brain" that communicates with the head brain. In context, the proverb warns us that in spite of the generous words he says, a selfish person’s silent soul and heart think the opposite and wish that you would not accept.
The connection between prayer and the proverb is that it is possible to pray one thing with the lips, yet not to really believe it or want it to come to pass. It is possible to pray one thing and think the opposite. Yeshua struggled in this like we do, yet he prayed the perfect solution in the Garden of Gethsemane:
"Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done."
Sometimes it helps to know what we need to accomplish in prayer. The essence of l’hitpallel [verb, to pray] prayer is to judge one’s self, a reflexive act. Sicha [la-suach] is more conversational, listening, receiving, meditative. Prayer for the earth requires sicha, listening to the voice of Elohim, often as something heard with spiritual ears, relationship, not read as a written word. Genesis 24:63 describes Isaac praying la-suach prayer in the field.
The other type of prayer, hitpallel, as self-judgment depends upon “hearing” as well, but usually according to “it is written” as the revealed Word to all Creation, not just the individual. “We will do and we will hear [the Torah].” Take a look at the first three mentions of the verb פָּלַל H6419 in the pallal verb form:
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“Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live... Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.” (Ge 20:7, 17)
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Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected H6419 to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.” (Ge 48:11)
The third mention was perhaps...unexpected...because it presents an alternate meaning to פָּלַל pallal.
- פָּלַל ; to judge (officially or mentally); by extension, to intercede, pray:—intreat, judge(-ment), (make) pray(-er, -ing), make supplication.
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Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon addresses the unexpected translation of Genesis 48:11 by adding, “to think, suppose.”
Grammatically, the difference between praying and thinking is the verb form. Praying is hitpael (reflexive), and thinking or judging is piel. Hang in there. We're getting past the grammar part of this to find the practicality of prayer.
Think of praying as sharing the essence of the reflexive, judging one’s self in relation to the Word and world around you. In that sense, praying is not totally reflexive, thus piel, judging the circumstances of prayer. One might pray concerning a situation and need to judge the people or actions against the revealed Word: “It is written.” The soul and heart may resist like the “stingy” man, for the one in prayer is consulting “It is written” instead of the soul and heart’s “I think, I feel, I want.” The judgment of the heart and soul is measured against the Word.
Should there be a disparity between the two, the heart and soul cannot be allowed to “judge” the situation. As Proverbs 23:7 stated, the heart and soul can remain the silent rulers even as the mouth proclaims the hospitality of the Word. The soul alone cannot heal the soul. Emotions don't fix emotions. Appetites don't fix appetites. Thoughts don't fix thoughts. To these must be added the essential key: the Ruach, the Holy Spirit. The soul is a life force, not truth. It must be guided by the Ruach HaKodesh which functions on its power: "It is written." Pure truth that remains when the winds of time wash away the distortions of feeling, wanting, and thinking.
Prayer gives us the chance to imagine the proper outcome of the situation, which is for the heart and soul to grow and be transformed by the Ruach, so that they will agree with the Word, the food of hospitality. One man begged Yeshua, “Help my unbelief!” This is helpful when we don’t have faith our sincere longings can change to meet the standard of “It is written.” Even Yeshua had to draw deeply on this imagination of salvation for the world when he knew beating, mockery, and cruel death were only steps and moments away from him.
Why would we imagine the outcome of a prayer?
Genesis 48:11 in the NASB reads, “I never expected to see your face...” which is not a bad translation. The Artscroll translates it to English thus:
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“Israel said to Joseph, ‘I did not imagine [פִלָּלְתִּי] seeing your face, and here God has shown me even your offspring!”
Rashi’s commentary to Genesis 48:11 to this verse is good:
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“I did not imagine”: “My heart did not fill me, i.e., I did not dare to think the thought that I would see your face again. The word פִלָּלְתִּי pilalti denotes ‘thinking,’ like in ‘Produce an idea; do some thinking.’”
An example of how creative imagination works is found in Isaiah:
- “Give us advice, make a decision...” (Is 16:3)
הביאו עֵצָה עֲשׂוּ פְלִילָה
The imagination of the heart is fickle, so why would we imagine in prayer? For instance, consider two translations of Proverbs 18:2:
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A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind [לִבּֽוֹ].
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A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself [לִבּֽוֹ]. (Pr 18:2)
Sadly, our prayers have the potential to stop before we get to "Nevertheless, not my will but Yours be done." We can pray prayers that are oblivious to outcomes other than the one we've selected or the route we've decided it will take. We don't want to understand the Word applied to the situation, only to appease our unreliable heart:
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“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Je 17:9)
A heart that stops at understanding itself (tevunah/binah), is unwilling to progess to the needed counsel (etzah), the job of the fair judge who plants the ingrafted Word (Ja 1:21), a truthful measure into the heart. The fair judge seeks "It is written." The fool only wants to understand in order to discover and plan what is already in his heart.
The Torah gives an example of these types of “prayer decisions/plans”:
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“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges H6414 decide.” (Ex 21:22)
This is a plan for reparations in injury. In prayer, we can think or plan about how to resolve conflicts. The heart may try to justify, “Well, we were both fighting...,” yet qualified judges must decide because the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. In such a terrible tragedy, it would very difficult for the average human being to imagine fair reparations. Heart emotions would simply be too powerful.
In prayer each day, we have the opportunity to think, to plan, and even to imagine the outcomes of our prayers. Just because the heart is deceitful is not a reason not to pray! It is the BEST time to pray when you don't trust your own heart to pray the "right" prayer. What is a right prayer? Imagine the answer to that prayer according to your best understanding of the Word, which is the Father's will. If you can't imagine it, then cry out, "Father, help my unbelief!" If your heart is simply overpowered with fear of the future, then as Yeshua demonstrated, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done." The courage to walk through it will abide and give you peace.
Like the girl who saw Peter at the gate, delivered from jail by an angel, Israel confesses that he did not even imagine he’d see Joseph again. His heart was fickle in grief, unable to believe he’d see his son again, much less grandchildren.
Don’t ever, ever, ever give up on your children and grandchildren. Don’t be a chicken.
When we pray for one another, let us “imagine” the prayer answered. Our hearts and souls are fickle and deceitful, and knowing that, Adonai told us to set up righteous human judges to think about and render justice in conflict. When we have only ourselves as judges, sometimes our hearts deceive us and grieve us into despair. We are conflicted because what we want and what seems possible are in conflict.
The antidote is to call for the "elders" of the congregation. Find men and women who can pray effectual, fervent prayers. When we lift up one another in prayer, sometimes we lend power to the one in need because we are not as entrapped or weighted by emotions and limited thinking. It is easier for us to imagine the answered prayer.
- But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. (Ex 17:12)
- Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. (1 Ti 2:8)
Find your Abrahams and Sarahs who can pray for you. With you. Find your Aaron and Hur who will keep you steady until the battle is won. And imagine your children and grandchildren clothed in garments of salvation and robes of righteousness. Imagining is planning. Prepare for them to come home.
The Temple was no place for chickens, but O, Jerusalem is the very place where the little chicks will come home to roost. (Mt 23:37) Blessed is he who comes in the Name of YHVH.
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Shabbat Shalom!
