Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, September 26, 2020
Shabbat Shalom (Shabbat Shuvah),
God Loves You With All His Heart by David Harwood
Yom Kippur is right around the corner. It is a day when many of us will search our hearts and evaluate the state of our devotion to God and our love for others. To aid us in this I want to mention that, just as we are called to love God with all our hearts, so I believe the Lord says, “I love you with all my heart.” We are called to reciprocate His love.
This week and next week we’re going to try to apply Yeshua’s version of the V’ahavta to the Father. Here’s the Messiah’s reiteration of the greatest commandment:
and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30 TLV)
Allow me to pose a couple of questions not specifically answered in Holy Writ:
Does God require more than He is willing to give?
Does He want us to love Him with all our hearts while He withholds His whole heart from us?
Since it’s not spelled out for us, we get to make up our own minds about this.
To me, it seems incomprehensible that our Creator wants more from His creation than He is willing to offer. Do you agree?
Let’s look at the LORD’s heart concerning His beloved people.
Yes, I will delight in doing good for them, and with all My heart and all My soul I will in truth plant them in this land. (Jeremiah 32:41 TLV)
What a prophecy about Israel’s restoration! What an amazing declaration of God’s intent.
If I hadn’t read this prophecy, I wouldn’t have guessed that anyone would be bold enough to say that God has a soul. If I hadn’t read this prophecy, I would not have felt like I had an unshakeable confidence that God will do things with all His heart and all His soul.
To me, this oracle seems like it contains a hint. It sounds like the first commandment – that we must love God with all our hearts – is the type of love God has for His children.
Really, what did God hold back when He gave His only begotten Son to die in our place? Nothing. He abandoned Himself as the Son sensed abandonment. He gave His whole heart. He gave His Son.
My mind is made up: indeed, it can be said that God says, “I love you with all my heart.”
Let’s continue… According to the pattern of the greatest commandment I believe it can be reported that the Lord says, “I love you with all My soul.” Again, let’s review Mark’s report of the Messiah’s instruction.
and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30 TLV)
Earlier in this post we read that Jeremiah spoke, as the voice of God, saying that the LORD had a soul. This is important. According to Jeremiah the LORD said:
Yes, I will delight in doing good for them, and with all My heart and all My soul (nephesh, psuche) I will in truth plant them in this land. (Jeremiah 32:41 TLV)
The Greek translation of soul (nephesh in Hebrew) found in Jeremiah 32 is, psuche. God has a soul. Here is an earlier communication from God about His soul and His purposes.
I will set My Tabernacle among you, and My soul (nephesh, psuche) will not abhor you. (Leviticus 26:11 TLV)
In the same way He longed to live in the midst of Israel, so His soul longs to be with you.
The Messiah Yeshua is God Incarnate. He was the perfect image of His Father. He is the image of God to this very day. Paul wrote:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15 TLV)
God Incarnate has a soul. As the image of God, Yeshua spoke of His own soul:
Now My soul (psuche) is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But it was for this reason I came to this hour. (John 12:27 TLV)
Allow me the opportunity to define soul. Soul, (nephesh, psuche) most simply, means a person’s life. To illustrate this, look at what Yeshua said.
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life (psuche), as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life (psuche) more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25)
Yeshua answers, “Will you lay down your life (psuchen) for Me?” (John 13:38a TLV)
On another level, from my perspective, the soul is the center of inner human awareness and activity. It is the place where body, spirit, emotions, desires, intellect, feelings and volition converge and interact.
In sum, the word, soul (psuche), can sometimes indicate the inner life of a creature or speak of the creature’s natural life. A human being is a living soul made as God’s image.
God is a living being, God has an inner life. This living One’s inner life loved us so much that He acted upon that love and gave His only Son. And Father really loved His Son.
Behold My servant, whom I uphold. My Chosen One, in whom My soul (nephesh, psuche) delights. I have put My Ruach on Him, He will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1 TLV)
He is a Father that is devoted to His children. He is a Bridegroom that loves His wife. He is the LORD of Hosts who is committed to the victory of those who fight beside Him.
As our Father, He is looking for children who really love their Father. As our Groom, is looking for His bride to be just as devoted to Him as He is to her. As the Warrior King, He is looking for His army to be with Him wholeheartedly in the battle.
We are called to reciprocate God’s love. His soul is utterly engaged. He is not asking for our soul’s love while, at the same time, His soul is apathetic towards us.
He loves us with all His heart and with all His soul.