We have finally “ketchuped” to the current Torah Portion, Toldot, which means “Generations.” You can read about Toldot in Genesis 25:19-28:9. A colorful enemy shows its face in the story of Jacob and Esau, two twin boys that Isaac and Rebeccah had. The enemy is the red earthly nature, a symbol of our human inclination towards worldly desires and impulses. The red earth God formed humanity and animals from is adamah, humankind is Adam, and Edom is the name God gave to Esau after some questionable behavior and means red.
Adam’s name translates into human or man in the first two chapters of the Bible. However, after feeding his earthly or fleshly nature and disobeying God’s instructions in the Garden, his name is translated as red (Gn 3.17). Esau could have guarded the blessings and inheritance of God but traded them effortlessly for a bowl of “red” soup.
In Revelation, a red or scarlet beast represents seven kings or ruling entities of the nations. The color of this beastly government tells me that it rules purely through the power of the earth and without the Spirit. Humanity was created out of adamah or red earth, yet filled with the Divine Breath, the Ruach HaKodesh, or Holy Spirit. God desired that we sanctify our earthly nature by filling it with the presence of the Holy One. When the Holy Spirit fills the earth, it produces life. When humanity sows into the earth without the Spirit, it produces darkness, death, or chaos. Only God can produce light, life, or order. I was discussing Habakkuk with the little ones in our community recently, and there is a part that asks;
Habbakuk 1:1-4: O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore, the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.
These verses remind me of friends and family who ask me, “How could God exist? Look around you; everyone is hurting and hurting others.” What I explained to the children is that the violence, hatred, and horror that we find infiltrating the world does not prove that God does not exist. Instead, it demonstrates that humanity needs a Redeemer, the One who can cleanse our red earthly nature by breathing the Spirit into it to produce life. Do you know what does prove the existence of the Holy One? The fruits of the Kingdom of God or the Holy Spirit, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the characteristics that manifest in our lives when we are walking in our Spirit nature.
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—against such things there is no law.
Did you know humans cannot produce love if we exist purely in our earthly, animalistic nature? We cannot create peace or wholeness solely by the power of our flesh. We cannot feel the joy that comes from the comfort of the Ruach HaKodesh in our times of mourning. We cannot be gentle without the Holy Spirit taming our animalistic (earthly) survival instincts. We cannot be faithful without the Holy One showing us faithfulness. The fruits of the Spirit can only come from the Spirit alive inside us. If you have experienced true love, the goodness of the rain or a rainbow, the peace that comes from rest, and the patience of another human, then you have experienced the existence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you have shown these traits to anyone in your life, then you are proof that God exists in the world, so don’t ever stop. Habakkuk ends with the following;
Habakkuk 3:12-13 & 18: You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah…Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
God sees the injustice in the world. He watches as His creation brings chaos to what He has entrusted into their hands. He does not take naps or sleep and will bring life to the darkness in His timing. In the meantime, we should try to feed our Spirit nature and not feed the immediate satisfaction of feeding our red, earthly nature. If we ask ourselves throughout the day, ‘Am I acting out of love or fear?’ Another way to be curious about your behavior is to ask yourself, ‘Will this produce life or death?’ When talking about death, it could include death to relationships, trust, fruit, thoughts, or even physical death. On the other hand, will this action bring life to relationships, trust, fruit, thoughts, or others? This constant reflection and choice-making is the path toward strengthening that Divine Breath inside of us and ruling over our red, earthly nature.
Galatians 6:8: For the one who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But the one who sows in the Ruach will reap from the Ruach eternal life.
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