Psalm 145:1
[[David's Psalm of praise.]] I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

The word picture here is: covenant revealed by the tongue.

One way to view the psalms of David is as guideposts along his journey towards becoming a man after God's own heart, or to put it another way, a man of the covenant.

Each guidepost revealed to David and to God exactly where he was in his journey.

​So, I encourage you to verbalise your praise so you can listen and discover where you are on your journey to becoming a woman or a man after God's own heart and a man or a woman of covenant.

Exodus 2:23
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

The picture behind the word groaned is: separated from the strength of life.

 For some reason as I contemplated this word my mind kept thinking of a person who is on their deathbed. The strength of life is slowly deserting them. They are unconscious, unable to communicate yet what emanates from them is not words but deep groans.

Because this communication is nonverbal you cannot be sure who or what the groans are directed towards. 

​Yet, in the case of the children of Israel we know that God heard these groans and He responded by ultimately delivering them from their life crushing bondage.

If the burdens of life are weighing you down and all you feel capable of is groaning, go right ahead, God is listening and He will respond.

Psalm 18:6
In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

The word picture for cried is: "taking that which is devouring you on the inside and joining it to an outward expression".

I attempted to write this blog back on 25 April 2019, but I just could not quite get my head around it, let alone express it in words.

Over recent weeks I have found myself living this word, as things with my work situation have unravelled there has been this growing cry building up inside of me. I spent two days with the constant desire to just burst into tears.

When that which was devouring me inside was joined to an outward expression what came out was simply deep sobbing and as I sobbed I knew this was prayer!!!

Job 33:26
He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.

The word picture for "pray" as we find it in Job 33:26 is: to see the person of the cross.

It is fascinating to find this word in the book of Job which in itself is the account of a man (Job) becoming a person of the cross (death).

Everything Job has dies or is destroyed at the hand of the enemy (satan).

Yet, at the end of it all this is Jobs summary of his experience of what it is to "pray":

Job 42:3-6 

You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.

Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”

Could it be that the foundation of what it means to "pray" involves a death to all our preconceived understanding of who God is and how He should act.

Perhaps when we willingly become a person of the cross in prayer we then see more clearly the person of Yeshua on the Cross.

Galatians 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

You will recall that the Hebrew word picture meaning for grace is:

"to fence or protect life".

Also, the Hebrew word picture meaning for trust is:
"inside the fence".

Hence, I was blown away when I discovered these wonderful expressions used in The Passion Translation: 
​You are the wrap-around God giving grace to me.
You empower me for victory with your wrap-around presence.
​Beautiful!!
Would you not agree? 
​

Numbers 20:11
Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

Our favourite version of "inferior good" is to take something the Lord said to us at a different time and use it to override what He said, or what He is saying in the present moment.

Clearly, the word of the Lord to Moses was "speak to the rock". However, Moses remembered the last time they had needed water he had struck the rock, in response to the Lord's instruction and water had gushed out.

This version of "inferior good" became the ultimate roadblock to Moses entering the Promised Land.

so, as we continue to journey through the Year 5779, this is my prayer for you:

Philippians 1:9 
........ that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment (between good & inferior good), that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Emphasis added)

Genesis 16:3
And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

What was the "good" that God wanted for Sarai and Abraham?

That Sarai would give birth to Isaac in her old age.

But as the years went by an "inferior good" came into play.

This inferior good was the widely accepted cultural norm of the day. If a wife could not conceive she would give her maidservant to her husband as a surrogate.

The result was the birth of Ishmael whose descendants have warred against the descendants of Isaac even to this day.

What has "inferior good", in the guise of cultural norms, birthed that is now at war with the purposes of God for your life.

Genesis 3:3
“but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' ”

Where did Eve get the idea that "nor shall you touch it" was what God had said?

Clearly Adam must have conveyed this to her.

So, what if the picture above actually carries in it an element of truth, in that, the serpent is "touching" the tree, with no ill effects.

"Nor shall you touch it" is a glowing example of inferior good.

If Eve did not "touch" the tree then she could never eat of the tree; if she did not eat of the tree then death could not steal her away from Adam. Bottom line, Adam did not want to be left alone again so his insurance policy was to add on "nor shall you touch it" to what God had actually said.

In essence, inferior good is adding my carnal wisdom to what God has actually said; all the while believing it is a good thing that I have done.

As we progress through this Year 5779 we will do well to review our definition of what is "good" whilst looking through the lens of Revelation 22:18:

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;

Genesis 2:9

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

You will recall that the word picture meaning for "good" is: what surrounds and is inside. It is in this word that we find the first occurrence of the letter Tet which is the Hebrew number 9.

When we come to the word good in Genesis 2:9 you will be surprised to learn that the literal rendering of the Hebrew in this verse is " tree of the knowledge of inferior good".

In this year 5779 we need to be constantly asking Holy Spirit to come and breathe on us to reveal that which is good (genuine diamond) and that which is inferior good (fake diamond).
​

 Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

The 9 in the Year 5779 is the 9th letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the letter Tet.

We first find this letter in Scripture in the word "good".

The word picture meaning for "good" is: what surrounds and is inside.

We might express it as what you see is what you get.

When you identify something that is fake or counterfeit you discover that what you were initially seeing is not what you are getting.

We have been called to be light in our world. The question is, can people say of us: "what you see is what you get".