Just as Jesus taught in the parable of the Talents; we have been learning how to number our days. We seek to reflect our Great God of The Universe in all that we do. Thus; we begin by meditating upon His goodness. This is our season of counting our days.
CHESED OF GEVURAH
Therefore; today we meditate on the aspects of combining two of the true attributes that God wishes for all of his children to display in their holy countenance.
CHESED
Actually, we’ve already discussed chesed in many of our other articles. It probably can’t be discussed enough though!
God’s loving kindness and tender mercy which define chesed are aspects of how our own hearts should be operating as His children living in His Kingdom. This part of our love is vital. We could not exist without it.
The Torah tells us that God created the world with chesed. (Psalms 89:3)
We have come to know that God’s benevolence and loving-kindness was displayed when we were created. This happened so that God would have an object on which to display his perfect love. He desired to share His goodness with us. God desires for us to share this aspect He passed on to us with one another.
As Christians, we know that all revelation has come through Jesus Christ. He is the Light of the World.
Therefore; it is through Him that this chesed love of God is passed on to us. Through Him we receive and know revelation. The way He choses to communicate this to us is through the work of God’s Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit living inside us allows and helps us to pass on this love to others.
GEVURAH
Now consider that Gevurah means “restricted power.”
God’s Chesed can be so strong that mankind in their limited capacity cannot endure its total of amazing powers.
We know this to be proven out from times in the bible when Moses and others were not allowed to look on the face of God. This was because the immense power of this love would kill them. God’s power is so great that they would not be able to stand it.
So it is that the amount of chesed we humans can share is like Gevurah. It is restricted in power. If we did not receive this chesed in gevurah; we would not be able to absorb it.
We would dissolve into a place that is higher than our present physical existence. Perhaps this is what happened with Enoch and Elijah when they did not experience death; but were “taken” by God.
Most of humanity will never reach this level of Chesed. It is said that God uses Gevurah to restrict this type of His loving kindness from us so that we can absorb chesed according to the human capacity we are able and not limited to absorb. This is the balance that allows us to help to continue to unfold God’s plan on this earth for all of mankind.
The above process, which is for our own good, could be described as the flow of benevolent chesed which is called “tiferet.” Tiferet allows just the right amount of chesed to flow into our lives in order to guide us into our God-given destiny during the days that God has given us.
TIFERET
It is the merging power of these two types of power that helps us to be successful in sharing our love with others.
Suppose this connection power were the work of a great artist. The artist would be noted as the way he artistically blends all of the primary colors together to create more beauty and harmony in the colors of his paintings.
When we think of it this way, we can see how God helps us all to operate with compassion and harmony. These traits soften the severity of our our human actions.
We can look at the reasons that God created night and day. This examination will also help us to understand this combination of such traits. If the light is limited every 24 hours, we are able to absorb it into us as we rest in the night. The night is a temporary rest from the power of light being poured out by God. If we had all of the light for all of our time; our humanity in its limitations would not be able to absorb it all.
So it is that God gives to each man whatever His soul can absorb in His perfect timing. This is his way of Chesed of Gevurah.
THE NEXT GENERATION
To put this into more practical words for the devoted today; we must imitate the power of God in raising up the next generations.
Too much knowledge being dumped upon them minute-after-minute in this fast—paced, high-tech worldly civilization. This will turn them away and tend to make them rebellious. However; words chosen carefully and demonstrated with love and kindness will bring about God’s intended purposes in their young lives.
Good parents constantly demonstrate this attribute when raising their children. They instantly know that children have to learn to walk before they can run. Children must develop teeth before they can chew solid foods. Until that time good parents exercise the aspect of Gevurah in all that they do for their child.
To take this to yet another level; our Christian witness cannot be used as a sledge hammer to hit people over the head. The best witness comes from a gradual demonstration of chesed love and kindness. It is a quiet kind of strength that is lived out in a steady pattern of righteousness with humility. This then can be followed up with gentle teachings of Torah. Such teachings will eventually come alive inside the heart of a person as they begin to believe more and more of the truth of God.
When we look at all of God’s amazing attributes and their combinations; we learn better ways to live out our days.
So we continue to count the days.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
In summary we pray today that God will fill us with His Chesed love and kindness. We ask that this is tempered with gevurah. We pray for God to balance out our lives with His benevolence according to each of our needs.
Father God, we implore You by the great power of Your right hand to release the captive. Please strengthen Your people. Bless those who seek your Oneness and your merciful righteousness.
Master of The Universe, You have commanded us through Your servant Moses (Lev. 23:15-16), and your Son Jesus Christ (Parable of the Talents) to count our days. May our actions to honor You. Purify and sanctify us with Your supernal holiness. Amen