9/29/16

Far away or right nearby? by Gary Rose


Are there emotions that stem from other, more deep seated emotions? Also, I wonder what emotion would be at the very center of the chart?  Additionally, could this chart be divided up in an alternative way?

Three questions, and at least one possible answer for all three. First though, read the Psalm below...

Psalm 139 (WEB)
1 Yahweh, you have searched me, 
and you know me. 

  2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. 
You perceive my thoughts from afar. 

  3 You search out my path and my lying down, 
and are acquainted with all my ways. 

  4 For there is not a word on my tongue, 
but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether. 

  5 You hem me in behind and before. 
You laid your hand on me. 

  6 This knowledge is beyond me. 
It’s lofty. 
I can’t attain it. 

  7 Where could I go from your Spirit? 
Or where could I flee from your presence? 

  8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. 
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! 

  9 If I take the wings of the dawn, 
and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

  10 even there your hand will lead me, 
and your right hand will hold me. 

  11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. 
The light around me will be night,” 

  12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, 
but the night shines as the day. 
The darkness is like light to you. 

  13 For you formed my inmost being. 
You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

  14 I will give thanks to you, 
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. 

  15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you, 
when I was made in secret, 
woven together in the depths of the earth. 

  16 Your eyes saw my body. 
In your book they were all written, 
the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. 

  17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! 
How vast is their sum! 

  18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. 
When I wake up, I am still with you. 

  19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. 
Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 

  20 For they speak against you wickedly. 
Your enemies take your name in vain. 

  21 Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? 
Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? 

  22 I hate them with perfect hatred. 
They have become my enemies. 

  23 Search me, God, and know my heart. 
Try me, and know my thoughts. 

  24 See if there is any wicked way in me, 
and lead me in the everlasting way.

God created us and it therefore follows that HE would be at the center of our very existence (and this would include emotions).  If HE is at the center of our being, then our emotions could possibly be a reaction to HIS existence in our lives in the intermix with our physical reality. In other words, above an arbitrary horizontal line in the chart would be a negative reaction and below it a positive one. 

The answer to my all my questions is found in yet another question: Is God far away or right near by? 

The prophet has said...

Jeremiah, Chapter 29 (WEB)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.  12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  13 You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

All that remains to be said is this- Where is your heart, Gary?