HEBREW WORD STUDY – PEACE PEACE – SHALOM SHALOM – שלום שלום Shin Lamed Vav Mem Shin Lamed Vav Mem
Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.”
The presidential elections are over with and I am finding many Christians who are in a real funk over the results. Their candidate did not win and they feel the world has come to an end. The many prophets who predicted that their candidate would win and win in a landslide have been proven wrong and they are now even questioning their own faith. Why did God not answer their prayers, how could He allow such a thing to happen?
I am literally amazed at how easy it is for Christians to become depressed over an event that they prayed for God’s will to be done. Just because your prayer wasn’t answered according to your will doesn’t mean that God did not answer that prayer, His will was done. How quickly we forget Genesis 50:20: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive.”
Maybe churches need to open little comfort rooms as some universities and colleges did after the 2016 election where they could put little bunny rabbits and puppies to play with while they play peaceful music because students couldn’t handle the election results. Better yet, maybe churches should just leave the key to their sanctuary under the doormat so troubled Christians who can’t handle the election results can come into the sanctuary to pray and worship a God who can bring more comfort than a bunny rabbit or puppy. The Bible does teach that God will keep you in perfect peace if your mind stays on Him.
The word perfect is not really in the text, that is a paraphrase, albeit a good paraphrase. It is the words shalom shalom repeated twice. In Semitic languages when you want to emphasize a word you repeat it two times. Thus, when your mind stays on God you not only have peace, you have really good peace., peace peace, or perfect peace. Sometimes a word is repeated because there are multiple meanings for the word. For instance, if your mind stays on God, you will have calming peace, or maybe harmonious peace, or compensating peace, how about prosperous peace or maybe even healing peace. All these adjectives are definitions of shalom. Of course, translators cannot list all these adjectives in a translation so they sum it up in perfect peace. Whatever you can imagine is perfect peace, that is what it is. Puppies and bunny rabbits can temporarily relieve your anxiety, but they cannot turn a troubled situation into something good, only God can do that. So, we Christians who are troubled over the election results of 2020 have something much better to go to than those who were troubled over the election results of 2016, we have a God who created us, who created the universe, who controls kings and world powers that we can run to and find comfort and peace.
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
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How do we find that peace, we keep our minds stayed on God? That word stayed in Hebrew is samek like the letter Samek. The Samek is shaped like an O only it has a flattened top like a lid or hatch. It is a picture of a protective shell that once you enter you pull the hatch down and you are protected by the storms of life. As the storms rage, you are comfortably resting inside that protective shelter. It comes from a Phoenician word used by sailors. The Phoenicians were seafaring people and merchants. In the Phoenician, the word was used for sailors who would tie themselves to a sturdy part of the ship, like the mast so that they would not be swept overboard during a violent storm. So, too, now is the time for believers to tie themselves or bind themselves closely to God so this coming storm will not sweep them away.
I daresay when the news of the election results came in and it looked like all hope of the candidate that Christians were praying would win were lost, I bet many Christians found themselves praying like they have not prayed in a long time. Is that all it takes to bring a Christian to his knees clinging to God, a candidate losing an election? Well, it was worth it to God, He is having a field day with all his children gathered around Him, clinging to Him and seeking His face as He does what His heart longs to do and that brings comfort. So, if anything, maybe your heart’s desire was not met, but the election results met God’s heart desire.
Oh, and that little thing of who our next President is? That is nothing to God, a drop in the bucket of mere dust is the way Isaiah puts it (Isaiah 40:15). What God has planned for 2021 is a great blessing or a curse it all depends upon you Deuteronomy 11:26. Yes, there is a great blessing waiting for us in 2021 if we follow God’s word II Chronicles 7:14: “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” So, continue to do what this election result has caused you to do,- seek the face of the Lord.
Psalms 119:71: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
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Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
Aye, I will samek in the Lord.
As The Word is given to the Christians in China, Iran, Egypt, Venezuela and all nations, they will pray for the salvation of their nations leaders. So should we.
The living God is King and nations are subject to Him. Seek God.
Those who do not want to humble themselves before God will gnash their teeth, it is to be expected. The flesh wants to be right when it is wrong. Jesus left me His peace and I shall grab it for dear life. God knows what God is doing. Our works are not above the work of the cross in us and through us through the Holy Spirit. Everything was given to the Son, not people who want to think of themselves as ‘good.’
Jesus is the only good that we will ever need. I am so grateful for you & Laura, Chaim. You are precious to me.
I was so disappointed in this article. To the point I considered unsubscribing. But on 2nd thought, I can still appreciate the insights you bring on the Word of God. Not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath water, leads me to say to you, Get back in your lane. Insights into the Word are your forte, not opinion pieces based in the political realm. Get back in your lane.
M W let me politely remind you that whatever we decide to write about here is our “lane” as this is our ministry and our website and we are beholden to no one, only to God and what we feel He inspires us to write about. The point of the article is not about politics but a reminder to keep our eyes on God and not man. So many Christians are hurting right now because of their disappointments based on trusting in the arm of the flesh. Chaim is simply offering hope and comfort that God is still in control, He appoints leaders, His ways are higher than ours and He still Has a plan. Chaim’s “forte” is expressing the love of God, which is what he’s doing here.
Yes, I am all for your heart for God, Laura & Chaim! I hear you, I see you and I bless you. I am looking to God not to mankind. Only God sees the end from the beginning. You are here to bring glory to God and you are giving hope but each one us must hunger for the righteousness of Christ and not our own ‘good’ works.
I’m glad you hear and know our hearts : ) Laura
I am not a political, or a religious person. I try to follow Jesus, not.man. Politics as all about man. I just put the Sting song, If I Ever Lose.My Faith In You, in the post I finished.today. Exactly how I feel. I hate politics.
I don’t know if God will.overthrow the stolen election. There is fraud everywhere. But I pray that He unveils everything. It will not be pretty. I don’t put my faith in a politician, but we may have.more.time before evil takes.over the world.
Everything is a scam.
But.with faith in God, we have nothing to fear.
Only when Jesus returns will evil be defeated. Come Lord Jesus, come!
God is the One who chooses when someone speaks. God chose Moses, not the men of renown, and God has chosen Chaim to speak. You can choose not to listen. Like Nehemiah, why should Chaim come down for the likes of you? God speaks through whom God wants to speak. Perhaps your experiencing an earthquake from the lightening of Truth as God has given. To those trusting in the Lord, we are not looking to our right or left at all of the bad reports but rejoicing in God’s perfect will. God wants to give us His peace Love and joy but we have to choose to grab a hold of it for dear life.
:)
Amen and amen!
I just had the conversation with my wife… and others, but her first.
In 2021 we have seen this pandemic and racial division divide its people and bring unrest, and that does not exclude the Christian, he/she is right there in the mix. There have even been good conversations and preaching that has focused on these topics, but… yes, but!
I have not seen the Christian just find their support in Him alone, staying focused only on what matters most, eternity with our Creator. If we did what we should, then people would notice how little effect/affect the world has on our lives, and that would show them Jesus, and potentially change more lives than any conversation hashing our worldly issues ever could… they would have to ask, “why do they seem to not be affected, when everyone else is?!” One word answer, Jesus!!
*2020, maybe I’m wishful thinking or having just read you talking about 2021 my mind was trapped.
Great writing as usual, I am 62 and voted for the first time in my life because my daughter begged me to and one thing that did shock me was the unbelievable ability for there to be fraud committed, the possibilities were endless, definitely the USA needs to
change the way we vote.
What saddens my heart concerning the election is how Christians judge and turn on each other depending on their political views.
I like how you reminded us that God’s will was done.
I know Christians who where praying for God’s will to be done on both sides of the aisle both in 2016 and 2020.
I’m so heart broken about how we treat those we disagree with in the church. Why are we allowing division to exist between us? We are family.
I hear you. The Body of Christ is out of joint. If we are feeling sad about the division, we are suffering with Christ who was torn into pieces by the religious intellectuals. The wheat is being divided from the chaff. The family of God will come together from the four corners of this earth and are as I speak. No worries for those depending upon the goodness of God. Now is the perfect time to turn back to God if we are relying upon a human king.
Amen and amen…Shalom!
Thank you my Dear Teacher, Chaim.
Dear readers it doesn’t matter who the president will be because the United States will be destroyed . Not by Russia or China but by it’s own people within .
“A house divided against itself can not stand ” !! The USA will go the way of the Roman empire and others
What frightens me the most is how many Christians accept what is evil and call it good . This shows how many Christians will accept the Anti Christ when he comes or if he is already here .
RIP USA . I love you!!! I will test in the arms of Jesus my saviour .
Amen is all I can say to that teaching.
We are to pray for Gods will not our own anyway, if it’s not Gods will it will only bring us harm.
I too don’t understand it all but that is perfectly fine with me.
In Isiah it mentions God saying “ My thoughts are higher that your thoughts and my ways are higher than your ways “
In other words Father knows best 😀
Election is over, results are still to be revealed. God’s will is done when we do His will. This is not devotional. This is horrible political post. I am really put off by it. Government is corrupt and according to you we need to put up with it!!! Liars and haters are NOT to be in power any longer! America IS great again!
I cannot wait to get my emails from you but today I am surprised Chaim…and disappointed but it shows up in our humanity sometime right?!…just for reference, the “media” does not call elections so there are no results and they (media) have self-appointed…your blog has always been about the word/words and your stories…so I, daresay, a little disheartened that you did not just give the peace that the Lord showed you (it blessed me when I spit out the bones of course, the chicken was as always delicious) I wish you had done the same, taken out the bones as you are so careful to do in your blogs….but you spoke against and about and crassly, even mocking His people…that is surprising for a man who knows the value of the word…God is in charge and He does know His plans are for good, so continue in that vein dear Chaim and do no speak words unseasoned with grace, it is not good fruit and you have always been such good fruit…we do not put our trust in any man or look to them but I do believe as is seen many times in the scripture, that there are times that He calls us to stand and yes the positive in this is that His people have cried out and sought Him and prayerfully they will continue…God gave you a revelation of true peace over His people and a better presentation of that could have been rendered, instead of a mocking diatribe…