Blessing of Stillness #3
The Good Versus the Best
Beloved, I call your spirit, in whatever state it is or they are, broken or mended, wounded or healed, integrated or disintegrated, to attention in the name of Yeshua.
Listen to the word of G-d for you:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise…
Genesis 3:6
A well-known figure in the charismatic movement heard the L-rd say “son, it wasn’t the evil side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Eve was drawn to. It was the good side.”
Spirit, in that moment when Eve left off talking to the serpent, her attention was fixed on the Tree of Knowledge itself. She was pondering the nature of the Tree of Knowledge. That moment became a moment of stillness for her.
And, lest we drive to quickly past this story because we have heard it before and know how it ends, let’s consider the following. The Tree of Knowledge had some qualities that were good and desirable. Remember, everything G-d made in the garden was good. Repeatedly in Genesis 1 and 2, G-d refers to various things as good. And on the third day, when he made the lush grasses, vegetation, and trees, he created the Garden of Eden, and the two trees in the Garden, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Life. Both were good.
But just because something is good on the one hand does not mean that it is something G-d has for us. In fact, on the other hand we can grasp for something that is good that is not His best.
There is a good that is not submitted to G-d that can blow our lives apart and destroy us. This unsubmitted good led to the fall of humanity.
In that moment, which was a moment of stillness, Eve had the opportunity to consider what she should do. Her husband was there, also contemplating what should be done, and he did not speak up, nor does Scripture say that they consulted with one another, as probably should have happened here. Also, with that moment of stillness, Eve had unhindered access to G-d and could have sought Him out concerning the serpent’s exhortations and concerning things that were good but not the best for her.
Spirit, in your place of disintegration, there are parts of you that are not your core, at the depths of you, that might provide you with all sorts of good options and choices for how you spend your time and who you connect with. Many of these options lead to some paths that could bear some real life-giving fruit for you and for others.
But then there are those things that the Spirit of G-d is showing you, things that He wants you to do, things that resonate deeply with your core, and those things are the best things, and you know they are the best because deep cries out for deep. The depths of your core cry out for the depths of G-d’s core.
Spirit, there is a choice that is good for you to make between the good and the best.
So, I bless you with being able to recognize a moment of stillness when it comes, in order to discern between the good and the best.
I bless you with being able to clearly hear the core of your spirit when you are surrounded with voices that pull at you from all sorts of directions to places that lack stillness.
I bless you with being able to clearly distinguish between the voices speaking to you. I bless you to know when the voice is part of your shattered or divided spirit, the voice of the core of your spirit, the voice of your soul or one of its parts, the voice of the enemy, and the voice of one of the members of the Trinity.
I bless you, those of you who are intense, with being able to have moments and seasons where you can utilize the stillness in order to focus your intensity on the best thing G-d has for you.
I bless you, in those moments of contemplating a good that is not the best, with being able to engage with the Trinity, in that moment of stillness, when that choice is before you, so that you can receive from the Triune G-d the counsel that He would give you in that moment.
I bless you, in those moments, with being able to recall and rehearse the principles G-d has already given you.
I bless you with being able to strongly and deeply lean into those principles, and being able to stand on that counsel when a hundred voices are trying to pull you away from that counsel and from off of those principles.
I bless you to connect, at the core part of your spirit, with the Father of Lights, who provides the good and perfect gift, that is best among a whole range of good options. I bless you to see the most life-giving option available.
I bless you to connect with the Man of Dominion, Yeshua of Nazareth, who is your loyal Bridegroom. Yeshua crushed the head of the serpent so that the serpent’s voice would not have to compete with Yeshua’s voice.
I bless you to connect deeply with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, the Holy Spirit, who was given to you to counsel, guide, and protect you from the pushy wiles of the wicked adversary, and to protect you from the subtle influences of those things which are good but because they are unsubmitted to G-d, they are not His best for you.
I bless you with the quiet place of stillness in order to process all of that, in the name of Yeshua of Nazareth.