Ecclesiastes 11:10 Remove vexation from your heart
It is a very painful shock to our lives when someone who seems healthy, strong, takes a sudden turn for the worse and either suffer a major illness over a long period of time, passes away, or both. We struggle to understand how this person changed so quickly and so dramatically. In any event, it is a shock to our system. We do the mourning-surprised we are there.
In some cases, the befallen person may have had an idea something was wrong. A certain pain while walking, a tightening in the chest, a moment of dizziness, or a spreading sore. We often try to pretend these health issues are not affecting us, we find ways of “working around” them, we avoid going places or doing things that would aggravate the condition. This often leads the people in our lives to wonder if we are okay, to wonder if we do not want to be around them, are we anti-social…
If you are a person with the health problems we have been discussing, stop reading this article, invest in yourself what the Creator has invested and go get the help you need. For the rest of us, read on!
The Rabbis and Sages teach, “As it is below, it is above”. Simply put, the physical realm and the spiritual realm are trains running on parallel tracks. Our spiritual health can be falling off, greatly impacted by a “sickness in the soul”, that one day leads us to a spiritual death. I believe this was what the Apostle Paul was referring to when he said, “A sickness that leads unto death”.
Our current social and political landscape feeds on pain and suffering. It is a playground for Asatan/The Opponent, with endless negative energy burning everywhere. People arguing, fighting, exhibiting threatening behavior, mob mentality and the list goes on. We are spreading spiritual sickness and disease at an alarming rate.
Some of the deadliest physical diseases are ones that are genetically passed down to us. Disease like diabetes, types of cancer and many other types of sickness are handed down to us through our bloodline. Other types of diseases can be found in the air we breathe, transfers of fluid, or contact with contagious materials. The disease of the spiritual world is not much different.
The Scriptures address generational sins, cultural sins and a general state of evil in this world. All these serve as potential influences in our lives, creating obstacles and hindrances that block out or minimize the Light of the Creator in our lives and on our path. There are a lot of ways to get spiritually sick-which is why the Scriptures tell us so much about preventing the disease of spiritual sickness.
Of these sins, one with the most destructive qualities is hatred. Hatred of others and their actions dates all the way back in Biblical history to the first set of children born outside the Garden of Eden. The Torah (first five books of the Bible) tells us that the “shedding of blood”, which in Hebrew means, “bringing blood to the face” as in anger, hatred or humiliation is punishable by death. Quite a heavy consequence.
For hatred to operate, it must be internalized. For some people, this process of internalizing their hatred is like a cancer eating away at their spiritual life. They cannot understand why God seems distant or even absent from their prayers and activities. The Author of the Book of James told us to say we love God and hate our brother is simply the life of a lie.
Because hatred is internalized, the person that hates is much more impacted than the person who is hated. This hatred eventually becomes a fuel that drives the person to act on their hateful feelings, often on other people than the object of their hatred. This expression of hatred is called “wrath” in the Scriptures.
Just like the physically sick person needs to seek out a doctor, the spiritually sick person needs to seek out the Creator. All of us need to have hatred removed from our hearts with surgical precision. Only through the help of God can we overcome the grip of hatred in our souls. Once the hatred is removed, we need to focus our efforts on filling that space with the “sacred”-tearing out the fallow ground and preparing new soil.
This is not an easy process. Hate is so much easier to hang onto than love, because hate does not require that you know the person, group or situation deeply. A lot of people hate others for the color of their skin, without ever speaking a word to them. Love, however, takes knowledge and the more intimate the knowledge, the more intimate the love!
To release hatred from us toward another person, we must first admit that we have hatred in our hearts and that it is blocking our connection to the Light of God. Secondly, we need to verbalize our desire to remove the hatred.
Here is a prayer I suggest…
We are going to be honest and clear and remove hatred from our hearts.
When we feel (enter the emotion or feeling here: hatred, envy, malice, etc) toward (enter the person’s name or the group’s name here) and we desire in the core of our beings to let it go.
As Light fills our hearts and souls, Light coming through the area we are opening through the releasing of our hatred, disgust and intolerance drift away, and are replaced by compassion and understanding.
We become filled with love; the negative forces are dropped from within. We are creating Sacred Space for the Creator to enter.
We feel love for all people around us, and release hatred from our souls.
To be absolutely free from hatred also means to truly stop hating. In order to win this spiritual battle, remember two important steps: 1) God, in His Highest Wisdom, will place opportunity after opportunity for you to practice not employing hatred, so do not be surprised. 2) While God will empower you to win the battle against your hatred, He also expects you to be an active participant.
David Fournier Rev. Dr.
Lead Instructor
Centre of Hebraic Insights
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