BEYOND THE DALETH GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS Lamentations 3:23: They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. Not all who wander are lost. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring. Through many toils dangers and snares, I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe thus far And grace that will lead me home. -John Newton- Amazing Grace Last night I had a dream. Normally, I forget my dreams by the time I awaken, but this one seemed to really haunt me, sort of the like the Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar were haunted by their dreams. The Talmud teaches that the last dream you have before awakening is often prophetic or a message from God. The Bible does indicate that God speaks through dreams. Both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar seemed to know their dream was just not your ordinary dream coming down the pike. Prophetic or not, this dream seemed to serve as a good illustration. In this dream I was at the front of a church auditorium and there was a group of deacons standing in a circle, holding
hands and trying to sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness. I was not a part of that group but I recognized the song and started to sing along. I like singing in a dream because I can actually sing without causing Sparky the wonder dog to start howling. Anyway, in this dream I noticed the deacons did not know the words and were struggling to sing the song. I sang louder hoping they would pick up the words from me as I wanted to join in a great chorus singing this song of the faithfulness of God. But they did not hear me and refused to let me join them. Anyway this dream has been haunting me and now as I sit down to study, I am naturally led to Lamentations 3:23 which served as the muse for the song Great is Thy Faithfulness. I looked at this verse in my Hebrew Bible; They (referring to His mercies) are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness is one I have often studied. I was certain there was nothing more I can glean from this verse that I had not already discovered. One thing I did notice that I never considered before was the word rabab which is rendered as great. Rabab is rarely rendered as great, in fact this is the word from which we get our present word rabbi. The most common Hebrew word for great is gadol. Yet that is not the word that is used here. Rabab means master, leader, chief, captain or general, one who is a leader among others. When we say great is they faithfulness we are not saying His faithfulness is vast or expansive, but that God s faithfulness is the leader, the chief among all or any other faithfulness. An employee can be faithful, a spouse can be faithful, a dog can be faithful, but the greatest faithfulness, the chief among all faithfulness is that which comes from God.
Then I noticed that the Hebrew word for faithfulness, emunateka has a Kap and Quamats at the end of the word. I think I am still asleep or dreaming because the Kap is waving at me and saying Bet you never noticed me before either, did you? I had to admit, I never noticed this Kap and Quamats before which indicates a second person pronoun. I paused to think, Why would a writer move from the third person to the second person unless it was to make an exclamation. Kap and Quamats went on to explain that the writer wrote out the statement that God s mercies are new every morning, then was so overwhelmed by what he just wrote that he paused and gave an exclamation. He lifted his hands to heaven and shouted: Great is your faithfulness. Since I had now already gone over the edge and was talking to the Hebrew letters, I looked at Rabab and asked; What makes God s faithfulness so great or rabab? Rabab instructed me to grab my hiking boots and backpack and follow him. This dream was already way out of hand, so I did as he said and grabbed my faithful walking stick and follow Rabab beyond my Daleth and through my Looking Glass. I found myself with Rabab standing before a beautiful trail leading into a cool, pleasant looking wooded area. There was a sign at the beginning of the trail which read: Journey of Life. At the bottom was written, 5 miles. Suddenly 5 jumped out of the sign and stood before me very muscular and with hands on his hips said in a deep voice, As a 5 I am the number for mercy and grace. I then shook his hand, thanked him for reminding me and moved on. As we walked this trail, I began to find the journey to be so pleasant and enjoyable that I started to have an easy
conversation with Rabab or his three letters Resh, Beth and Beth. I asked Resh how he managed to hook up with the other two Beths to form Rabab. He said he represents leadership or the head. He was here to lead me through this Journey of Life. I asked about his two twins Beth and Beth. Beth number one said he was there to challenge me to continue my journey to my home in God s heart. Beth number two said he was there to encourage me to sanctify or make holy the place I was presently at even though I was still wandering toward my final home in God s heart. Well, I have to admit that the first two miles on the Journey of Life were really wonderful and my Hebrew Letter friends were nothing more than traveling companions, although they assisted me from time to time with directions and encouragement. It was when I reached the third mile of my journey that I began to understand the important role my companions were playing. What was just a gentle breeze but I sensed this breeze was filled with adversity and it was gradually picking up into a might wind. In a few moments this wind of adversity had reached hurricane strength and literally blew me off my path. I immediately planted my faithful walking stick firmly in the ground and hung on for dear life. The wind blew so hard I was hanging in the air in a horizontal position, like a flag on a flag pole blowing in the wind. My walking stick contained all my earthly supports, friends, education, finances, health, etc. But this storm was so violent that even my faithful walking stick was beginning to lose its support and before long my dear walking stick snapped in two pieces and I went flying off into the air like a leaf off a tree. I knew when I landed I would land hard and I just closed my eyes waiting for the impact. But instead of landing on hard rocks breaking
every bone in my body, I landed in what felt like a gentle pillow. When I opened my eyes I found myself gently cradled in the arms of Rabab (great) who seemed totally unaffected by this violent wind. To Rabab it was just a gentle breeze as I rested snuggly in his arms, resting in the great faithfulness of God. I no longer had my walking stick to support me but Resh took the lead and now I was being supported by the Beth twins (my heart in God s heart) as Resh led me through the terrible storm. Beth number one continued to encourage me, reminding me that he was an extension of God s heart that stood at the end of my journey. I needed not to fear as nothing would separate the Beth from God s heart and I was safe so long as I clung to Beth number one. Beth number two, which represented my heart excited told me how he was sanctified by the storm in this third mile and how that third mile helped to make him holy unto the Lord. I realized that the third mile was merely an opportunity for me to learn and experience firsthand the Rabab (great) faithfulness of God. Resh told me that once I left my present life for the my eternal state, I would never experience any such storms again. I shouted, That is really great. I quickly apologized to Rabab, Sorry, I didn t meant to offend your name. No offense taken, replied Resh, But do consider, the great opportunity you have in your present life to go through the storms and experience firsthand the faithfulness of God. You shall never have that opportunity in your eternal state. As we entered the fourth mile the storm was now completely ended and the sun came out, but oh, the wreckage the storm left behind. Beth number two tried to encourage me and reminded me that four for the fourth mile, represents creation and that God was going to take this fourth mile of the
Journey of Life and re-create it. This new creation would be so new that I would have to depend upon the Resh (leadership and Holy Spirit) to guide me into the fifth mile of journey. But I was so weary from the storm, so discouraged by all the wreckage that I doubted I wanted to continue into the fifth mile of the Journey of Life. I looked back on the wreckage and I wept and told Rabab (great) that I was now 63 years old, I didn t know if I really had the strength to continue onto the fifth mile. Not only that I had lost my faithful walking stick all the supports in my life. The support I leaned upon (friends, education, finances, health etc.) was lost back in that storm. The twin Beths (my heart joined with God s heart) lifted me up and said: Do not fear, we will be your support now. Rabab, the great (faithfulness) of God will carry you through that fifth mile. I told Rabab (great faithfulness of God) that if they would stay with me and assure me of the faithfulness of God, I was ready for that fifth mile. As we walked past the mile marker announcing that we were entering the fifth mile, I found we were walking back through my Looking Glass back into my room. Rabab immediately jumped back into my Hebrew Bible. Hey, wait just a minute, you promised to walk that fifth mile with me. Rabab answered: And so we shall, but remember what the Talmud teaches, that the Torah is all one word. I smiled remembering how the ancient Hebrew has no spaces between words and it is as if the whole Scriptures are just one long word. I will have all of Scripture taking me home to the heart of God. It was no longer the faithfulness of my walking stick (my earthly or natural supports) that would get me through that last mile but it would be Rabab the greatest or chief of all faithfulness that would get me through that last mile of the Journey of Life, a five (grace and mercy) mile journey.