Monday, February 15, 2010

chenmoHta' - made

Sum joH'a' mu', the chal were chenmoHta'; Hoch chaj army Sum the breath vo' Daj nujDu'.

By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6

Dochmey vIchenmoH 'e' vItIv! I enjoy making things - and that makes sense! If we are indeed "made in the image of God" it is no surprise that we find ourselves expressing that image in creative ways. It's what God loves to do, isn't it?

I'm working on a small electronics kit right now. I've made other kits and projects in the past, including a simple robot from odds and ends and, one of my favorites - air rockets from scraps of recycled materials - they're literally veSDujmey - garbage ships. (That's the insult that finally got Scotty to mix it up in a fight with some Klingons - when they called the Enterprise a veSDuj, a garbage scow).

What catches my imagination here is the Psalmist's phrase about how it is by joH'a' mu', the LORD's word, that he accomplishes his creative work. The same is true for us - when I've built my rockets, or constructed the kits - I didn't do that at random. There was a mu', a word that gave me the inspiration (I read about the electronic kits) or even the plans and the instructions (my rockets cost me no more than a couple of dollars of parts, plus recycling pop bottles and other scrap - once I found the word, the plans, on the internet). It was the WORD that made the difference, that made me able to make something special - something new.

The word chenmoHta' here translates the Hebrew word asah, to make. Sometimes distinguished from "bara'" which is considered to be more literally create - as opposed to asah - to form. The difference is moot in Klingon, since the word chenmoH (chen, to form, plus moH - cause to) is used for form, make, create. What matters is that what God uses to create is not power or might, but his Word.

We do this too. The projects I find on the internet, or in magazines, or books... all those come to me - not in force, but in a simple "word" - that conveys to me the possibility, the idea, the chance that I can make something new.

Near my house is a mall with a craft store AND a major bookstore. I love them both, because I always say they "smell like hope." Who knows how many of the sweaters get knit, the paintings painted, or the books read - I don't - but I know that everyone who enters those stores gets a whiff of "hope," for in entering that store, they buy into the chance that they WILL do the project or read that book.

The Word - and now of course I'm talking about God's Word - comes to us with that same power, and a hope that will not disappoint. God can change our lives, just as he brought this marvelous universe into being - simply by his Word.



Sum joH'a' mu', the chal were chenmoHta'; Hoch chaj army Sum the breath vo' Daj nujDu'.

By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6



What new thing is He waiting to bring into your life today? Open his Word, to you, today.

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