Whose Breath Are You Breathing?
To whom have you told [new] words? Whose breath has gone out from you? Will the dead spirits, who are underneath the water, be stirred, or those who dwell there? (Job 26:4,5 Artscroll Stone Edition Tanach)
Job’s retort after Bilad’s third speech (in which he belittles Job) shames Bilad for his lack of understanding and wisdom. Certainly, Bilad’s words cannot be God’s, for neither the living nor the dead are stirred by Bilad’s wisdom. In essence, Job is telling Bilad that he is unqualified to judge because he lacks the wisdom and surrendered relationship with God to do so. He speaks from the heart of man, not as from God.
The lesson for us today is the same. Man’s wisdom is folly in God’s eyes and lacks the authority needed to change what is wrong with our condition. The power is in God’s breath, not our own. What He says sets creation in motion, what we say is carried away by the winds. The difference is in the spirit that blows the breath, ours or God’s. When we are in intimate relationship with God such that His desires, intents, thoughts, and words are our own, then our breath carries His intent into creation.
Breathing is about creating. It is our breath that ushers forth our heart’s desires, intents, and hidden thoughts as words, establishing them in this realm and giving them form. Will that form stand? That is the question. If issued from man’s soul and with his wisdom the answer must eventually always be no. If issued from God’s realm and through His breath as uttered through His faithful servants, then the answer must always eventually be yes.
In a larger sense this begs the question, do you breathe to live or live to breathe? If you simply breathe to live, then your breath is bound by the years of your life and what it establishes will return to dust as you do. Living to breathe, living to create through the power of God’s breath breathed by man, however, establishes His Kingdom on earth and is thus eternal. That is the job description of the believer, to establish Heaven on earth. So …
Whose breath are you breathing?
Father God, I want the kind of relationship with You that allows my heart to know what Your heart desires. I want to think Your thoughts and speak Your words as I am in relationship with Your creation, including the people in my life and others whom I encounter. Show me, Father, what I carry in my desires and beliefs that is not of You, so that I may discard them freely and be filled by what You carry in Your heart. Teach me how to breathe Your heart’s desire into creation.
Shalom