šāmaʿ
by Tammy Iund Woodard
Monday - 3.15.21
The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting
with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening
white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them?
Please, Mommy, please?”
Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked
back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.
“A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. If you really want them,
I’ll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough
money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday’s only a week away and you might
get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”
As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted
out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she
went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for
ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and
at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore
them everywhere – Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she
took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if
they got wet, they might turn her neck green.
Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed,
he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.
One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”
“Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you.”
“Then give me your pearls.”
“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess – the white horse
from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one
you gave me. She’s my favorite.”
“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek
with a kiss.”
About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again,
“Do you love me?”
“Daddy, you know I love you.”
“Then give me your pearls.”
“Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new
one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow
blanket that matches her sleeper.”
“That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you”
And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.
A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed
with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin
was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.
“What is it, Jenny? What’s the matter?”
Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when
she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she
finally said, “Here, Daddy. It’s for you.” With tears gathering in his own
eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store
necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a
blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He
had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store
stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.
So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap
things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasure.
--Author Unknown
The Children of Israel were in captivity in Egypt for 430 years. The gods of that culture were numerous and they were gods of prosperity and sparsity. Continual sacrificing had to happen in hopes that the gods wouldn’t be angry with them, in hopes that they would have rain and good crops, etc. A living God who wanted to be in relationship with humans was a foreign idea to them.
There is no Hebrew word for our English word obey. If you look up the Hebrew word for the English word obey in the scriptures it is šāmaʿ. This word means to hear from the living God but more than just hearing. It means to move into it, to partner with what the living God is saying, to lean into it. It also means to allow the living God to do the work in you that He desires to do.
In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NLT) there’s a Jewish prayer known as the šāmaʿ: 4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.:
This prayer preceded the Lord’s prayer. It would have been the 1st prayer Jesus (as a boy) would have ever learned. It’s a prayer of unification that Jewish people would pray at fixed times during the day. The Children of Israel believed that any time you do the smallest thing to love God or your neighbor, you bring the kingdom of God down to the ground.
As we begin this series Journey to Easter and we think about the love of God, I want you to reflect on the story of Jenny’s pearls and the story of the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel’s “fake pearls” were all the sacrifices to communicate with dead gods they had learned to give in Egypt. But the living God said I have something better. I have something real. I have šāmaʿ. I want to be in a relationship with you.
In 1 Samuel 15:22 NLT: “22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” Now think about that scripture in light of the word šāmaʿfor obedience. It is more pleasing to be in a relationship with the living God, to hear from Him, to lean into what He is saying to us and to respond by allowing Him to do the work in us -rather than to offer sacrifices. It sure changed the meaning for me. Here at CCCoG we say šāmaʿa little something like this: What is God saying? And what are you going to do about it?
There’s a New Testament scripture that sounds like the šāmaʿ prayer. Ephesians 3:17-19NLT “17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
The love of God requires our response. How will you šāmaʿwith God on during this journey to Easter?
Call to Action
Read and reflect on these scriptures this week:
Reflection
Do you have “fake pearls” in your life? Will you give them over to Jesus?
What do you hear God saying to you? What are the words of God for you to lean into?
Are you in relationship with the living God? What does šāmaʿ look like for you?
