Ecclesiastes 12:14: “Because God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

 

It is interesting that the word for God is haelohim and has an article in front of it. It should more properly be rendered as Because The God. This word for God haelohim is referring to the one who has authority over you.   The word is rooted in an old Sabean or Old Persian word allah which is the same as in the modern Arabic.  I know we talk about the Muslims not worshipping the same God that we do but that is only in their perception of God.  Linguistically they do worship the same God as we do.  When they  talk of Allah they are referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is just their spin on God, which is different than ours.  Their picture of God is a demanding, tyrant who makes excessive demands upon them.  They are afraid of God, afraid if they cross a line they will be horribly punished.  If they do a lot of good things they will be rewarded.  Ok maybe not so different than the view of God that many Christians have. You know, there are some Christians, who are so hung up on works and trying to win God’s favor, I wonder if they would make better Muslims than Christians.

 

Anyway, this word is rooted in the Semitic root al or el is found in every Semitic language and has a broad range of meanings.  It is used to refer to God Jehovah, to angels and even to human judges. It is also used as a reference to strength or power.  In this case the article placed before it is used to express the fact that there may be many gods out there that people serve, but there is only one who will call our actions into judgment, that is The God.

 

He will call all our acts or ‘asah into judgment. Asah means works, produce, and creationsAsah refers not only to physical acts but spiritual acts.  This includes the creations of our imaginations.   One aspect of this judgment is whether the creations of our imaginations are good or “tov” ie. in harmony with God or evil “ra”. There are many different ra words, each giving a specific form of evil.   This particular ra is ra’a and is a word used to reference evil intentions.  It is to be envious and cause hurt to others.  It has it’s an evil that originates in the mind or simply put evil imaginations.   Hence these acts that God will call into judgment are not so much outward acts, but actions that take place in the mind. We often say if it does not hurt anyone or result in outward actions, is it really a sin or is it evil?  According to this verse our imaginations can create things that are either in harmony with God bring us out of harmony with God whether we act upon these thoughts or imaginations or not.

 

Note that both will be called into judgment.  Actually the text uses the word yavi which means to bring rather than call. This verb is in a Hiphil imperfect form.  Hence every act of imagination will cause itself to be brought into judgment.  The word judgment is shapah which has the idea of making a determination.  The word whether is im which is often translated as if. Hence the verse could read that God will judge or determine every act, even what we create from our imagination to determine if it is in harmony with Him or not.

 

But soft, the writer also says that everything that is hidden will be judged as well.  This word for hidden is an amazing word in Hebrew, it is the word alam  which is also the word for everlasting.  Do we ever stop to think that the creative acts of our imaginations could last forever?  God created the world in His imagination.  He created us in His imagine and gave us an imagination as well.  Animals do not have an imagination.  It is with our imagination that we picture a bridge and then build it.  Just as God pictured a tree and then created it.

 

The Talmud teaches that God did not stop creation on the seventh day, He just passed it on to us. He gave us an imagination so that we can continue to create.  I have an IPhone that I hold in one hand.  That little object that I hold in my hand can do everything that all the electronics in a full page ad for Radio Shack in 1980 could do and even more. It is more powerful than the first computer created seventy years ago that took up a whole room and now I can hold it in my hand. God has given man an amazing power to create and with this ability to create comes great responsibility.

 

We are reminded in this passage that we will be judged in how we use this gift to create. If you are a song writer you can write a song that will be hurtful to God and others or will honor Him.  You can paint a picture that will bring glory or dishonor to God.  You can write a book that will bring praise to God or turn people away from god.  It is our choice.  God gave us an imagination to create ways to honor Him and bring us into intimacy with Him. Because of this creative gift God has given to us we can relate to Him as no other creature can.  Or we can bring hurt and dishonor to Him as no other creature can.  It is our choice and God will be the final judge as to how we use our gift or whether we use that gift or not.

 

Yes, we will be judged even if we do not use our imaginations.  God has given us an imagination to create a unique way for us to relate to Him personally. The problem is that we spend so much time imitating the form of worship and praise that others have created that we never stop to create our own form of worship and praise that is special between us and God alone.  God has given each of us an ability to create a form of worship and praise to Him makes our relationship personal to Him.  The enemy wants very much to prevent that from happening so He standardizes our worship and has everyone worshipping and praising God the same way.  As a result we get bored and lazy with our worship, it becomes a duty or is something we force out of us rather than something that is natural and free flowing.

 

Discovery, create your own form of worship that expresses you and your heart, that you feel comfortable with and is uniquely you.  That is why God gave you an imagination or an ‘ashah creative ability in the first place. My writing this little study is my special way to worship, praise and relate to God. What is yours?

 

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