Daily Prophets
Day 184
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteous actions are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; behold, see, we beseech you, we are all your people.”(Isaiah 64:5,7,8).
The first verse above is the recognition of our actions and the results from them. We are as an unclean thing is the key here. The prophet is telling God we are not unclean in and of ourselves, we seem as one is an important distinction to me. Just as with our righteous actions are as filthy rags, the prophet is reminding God to not discount the goodness, the righteousness that we have done because of the iniquities that “have taken us away”. Second Isaiah is teaching us an important lesson and reminding God that we are not just our iniquities. We are more than our worst missing the marks. We have done good things and we have kept faith.
This lesson is one which we all are guilty of. As is said; one Oh Shit wipes out 100 ‘atta persons’. We are seeing another(s) for their errors and imperfections in order to feel good about ourselves. This happens in politics, in business, and in our personal affairs, we are constantly looking for the ‘chinks in the armor’ so we don’t have to feel bad about our own imperfections. This is either/or thinking and behaving. Second Isaiah is calling to God and, I believe, all of us, to stop seeing human beings as one-dimensional. We are both/and; doing right and missing the mark! One does not wipe out the other, yet we live as if it does. We make idols of people and then search for their errors so we can bring them down. We do the same things with ourselves. People are constantly in fear of ‘being found out’ because we are stuck on the idea of perfection. We are not perfect, nor will we ever be, yet we continue to put up the facade of perfection or we continue to beat ourselves up for not being perfect and we fall into depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.
The prophet is reminding God that we are God’s creations and we cannot be wholly to blame for being imperfect. God made us, God is parent and God is the potter who molds and shapes us. God made us imperfect and, while our job is to improve ourselves and the world one grain of sand more each day, we should not be lost forever because of our imperfections. Yes, we have missed the mark greatly through our actions of idolatry, cruelty, being power hungry and we are still Your people, God. We need Your chastisement at times to return, we need Your anger to remind us to clean up our acts, we need You to hide Yourself in order to realize how much we need You, this is all true at times. We also need to know that You are still with us, that You are still calling to us and responding to our searching for You. We need You, God, to accept our amends/T’Shuvah and take us back. The prophet is reminding both God and all of us that we are God’s people, we have rebelled and revolted against God and we are still in need of God and we are in ready to accept God’s love and God’s path.
Rabbi Heschel teaches “Yet, Second Isaiah does not passively accept Zion’s lot. Far from being silent he challenges the Lord putting the Lord in remembrance. The prophet voices his bewilderment at the silence of the Almighty.”(The Prophets pg. 185-186). I am hearing Rabbi Heschel’s words in relation to his actions. Rabbi Heschel spent his life calling us to return to God. He was an activist who worked so hard for all of us to ‘be human’. He taught us by the way he lived to seek peace and end strife, to stop seeing with prejudiced eyes, to acknowledge our similarities rather than promote our differences. He is constantly reminding us to seek God, to live a life that is compatible with our being partners with God. Rabbi Heschel also challenged God and through his challenges brought many of us lonely people back home to God and God embraces us with love and kindness, truth and compassion. We have to continue Rabbi Heschel’s work, we the inheritors of his words and ways, we who have returned to God to whom God has returned to get to continue his path and his work. I pray we are willing and worthy of this.
In recovery, we leave either/or thinking and see the totality of living. We recognize we are imperfect and we continue to improve. As the 12th step says: “we continue to practice these principles in all our affairs”. Addiction/behaviors were the symptoms of our problems, the problem was our separation from God and from living decently. In recovery, we recover our integrity, our decency and a ‘new pair of glasses’.
I am guilty of missing the mark by allowing one ‘oh shit’ to wipe out connections. I have been the one whom other people have done the same thing to. I am so sorry for the times I have done this and have made amends to most of the people I did this to and I see how I still do this at times. Like the prophet teaches me and as Rabbi Heschel teaches me, I have to continue to see the whole person and I have to see myself as a whole person. My commitment is to continue to be in Radical Amazement and not get stuck in old notions and ideas. I also commit to see everyone in both/and thinking and leave the either/or. I will not be naive and I will not be distrustful, I will see each person and situation for what it is, rather than what I want it to be. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark