Teacher - YAH-rah and bridling

Unbridled horses are just strong, elegant and beautiful animals that serve no purpose, except to satisfy their own needs.

Yet, once bridled, they can fulfill a multitude of useful purposes with all the power and might that they have.

... its the same with man ...

If we are not taught (by the Holy Spirit) we are without understanding, like a horse or a mule running wild and without purpose.

The question is: How to bridle oneself?

We wait upon the Lord (wait? - remember this post? and this one?). The word translated as "wait" much rather means to bind or align oneself to.

Let's see.

The man who understood how to harness power and authority even against giants, writes a poem.

 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. There is a recent song about this ... just click here for "no longer slaves of fear"

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. 

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Psa 32:1-11

David talks a lot about sins and transgressions and inequity and confession and all that.

Well, the man lived under the old covenant, under a different set-up all together. 

But remember, the man is also a prophet. He looked to the point (the New Covenant) where God has not only forgiven every person's sins and iniquities and disease and adversity and trouble, but goes even further. In the New Testament God does not impute iniquity (reckon us our sins anymore), He instead imputes righteousness. Wow!

Enters Paul in the New Testament realm

Paul quotes David in Romans 4 when he describes God's imputed righteousness that comes not by works of keeping the law, but by righteousness of faith (Jesus - faith is a Person).

Paul further makes it clear when he speaks out openly against all traditions, even those of the Jews.

Back to bridling

God shows us exactly how to bridle (wait) ourselves onto Him. Even speaking in the first person through David, Abba says I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

This is exactly what Jesus said in John 14 and 15 that He would leave us His abiding Spirit to guide us and teach us all things and even show us things to come.

Binding by teaching

The Hebrew word for teach here, interestingly, is yârâh (a primitive root word pronounced YAH-rah) or יָרָה which means to direct the flow of water (also like rain falling); to lay or throw or shoot straight, especially an arrow; to point out precisely (as if by aiming the finger), to teach or direct rightly, to lay out.

The ancient word-picture or pictograph for יָרָה is the Hand of the Highest Authority revealed (or is Grace).

The Hand of the Highest Authority is revealed in Jesus and now in us!

These words are so close

Other derivatives of the word yârâh are the words yoreh (rain) and moreh, both pointing to rain and teacher, that is - the One who points out the truth or One who throws his directives in a straight way. See our post on the Former and Latter Rain here.

There is yet another Hebrew word derived from the root word yârâh and that is the word torah or law. Although the word torah is often translated as law, it's actual meaning is instruction or teaching.

We bridle ourselves how?

We submit ourselves to the guidance and direction of the Teacher. By His Eye (also fountain, face, favour) of knowledge and understanding we are guided.

The Teacher shows the way.

Against?

Against sin, châṭâ' or חָטָא (Hebrew root word) meaning, according to Stong's Lexicon, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference to forfeit, lack, expiate, (causative) lead astray, condemn: - bear the blame, commit [sin], by fault, harm, loss, miss, offend (-er), even to be without form. It is to miss the way. To miss the mark.

The ancient word-picture for sin is to shut out through deception, the Authority.

You are deceived in believing you have no Authority

We stand against sin (which includes sickness, bad health, poverty, adversity ... anything that misses the mark) by being bridled-up with the Teacher, by Whom we are sure to shoot straight and hit the mark!

When we speak His Word and Truth we hit the mark every time!

Our original design is to be inhabited by the Spirit of Abba, to spend the coolness of the day with Him, to be taught and directed by Him, to speak out the authority given to us in the garden of Eden and restored by the Teacher Himself dying on a cross, rising and defeating death on our behalf and giving us His abiding Spirit of power and love and a sound mind!

So, ...

Be

Be not without understanding.

Be bound up in Him and be doers of the Word!

A doer of the Word? (Click here if you missed that post)

Be glad in the LORD,
and rejoice, ye righteous:
and shout for joy,
all ye that are upright in heart.