Hitchhiker is taking the week off to be with family, so Godzilla takes the helm on this edition of “Something to Think About.”
Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:2-4
Godzilla likes to give context, so I added verses 2 and 4 to the conversation. Notice the use of the word “trust” in the context of protection. Hebrew word for trust is בָּטח (bawk-tah), a verb that carries with it the power of one lying face down on the ground in a submissive position before another.
Early Isaiah teaches the people to submit to God before it is too late. If they return to YaHWeH’s arms, he will protect them against the coming invaders. The LORD is looking to renew his covenant with the people; to return to the relationship of caring, provision, and protection. Not as some supreme dictator, but as one who has his mind (read love, compassion, and mercy here) fixed upon the people.
To make oneself completely vulnerable before another is very difficult for us. There are few examples of total submissiveness in culture: a child falling asleep in her mother’s or father’s arms, two lovers in an intimate embrace, boot camp in the Marines, or being put to sleep just before a colonoscopy.
42 has his mind fixed upon us and invites us to engage with him. As Christians, we need to remind ourselves that even though Jesus has saved us from ourselves, we must continually trust in the one who taught the whole world what it means to submit in love; from the cross.
How do I love when I know that God first loved me?
SEARCHING FOR 42 
Submissiveness as it relates to a colonoscopy is when the prep flush first kicks in. To paraphrase Admiral Farragut, “Damn, it’s like a torpedo! Full speed to the head.”
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