A Journal Worth Noting?

I keep trying to come up with something notable, but it isn’t working. So, rather than try that, I’m just going to make a journal entry.

I’ve been reading my Bible lately, attempting to go cover to cover. So, I’ve started in Genesis, and now I’m in Exodus. What I really want to talk about is the note from the Orthodox Study Bible on Exodus 6:9.  The note says, “The children of Israel had a heart problem — they were willing to believe, but not to suffer for the Lord’s sake.  Therefore, they were fainthearted and disobedient because of their cruel bondage.”  I find that I, too, have a heart problem because of my cruel bondage to sin.  I find that I often am disobedient to God, and that I don’t listen, in my heart, to what He wants me to do.  I also find that the more I don’t listen and am disobedient, the harder it is for me to hear Him at all.

I find, though, that if I take what I already know He wants me to do (pray, among other things), then I start to hear Him a bit more clearly.  The mother of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann of blessed memory once told him, “Go to church.  Say your prayers.  Remember God.”  Scripture also tells us to pray unceasingly.  In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul (with Silas and Timothy) writes [5:16-18] “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  How can I argue with that?  But, then, too, how can I accomplish that?

There are a couple of ways, but the one that is in most common practice is the recitation of the “Prayer of the Heart” or the “Jesus Prayer” (one in the same), which is “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  Another way I can keep working on that is to regularly attend Divine Liturgy (the main worhsip service that relates, time-wise, to the Roman Catholic Mass and the various Protestants’ Sunday Worship Service), attend Vespers when I’m able, and to pray with the Church as I can.

By doing this, I hope to eventually overcome some of my heart problems.  The truth of the matter, though, is that, as at least one monk has said on his deathbed, tears in his eyes, “I have not even begun to repent.”  I’m no monk, but I think, no matter how holy or righteous I think I am, that is how it will be.

Cheers,

Red Wolf

Exodus 6:9 from the Orthodox Study Bible and the Unbound Bible.  As I’m a fan of multiple languages, I’m doing English (SAAS), Greek (LXX Accented), Russian (1876 Synodal), and Latin (Nuova Vulgata).

So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they paid no heed to Moses because of their faintheartedness and cruel bondage.

ἐλάλησεν δὲ μωυσῆς οὕτως τοῖς υἱοῖς ισραηλ καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσαν μωυσῇ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀλιγοψυχίας καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων τῶν σκληρῶν

Моисей пересказал это сынам Израилевым; но они не послушали Моисея по малодушию и тяжести работ.

Narravit ergo Moyses omnia filiis Israel; qui non acquieverunt ei propter angustiam spiritus et opus durissimum.