Truth - Emet

My friend, Sherry & I have attended our last Monday evening video in the "Extraordinary Women" series. Honestly, I should have gotten a clue from the title for this school-year long series for women. I thought that "Extraordinary Women" was somewhat mistitled... that the videos' contents would still reveal the "Extraordinary God" that we ordinary women truly seek. So far, only 3 or 4 of the speakers have met that goal. Our speaker last night didn't. She started with a good topic - "Make Your Marriage a Great Marriage!" Her approach in teaching this topic, however, turned TRUTH on its head. I'm guessing that she borrowed a lesson plan from her husband, who has been a speaker for "PromiseKeepers". She forgot to adapt that lesson geared to men/husbands to her audience - women/wives. She spoke about the five love needs of every woman: unconditional love, emotional intimacy, spiritual intimacy, encouragement and friendship. She systematically addressed how a husband should meet each of these needs. In other words, the speaker set-up our husbands by handing us a list of expectations by which to judge our husbands... expectations that only an Extraordinary God can fulfill. Therefore, our human husbands are bound to fail & we could desperately need her last subtopic: how to guard your heart from affairs, if we try to implement her suggestions. I was completely disoriented when she again flipped the topic's approach and concluded the lecture by quoting Philippians 2.
Wow! She could have started with this Scripture and then clearly presented the TRUTH of how dependence on God totally meets our needs & those of our husband as well. (Psalm 23)
The Hebrew word for TRUTH is EMET. It is spelled using the first, middle and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It illustrates that God's WORD encompasses truth from the first letter to the last. I desire to be obsessed by and to focus totally on the TRUTH of God - the WORD made flesh - Yeshua. (John 17:17, John 14:6) Such a fixed focus transforms a person and gives them God's family resemblance. Then the TRUTH can be lifted up and will draw others to God, who is eternal life. (John 12:32) Focus on myself and my needs will only leave me in the fleshly resemblance of the first Adam - after the Fall. When the Hebrew letters of EMET/TRUTH are reversed, you spell out TEMA, the name of a son of Ishmael. (Genesis 25:15) Yes, TRUTH turned on its head will result in being like Ishmael, one "born according to the flesh". (Galatians 4:23) Sherry and I hope to continue meeting together on Monday evenings. Stay tuned to our blogs to read what will replace the misguiding videos.