HaWaH - Life
To live like God
YaHUaH intended it
André H. Roosma
10 October 2024 (Dutch original:
4 Oct. 2024)
To live like God YaHUaH1 intended it – isn't that
what we all want? Especially when we realize that He too wants it, and that
it is the way to reach our full destiny, and to find joy and satisfaction.
In the articles on this website, I often go back in time - not seldom to
the time of the Patriarchs and Moses (Mosheh),
to find roots of proper Biblical thinking. This time, I focus on a specific
ancient Hebrew word, which plays an important role in the Torah. In it, I
found some very nice starting points for the life I was just talking about.
Here, I will share my findings with you.
In the Hebrew from the time of Abraham and Moses the word
for to live, to breathe, to be there, was HaWaH.
In the script from that time2 it was written with three
letters/pictures as follows: 
. So it consists of drawings of two people with bent
knees and their hands in the air, and a tent pin in between.
Someone with the hands in the sky has been the symbol of surrender, joy,
wonder and worship, since ancient times – also in the Middle East.
Between those two human figures is of a picture of a tent pin - the symbol of connection, connectedness and therefore also of security.
To live in the ancient Hebrew sense is therefore closely associated with
surrender, wonder, rejoicing, worship / praise to God. And all that, in close
connection with each other.
Let that sink in for a moment. The Biblical understanding of life or to be,
exists in surrendering, wonder, adoration and joy; and that as people
together, in connectedness.
Then the question arises: how do we get there, how do we achieve that?
To answer that question, I first go to the glorious Name The God of the Bible:
YaHUaH.
The glorious name of God, YaHUaH, is associated with that verb
HaWaH - to Live. YaHUaH was written in that old time
as follows: 
The first letter (we read from right to left) is the Yad -
a giving hand (including the lower arm and the elbow). YaHUaH is the One
Who gives that HaWaH - Life! We just need to receive it.
I discovered the above a long time ago.3
But for the last few months it has been very much on my mind again. We are
often looking for what life is really about. We seek joy instead of depression.
We don’t want to live alone, not only exist, no, we want to achieve the full
goal that God has with us, because then there is life, fulfillment. And that's
all in here, as I was allowed to see!
The key to living as God intended is that we surrender to Him. And that flows
from experiencing God’s great Love - when we really receive it. When we realize
and experience how enormously Loving He is4, how merciful and
graceful and patient He is with us5, then we will be amazed and
stand in awe! And is it so difficult then, to surrender you to Him?
To experience that love of God, combined with our wonder and surrender – and
God’s response to that – will kindle a desire in our hearts to love Him
reciprocally – He who loves us so much, and to worship Him. So we come to a
very real way of what is called the great commandment, of Deuteronomy 6:5
(cf. Mat.22:37; Mark 12:30): You shall love YaHUaH your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.6
From there we will also love others more (cf. 1 John 3:16; 4:7-12, 16).
Our connection with God, ourselves and others will grow. And the joy we
experience together will grow.
From all this, I see more clearly, why God YaHUaH in the Torah
always says (before He tells Israel what to do, or something like that):
“I AM YaHUaH”. His glorious Name was to remind them, and may also
remind us, of Who He is, and of the HaWaH Life that He gave them, and
that He gives us too! That is the basis. From there He can give us further
instructions. First, there must be that basic attitude of joint wonder,
surrender and worship, based on His great Love and glory.
In Psalm 50:24 we read that God YaHUaH says: “Whosoever offers
praise, honors Me, and prepares the way that I make him see God’s salvation.”
By praise and worship, we not only honor Him, but also prepare a way that He
can show us His salvation and healing and restoration.
It also has to do with the coming Kingdom of God and of Jesus -
Yeshu‘a. For with this attitude of awe,
surrender, wonder and worship, we let God YaHUaH be King.
We acknowledge and value His dominion and say that all glory, honor and thanks
are owed to Him! Thereby, He becomes King in our hearts and lives. And so
we actually join in building His Kingship and His Kingdom.
You know, what struck me when I was thinking about this? It is about two
people together, raising their hands to God. They know their place, facing Him.
They see something of His greatness, of His glory, of His Love. They dare to
be as small as a little child lifting his hands to dad or mommy to be lifted up.
A child who's expecting all from Daddy or Mommy. A child who is happy with the
love of the parents. Didn't Jesus - Yeshu‘a -
say we should become as a child?
And those two persons do it physically: they bow their knees and lift their
hands (cf. 1 Tim.2:8). You don’t do this Living with your head (alone); you do
it with your whole body!
And then another thing: it is not about a doctrine, not about theory, and even
not about a belief system. It is about awe and wonder. About people, in awe of
their loving God YaHUaH, Who gives this rich Life just like that. It is
about people’s relationship with their God, and people in connection with each
other.
Didn’t Yeshu‘a say that He had come
to give us “life in abundance” (John 10:10; RSV: “I came that they may have
life, and have it abundantly.”)?!
In Romans 1 we read Paul’s analysis of how it often goes the wrong way
in this world. The essence of it is that people do not want to see and
acknowledge God as God and Creator. From that it becomes dark in their hearts
and minds, and they make wrong decisions. By just focusing on God YaHUaH Himself, and on His greatness and love, and marvel at that and rejoice in Him,
worship Him, precisely the opposite happens: it becomes light in our hearts and
minds, and we are going to listen to Him more and therefore we will speak and
act with more wisdom and Love.7
In summary: That old Hebrew verb HaWaH - to Live, to breathe,
to be there - was written with three pictures:
. What I see in that, is that to really Live is about
wondering with others about Who God YaHUaH is. And we have all reason
to do so, given His greatness and especially His inexhaustible Love to us!
This leads us to surrender and worship. And in there is joy and it opens the
way to God giving us even more. And even this, this very full and eternal Life,
is something He gives us. It is His character, His nature to do that, as
represented in His glorious Name YaHUaH. That in itself is even more
reason for thanks, wonder, surrender, joy and worship!
 Yes, that is how we may always stand
before Him, with bowed knees and our hands raised in joyful surrender and
worship.
If I look at all this and let it sink in, I say again, What a God!
Definitely worth all our praise and worship! And: I want more of that
HaWaH Life! So I’m going to focus even more on that relationship
with Him, that wonder, joyful surrender and worship!
Hallelu YaHUaH !
Notes
| 1 |
The glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately
as possible from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this glorious
personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more
background information see:
André H. Roosma, ‘The
wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who
will be there’  , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
See also the other articles on the
significant Name of God, on the articles page here. |
| 2 |
This script preceded the Paleo-Hebrew script, that
preceded the Aramean script we know from the Bible books of the First Testament
as transmitted to us. It is called (Old) West-Semitic, because it dates back
to the time of Abraham, when the West-Semitic languages (including Hebrew and
Aramaic) had not grown apart yet. The script is known from engravings in rocks
and drawings on potshards in the area where Abraham and Israel have stayed:
from Syria to Egypt, Sinai and Israel. I was fortunate to discover that it is
originally a picture script (pictographic script) and discover of many of its
pictures which associations one had with it at that time.
For more information, see: my 4-page Hallelu-YaH
Draft Working Document
‘introduction to my
research on the West-Semitic and Paleo-Hebrew scripts -
used by the Patriarchs, Moses and the kings of Israel’ , and:
the Hallelu-YaH Draft Research Report:
‘The Written Language of Abraham,
Moses and David – A study of the pictographic roots and basic notions
in the underlying fabric of the earliest Biblical script’ , a living document by
André H. Roosma, 1st English version: 18 April
2011 (Dutch original: January 2011). |
| 3 |
See for example: ‘Life, security and belonging
in joyful adoration, from the hand of God’ , brief Hallelu-YaH working document about the Biblical Name of
God in the earliest Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011
(last update: 25 Feb. 2011)..
See also:
‘ - Aah!, or: Wow! – The essential art to
wonder and rejoice’, 10 Sept. 2012
In research by Melanie Rudd, Kathleen D. Vohs and Jennifer Aaker:
‘Awe Expands People’s Perception of Time, Alters Decision
Making, and Enhances Well-Being’ (Psychological Science 23, Oct. 2012; p.1130-36) it was shown
that awe or being impressed — the “Aah!” experience of wonder and awe – has
a very positive effect on our thinking and perceiving, even stronger than
that of being happy.
In the past week another, more recent (follow on) research by
Melanie Rudd et al, ‘Inspired to Create: Awe Enhances Openness to Learning and the Desire for
Experiential Creation’ (Melanie Rudd, Christian Hildebrand, Kathleen D.
Vohs; Journal of Marketing Research, Sage 2018); the title says it
already: the AWE experience makes us more open to learn new things and we
become more creative. Also in finding solutions for every day issues.
Let’s go worship! |
| 4 |
God is Love, says the Bible (1 John 4:16; cf.
John 3:16). It is not so that He does love today (but tomorrow morning He
might decide not to do that, because his head is not inclined to it or so).
He is love, now and always. He has proved it, even though it cost Him everything. And when you might say, yes, but..., I advise you to read the book
of Wilkin van de Kamp: God is Liefde, Punt!, Vrij Zijn, Aalten, 2021;
ISBN 978 94 90254 86 5 (in Dutch; God is Love, Point!). Or go for example to
a Father Heart School, or an Ellel Week: Bridge from your head to your heart.
My wife and I did, for the last two years, and we got yet more impressed by
God’s great love, for everyone and for ourselves personal! |
| 5 |
See Romans 2:4; and also: ‘What God YaHUaH says about
Himself – the Message of Exodus 34: 6-7’, Hallelu-YaH brief web-article, 20 January 2012, and: ‘The Character of God – חסד ואמת - chesed we ’emet - grace and
truth/faithfulness’, 10 July 2015. |
| 6 |
Also with Israel, the love that God asked of them was no
more than a reaction to His love, in which He had saved them from Egypt -
Deuteronomy 4:37 (see also Is.63:9; Hos.11:4; Jer.31:3, where it says:
“From afar, YaHUaH has appeared to me: Yes, I have loved you with
eternal Love, therefore I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”). |
| 7 |
In essence, we end up at what I describe in ‘The significant Name of God (26) - The יראת יהוה - Yir’at YaHUaH’,
26 Oct. 2024 |
|
, Accede!, Soest NL, 2024-2025;
all rights reserved.