Rûach

A dried up brain. That's what I have. Someone asked in my group on LinkedIn, what do you do when writer's block hits?

I blithly wrote that you pray and then sit down and write whatever enters your head. Soon the block melts and things like creativity start flowing again and you're off again. I was too hasty. It isn't that you pray, and it isn't that you just start writing whatever enters your brain. The awful thing is that when you want to write inspiring things you've got to have the breath of God. That is what Spirit, or rûach   רוּח

(roo' akh) -- say that with a gutteral breath and you are probably pretty close -- literally is.

Definition:  wind; by resemblance breath, that is, a sensible (or even violent) exhalation;

Now... Look at God's name YHWH and pronounce those syllabels in one breath. Yah Wha. Breathy and windy that can express peace said very softly as with a sleepy breath. In the middle of the night when you've been awakened say something softly. Breathy, peaceful.

A violent exhalation... When frustration bubbles up and you've got nothing on your mind except to release that pressure cooker steam build-up, or you will explode. What comes out of your mouth? Is it really a word? Not likely. When you express your anger in words your mind is engaged and you are thinking of something. But, during that time when nothing comes out but a very angry growl, your teeth are clenched, your hands are clenched, every tendon in your neck is exposed, and your blood pressure spikes, and your muscles are as hard as steel (perhaps encased in a bit of flab), that expulsion of breath, that air that whooshes out of your lungs is in response to injustice. Is it justified? Is it impaired by worldly values? Nonetheless (archaic, but such a wonderful word), nonetheless this expulsion is a response to injustice. It could so very easily be a gutteral expression of rûach. When that next happens, think about it. Does it sound like the word rûach? (Right after that "violent expulsion" of air, say the first 10 words of the Lord's Prayer. It truly works!)

What about sweet nothings? Oh, please, not that the Holy Spirit is nothing, but He is so very sweet. The young man's breath on the soft cheek of his beloved. How does he love her? If it is though the Lord's love, it is an eternal kind of love that will last through thick and thin, through heartache and joy, through children and, yes, through the love of others. The more one loves, the more love abounds. If he loves through the world, ah, how short lived that is. It will die and wither and burn up one day, just as the world will face that fate when Jesus steps foot on earth again.

Figuratively the word means: life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions): - air, anger, blast, breath, X cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, X vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

All of that in one little word, two symbols, that conveys a realm of emotion and physical attributes of our earthly abode, and we haven't even scratched the surface of it. But where is the Spirit in the definition? Well down the list, and it is in brackets no less... or no more. Why is that?


Then we have the Sigh. "Heigh ho" says Juliette. "Heee," says the exasperated mother at her wayward children. "Ach," says the sea captain in surprise. How does it work together? It is life! What is that Jewish word? Liechem -- To Life!  Rebtiva says in Fiddler On The Roof. It is with our very breath that we express Life. It is how we worship. Oh, yes, we can worship without speaking aloud, but how does one sing silently? How can the trumpet sound without breath? We must have it to live, and we must have it to express that Thing which defies the Devil... It is written. Jesus said it aloud. The Spirit moved and Satan was thwarted. It works.
 
Anger we discussed, but let's look a little closer. For it to be within commas, it stands alone. Rûach alone can express anger. Oh, yes. It does. Look at Revelation
 Rev 19:15 And out of His mouth goes forth a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations. And He will shepherd them with an iron rod. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of God Almighty.
 
That is a mighty expulsion of breath which will do something that no human can possibly conceive much less do. This sword that comes from His mouth will pierce even to the dividing part of the soul and spirit. (Heb 4:12)
 
Heb 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
 
Have you ever thought about that dividing of soul and spirit? Did you ever think that they could be divided? How about when the soul goes to Hell and the spirit returns to the Lord? Ecc 12:7 then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.
 
It is the Breaths of Life that God breathed. First the blood and then the air. How can anyone live and not recognize His handiwork and creativity? That is the mystery to me.