Читать книгу: «Where is your head?»

PREFACE

Every person lives according to the way his thinking is structured. The head is not just a part of the body. It is an image of what governs a person from within. In the head, thoughts are born, decisions are formed, and the path he will walk is determined. In Scripture, the head always has a special meaning. It is an image of authority, an image of consecration, an image of rest or unrest, an image of glory or downfall, an image of the thought that moves a person.

A head can be laid upon a stone—and then a person will see heaven opened above him. It can lie on the knees of temptation—and then strength slips away like water through fingers. It can be anointed with oil—and then destiny will change forever. It can bow before a king—and save an entire people.

It can find its place on the chest of Jesus—and come to know a love stronger than anything in the world.

But a head can also end up on a platter, in a noose, or at the walls of the enemy. Because the choice of where a person inclines his head determines what will happen to his life.

This book is not about ancient people. It is about us. About our choices. About our thoughts, which we either bring down to the ground or lift up to heaven. About hearts that are searching for where to find rest.

The stories in this book are not dry facts. They are images that live in each of us.

In each of us there is Jacob, seeking revelation. There is David, going against giants. There is Samson, lulled by the wrong hands. There is Esther, afraid to enter the king’s presence. There is Judas, taking a wrong step. There is John, boldly leaning his head on the Teacher’s chest. And there is Christ, the One who once bowed His head for us.

And the main question I ask myself and the reader is: where does my head lie?

May this small book become a road that leads not only into history, but into the depth of your heart.

JACOB. A HEAD ON A STONE: WHEN NIGHT BECOMES A LADDER

“And behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

(Genesis 28:15)

Jacob left his home. He walked all day through the wilderness, and when the sun set beyond the horizon and night fell, he stayed there for the night. Jacob was fleeing from the brother he had deceived, from home, from his mistakes, he was fleeing from himself. And now he was alone, in a place without a name. Just wilderness. Just night. Just a man with nowhere to lay his head.

Jacob looked around and found a stone. Placing it under his head, he lay down in that place. A stone, nothing like the pillow of a blessed man. Yet it was upon it that Jacob laid his head. Sometimes God begins to speak when we lose comfort and convenience.

Jacob closed his eyes. He fell asleep. And in a dream he saw a ladder, its base set on the earth and its top reaching to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending on it, as if heaven itself had come down to meet a man who had lost his way.

Jacob stood breathless. He did not know what was more important—the vision or the voice that sounded within him: “I am the God of Abraham and Isaac. I am with you. I will not leave you. I will bring you home.”

God did not ask him why he was fleeing his father’s house. He did not remind him of the cunning with which he deceived his brother. He did not reproach him for his head lying on a stone and his heart on the edge of despair. He simply said, “I am with you” and that was enough for the man to cease being a lost fugitive.

Jacob awoke trembling: “How awesome is this place.” Until that moment he had not suspected that the Lord was present there. The wilderness was the same as yesterday, and the stone was just as hard.

But inside Jacob everything had changed. “Surely this is the house of God,” he said, looking at the place that yesterday had been a nameless wilderness. He took the stone on which his head had lain, set it up as a memorial, and poured oil upon it. One stone among thousands. But God chooses the simple to make it holy. Jacob could not change his past, but he could lay his head—his thoughts, his fears, his destiny—upon the Stone that never deceives.

That night a new man was born. The one who came into the wilderness as a fugitive left it as a man of the Covenant.

Dear friend, on what stone does your head lie in difficult days? On the stone of anxiety or on the stone of God’s promises? On the stone of restlessness or on the Stone of the Covenant? Perhaps it is time simply to stop, to lay your head where it is firm, and let God speak to you.

SAMUEL. A HEAD BY THE ARK AND THE VOICE THAT CHILDREN HEAR

“…and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.”

(1 Samuel 3:3)

The night in the sanctuary of Shiloh was different from the night that surrounded Jacob in the wilderness: here the night silence was sacred. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel, still a boy, was lying in the temple of the Lord near the ark of God.

He slept there not because it was comfortable. On the contrary, the floor was hard, and there was no comfortable furniture or cozy setting around. But nearby was the ark—the place of God’s presence, the place of remembrance of all the wonders God had done for Israel. And Samuel, as if not understanding his own privilege, simply lay down where no one else would think to lie.

He placed his head on his simple rolled-up garment, which his mother brought him each year, pressed his cheek to it, and fell asleep. Sleep comes easily to children when they feel safety and trust in the place where they fall asleep.

Meanwhile, not far away, Eli, the old priest, was sleeping. His eyes could barely see anymore, but that was the lesser of his misfortunes. Far worse was that his spiritual hearing had grown dull. He had heard much of what God spoke to him, but had listened little.

And in the middle of the night Samuel heard a voice that was not human: “Samuel!”

The boy jumped up. There was no fear in his heart—only obedience. He ran to Eli: “Here I am! You called me?”

Eli, sighing, shook his head: “No, my son. Go back to sleep.”

Samuel lay down again. And again, the voice: “Samuel!”

He ran to Eli once more. And again he was dismissed. The old priest heard the boy’s call, but did not hear God’s call. And the third time, when Samuel heard his name, Eli finally understood: God had come to speak, but not to him, rather to the child who had laid his head closer to the ark than anyone else.

Eli said to Samuel: “If you are called again, say: ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.”

And when the voice sounded a fourth time, Samuel did not jump up; he remained lying down, but his heart stood reverently before God. Samuel whispered: “Speak, Lord…”

And God spoke. Not with thunder. Not with lightning. Not from the heights of heaven. He spoke quietly, as one speaks to those who have already inclined their head in His presence.

That night Samuel heard words of judgment against Eli’s house—heavy words, but true ones. And from that moment, God began to speak to Samuel regularly. The great prophet of Israel was not born in a royal palace and not on a battlefield… He was born in the sanctuary, where a child laid his head.

There are many voices around us, and even more voices within us. But God’s voice is the gentlest of all, and it can be heard only when we are in His presence. Samuel was a child, yet he heard that voice more clearly than the aged high priest. Why? Because he slept by the ark, not by the threshold.

Because his heart was not deaf. Because he did not know that God might not speak. For him it was natural: God calls—man answers. We often wait for thunder, but God comes in a whisper. And the whisper is heard by those who are near to the One to whom it belongs.

Dear reader, where does your head lie when you fall asleep? In silence or in noise? In prayer or in anxieties? Near God’s presence or far from it? Am I ready to say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears,” if God calls me in the night?