honeydrop

Honey Drop 64 – High and Holy, Crushed and Humble

eejoseph,

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15

The scene

A soul sits in quiet exhaustion,
feeling small beneath the weight of the world.
He looks up —
and the heavens stretch beyond imagination,
a realm too high, too holy, too infinite to reach.
He looks down —
and finds his own heart cracked,
his spirit low,
his breath thin.
He assumes the distance is unbridgeable.
But then the impossible happens:
the High and Lofty One steps into the low place
and sits beside him.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
We imagine God far away —
infinitely above,
infinitely beyond,
infinitely holy.
The philosopher says He cannot move,
cannot descend,
cannot bend.
And our own brokenness seems to confirm it:
Surely the High One stays high.

The Comfort:
But the verse opens a wormhole.
The One who inhabits eternity
also inhabits the crushed heart.
The One who dwells in the high and holy place
also dwells with the humble and contrite.
He bends without leaving His height.
He revives without losing His holiness.
He is infinitely above —
and also with me.
Marvelous.

The Lexical Brief

  • רָם וְנִשָּׂא (ram v’nissa’) — high and lifted up.
    A double ascent.
    A mountain of transcendence.
  • שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ad) — inhabiting eternity.
    Not visiting.
    Dwelling.
    Eternity is His address.
  • אֶשְׁכּוֹן (’eshkon) — I dwell.
    Same verb for the high place
    and the low place.
    One God, two realms, one presence.
  • דַּכָּא וּשְׁפַל־רוּחַ — crushed and lowly in spirit.
    Not the strong.
    Not the triumphant.
    The undone.
  • לְהַחֲיוֹת… וּלְהַחֲיוֹת — to revive… and to revive.
    Two infinitives.
    One purpose.
    Revival is not a bonus —
    it is the mission.

The drop

The High and Lofty One inhabits eternity,
yet He dwells with the crushed and humble.
He bends without leaving His height,
and revives without diminishing His glory.
He is infinitely above,
and also with me.
My low place is His dwelling place.

The Poetic Flash: The higher He is, the nearer He bends.

Honey Drop 63 – Salvation: always at hand

eejoseph,

“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm 34:18

The scene

A quiet room.
A leader sits alone after pouring out strength all day —
listening, guiding, absorbing the ache of others.
When the door finally closes,
the weight he carries settles into his own chest.
His heart feels cracked,
his spirit bruised.
And in that stillness,
a Presence he had forgotten to notice
draws close again.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
Even the seasoned ones forget.
We forget that God is near when the heart breaks.
We forget that He keeps saving the crushed in spirit.
We forget that rescue is not a rare event
but a divine routine.
We forget —
and then we feel ashamed for forgetting.

The Comfort:
But the verse refuses our shame.
YHWH is near — not becoming near, not approaching,
but is near.
And He saves — not once, not occasionally,
but continually.
The imperfect tense whispers:
He keeps rescuing.
He keeps lifting.
He keeps restoring.
Even when we forget,
He does not.

The Lexical Brief

  • קָרוֹב (qarov) — near, close, present.
    An adjective, not a verb.
    God’s nearness is a state, not an action.
    He doesn’t move toward the broken;
    He is already there.
  • יוֹשִׁיעַ (yōshia‘) — imperfect of יָשַׁע (yasha‘), He saves.
    Ongoing, habitual, repeated action.
    Saving is His routine.
    The crushed in spirit are not rescued once —
    they are rescued again and again.
  • Broken heart + contrite spirit — not two groups,
    but two angles of the same wound.
    The shattered and the crushed
    are the ones God stays closest to.

The drop

I forget His nearness.
I forget His saving routines.
But He does not forget me.
YHWH is already beside the broken,
and He keeps rescuing the crushed.
My weakness does not push Him away —
it draws Him close.

The Poetic Flash: He is near always. He saves continually.

Honey Drop 62 – In Our Total Failure God is Our Strength

eejoseph,

“My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

The scene

A pilgrim stands on a ridge at dusk,
hands trembling, breath thin,
the day’s burdens pressing from the outside
and the day’s sorrows rising from the inside.
He tries to steady himself,
but the truth is too honest to hide:
his whole self is tired.
And in that moment of unguarded collapse,
he discovers he is not alone.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
We spend our lives dividing ourselves —
outer strength vs inner resolve,
body vs spirit,
flesh vs heart.
We treat them as two separate battlegrounds,
as if one can hold while the other breaks.
But the perfect tense tells the truth:
my whole self — inner and outer — fails.
This is the way it is.

The Comfort:

And yet, the collapse is not the end.
The same verb that names your failure
opens the door for God’s fullness.
He becomes the strength of the very heart that failed,
and the portion that cannot be taken,
even when everything else is gone.

The Lexical Brief

  • כָּלָה (kālah) — perfect tense: fails, has failed, will fail.
    Not hypothetical. Not “may.”
    This is the way it is.
    One verb covering the entire human person —
    inner and outer — as a single, unified collapse.
  • צוּר לְבָבִי (tsur levavi) — the Rock of my heart.
    Not a supplement.
    Not a boost.
    A replacement.
    God becomes what the heart cannot be for itself.
  • חֶלְקִי (chelqi) — my portion, my inheritance, my identity.
    When strength fails, identity does not.
    God Himself becomes the future.

The drop

My whole self — inner and outer — fails.
This is the way it is.
But God steps into the collapse
and becomes the strength of the very heart that broke.
He is my portion when I have nothing left,
my forever when my today runs out.

The Poetic Flash: Your failure is real. His portion is forever.

Honey Drop 61 – Just Desserts for the Fainting and the Spent

eejoseph,

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.” Isaiah 40:29

The scene

A weary shepherd sits at the edge of the campfire glow.
The flock sleeps, but his heart does not.
He has poured out counsel, comfort, correction, and tears
until his own strength feels thin as smoke.
Across the field, another soul lies collapsed —
not faint, but spent.
And the shepherd realizes:
they are both held by the same God.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
Leaders often believe they must stay strong for others.
They hide their faintness,
bury their emptiness,
and pretend that “running out” is a failure of faith.
They fear that if they admit they’re spent,
God might step back instead of step in.

The Comfort:
But the verse refuses that lie.
Jah meets the faint with power and the spent with abundance.
He does not switch gods between stages.
He does not shame the empty.
He multiplies strength where there is none.
The shepherd and the sheep receive the same grace.

Lexical Brief:

  • הַיָּעֵף (hayya‘ef) — the faint, the one running out.
    An adjective used as a noun: a condition becoming a person.
  • אֵין־אוֹנִים (’ein onim) — the no might, the one who has nothing left.
    A noun phrase: not a description, but an identity.

The grammar moves from decline → emptiness, and the verbs match the movement:

  • He gives power to the faint.
  • He increases strength to the empty.

How sweet it is! Grace escalates as weakness deepens.

The drop

From faint to spent,
Jah does not change His posture toward you.
He gives to the one running out and multiplies strength to the one who has none.
Dear leader, Dear lamb,
your emptiness is not a threat to Him — it is the place where His abundance begins.

Poetic Flash: The God who meets the slipping overwhelms the spent.

Honey Drop 60 – Just be. Breathe and Wait.

eejoseph,

The Verse (the Petal)

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD”. Psalm 31:24

The Scene

A small circle of the faithful stands at the edge of a long night.
Behind them, the proud stride forward as if the world belongs to them.
Before them, the path is slow, quiet, and dim.
They are not asked to conquer anything — only to keep standing, to breathe, to feel, to wait.
And in the waiting, something begins to steady inside them.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
Waiting is not passive.
It stretches the heart,
exposes the ache,
and makes you wonder if courage has slipped through your fingers.

The Comfort:
But Jah does not ask you to be unbreakable.
He asks you to be human —
to stumble, rise, cry, mend,
to let your heart stay open long enough
for strength to find you.

The Lexical Brief – diving into the words for clarity

  • ἀνδρίζεσθε (andrizesthe) — not macho bravado, but stand up inside yourself.
    Be human. Be present. Be honest.
    Laugh, cry, hurt, heal — but don’t collapse inward.
  • κραταιούσθω (krataiousthō) — let your heart be strengthened.
    Not “make yourself strong,”
    but allow courage to come.
    Let the Keeper pour strength into the places that tremble.

Together they form a rhythm: your stance + God’s strengthening.

The DROP (the Nectar)

While the proud rush ahead,
you wait —
and in the waiting, you become real.
Be yourself in the shadows,
and let courage come to you.
Jah meets the honest heart
long before the dawn arrives.

The Poetic Flash: Strength begins where pretending ends.

Honey Drop 59 – Faith Finds its Footing

eejoseph,

“Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His servant? Let the one who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” Isaiah 50:10

The scene

A voice rises in the assembly — not scolding, but searching. “Who among you…?” Not because Jah is unsure, but because Jah wants the one who trembles, the one who listens, the one who trusts in the dark, to know he is seen. A lone figure steps forward in the shadows — not with confidence, but with honesty. And Jah nods, as if to say, “I know you. I knew you were here.”

Lexical Brief

  • יִבְטַח (yivtach) — to trust, to lean your full weight.
  • יִשָּׁעֵן (yisha’en) — to rely, to be supported, to rest on a sure strength.
  • שׁוֹמֵר (shōmēr) — the Keeper, the One whose ongoing action is to guard, attend, preserve.

The Tension & The Comfort

The Tension: You walk without light, uncertain of the next stone, unsure if your fear disqualifies you.

The Comfort: But the question is the comfort — Jah calls out because He already sees you. And the Keeper who knows your name keeps your way.

The HONEY DROP (the Nectar)

Jah asks “Who?” not to expose you, but to name you. The one who fears, obeys, trusts, and leans — Jah knows that guy exists. And the Shōmēr keeps him still.

May the One who asks “Who among you?” remind you that He already knows. May your trust find its footing, your leaning find its strength, and your darkness find a Keeper who never sleeps.

Poetic Flash: Your trembling step is already recognized in heaven.

Honey Drop 58 — Shalom, Shalom

eejoseph,

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on You, because they trust in You.” Isaiah 26:3

The scene

When storms begin to gather and my thoughts start running wild, You steady all my thinking like a parent calms a child. You hold my restless mind in a peace that flows like sea — shalom upon shalom, poured gently over me.

The shaking- the shalom

My mind leans hard on You when the world begins to shake. You keep me in a wholeness that no trouble ever breaks. Your care becomes the shelter where my inner fears agree that shalom upon shalom is where my trust will be.

You shape my inward frame when the pressure starts to rise. You quiet all the noise with a calm that never lies. Your presence is the keeper of the thoughts that bend the knee — shalom upon shalom, the peace that carries me.

Lexical Note Shalom shalom means wholeness in full degree; yetzer is the mind You shape intentionally; samakh is the leaning that trusts Your constancy — shalom upon shalom, the peace You give to me.

The drop

The Drop When my mind leans on You, You keep it whole and free. Shalom upon shalom — Your perfect peace in me.

Poetic Flash :Your doubled peace becomes my steadying decree — shalom upon shalom, the calm that keeps my sea.

Honey Drop 57 — You, My Light

eejoseph,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1

The scene

When shadows gather close and the night begins to rise, You kindle up my path and put brightness in my eyes. Your warmth upon my skin makes the darkness turn and flee — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

The shadow- the light

You show me every danger that would hide along the way. You steady all my footsteps so my feet don’t go astray. Your fire in the night is the shield that covers me — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

You lift me from the traps that were tightening unseen. You stand as my stronghold where the fearful cannot lean. Your presence is the fortress where my heart walks bold and free — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

Lexical Note: Light means sight and warmth and steps that walk free; salvation means rescue with sure victory; stronghold means safety no threat can decree — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

The drop

When You are my light, fear has nowhere left to be. Someone else can be afraid — but not me.

Poetic Flash: Your light on my path is my bold guarantee — someone else can be afraid, but not me.