The Enochian Cycle
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr
Enoch walked with
God: and he was not; for God took him. – Gen.5:24
And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they
brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. – Exd. 18:26
It is not reason that
we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. –
Acts 6:2
Odd, how one
can live with themselves, grow old and yet not really know themselves, or at
least on the up-side, they continue to learn about themselves with each passing
year.
I always
knew as a kid I was a bit different from everyone else; I marched to the beat
of a different drum, as they say and I was proud and reveled in that fact of my
individuality and uniqueness. But as a 40 something, I continue to learn more
about myself that has helped me in my life and ministry.
For example,
I just learned that I am an Enoch. Please do not get me wrong, I am not
comparing myself to the greatness of Enoch. No, no, I can’t even begin to touch
that. But I do desire to walk with GOD as he did. What I mean when I say I am
like Enoch, is that if anyone has read the Apocryphal books that bear his name
they will know that Enoch, though a leader of the people, would leave everyone
and everything behind for long and extended periods of time to walk with GOD in
the wilderness and during that time, GOD would “download” things into Enoch’s
spirit, and when he was filled to capacity he would return and pour out upon
the people, everything GOD poured into him. Then the cycle would start all over
again; off to the wilderness Enoch would go, only to return months later and
teach the people and then back into solitude he would go.
That’s like
me. It took me a LONG time to understand and realize that fact about me. I use
to feel so depressed and defeated after I expelled a massive load of teaching,
I would feel drained and empty, aimless and listless, not knowing what to do
with myself. Feeling I should pull away but afraid (vainly I might add) that everything
would fall apart while I was gone. I found myself announcing quite often the
need to “go on sabbatical” and wondered, “Am I that weak of a believer that I
need to retreat so often!?” It only took a couple dozen times for the LORD to
slap me upside the head and shove me in the direction of the wilderness before
I finally got it through my thick skull what the Holy One was doing. I was not weak;
He just created me to cycle the way Enoch did.
The writings
do not say, but I surmise by my own experience that when Enoch was away it was
not just a holy download fest, but that GOD did some serious refining on Enoch.
Despite us elevating this man to a “holier-that-us” status, he was a man like
us, tempted and plagued with a fallen nature like us, having character flaws
and personal issues just like us. Want to know how I know; because that’s what
happens to me when I am away. Not only does GOD download stuff into me to pour
out upon my emergence from the wilderness, but while I am in solitude GOD rips
off callouses, pokes and prods old, festering wounds and makes me walk through
the refiner’s fire and sands off the rough edges. It is a painful (not fun by
no means), but vitally necessary process. And want to know what else I
discovered? That when I leave things in capable hands, everything DOES NOT fall
apart while I am away. I discovered on one of my excursions to the wilderness that
that feeling and attitude was hidden pride as well as a hidden wound of
mistrust.
I am also
not trying to say I am a great leader like Moses, but share a trait of him and
Enoch, in that I am not a great pastoral Rabbi. I do not hang my shingle out in
front of my front door and invite everyone to lie on my Freudian couch and unload
their burdens. In other words, like Enoch, I let the residential leaders handle
the small, everyday stuff. Like Moses I only take the big cases and let the
other leaders handle the “small matters.” It’s by no means an, “I’m too good”
thing, no, it’s a, “That is not how GOD created me or called me to do” thing.
Like the Apostles, my gifts lay more in Teaching and Instruction and like Moses
and Enoch; the revelatory and prophetic.
So If I do
not return your emails right away, do not be offended. If you don’t see me for
a while on social networks, or it has been weeks since I posted a video,
podcast or blog you will know I’m walking the wilderness and as God is
downloading the next course of teachings He is also purging and refining me. No
need to worry, I’ll be back, just please lift up a prayer for me while I’m gone.
Thank you.
