Breathing

I first heard about this at our Women's Retreat in October. Then, a few months later Josh was watching one of the Nooma videos to prep for a devo. I heard what Rob Bell was talking about from the other room and jumped to go watch the video.

At the women's retreat someone mentioned that they had just read a book that discussed how the name of God (Yahweh) might actually be the sound of breathing.
The Hebrew people considered the name of God to be too sacred, too holy, to be spoken out loud. Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei, the letters that make up the creator's name, can't actually be pronounced. We've added the vowels "a" and "e" and called him Yahweh or Jehovah, but nobody is actually certain that his name can even be pronounced. If you say Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei quietly to yourself it sounds like breathing.

Go ahead, try it. Whisper Yah as you breath in and Weh as you breath out. It seems to fit naturally.

When I first heard this I immediately thought of my yoga class. In yoga we focus so much on breathe and breathing. I realized that I can focus on saying Yahweh while I go through the poses. I have been doing that for several months now and it is such a powerful experience.

“…the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

In the Bible the word for "breath" is the same word as the word for "spirit".
Okay, now think about this. We, human beings, are created in the image of God. The Bible says we are made in His likeness. When a child is born, before that baby can cry, it has to take in a breath. That means that the first thing every human being will do is speak the name of God. We die essentially when we are no longer breathing - or when we are no longer able to say the name of God.

If you stop and think about it, this powerful. Acts 17:28 says "For in Him we live, and move and have our being". All that we are, we are because of God. If we are able to worship Him and call on Him simply by breathing that tells us something. It is a tangible experience to teach us that we are always in His presence, that He is our creator and sustainer. He is the giver of life. How many of us take time to think about breathing? I encourage you to take some time over the next few days and focus on your breathing. Think about saying Yahweh, the name of God, as you breath.