If revenge is so sweet why is there a rotten taste in my mouth?

This may actually be the shortest post I have done or will do, so hang on to your hats, here goes. Never try to get even with someone, although you may have the power and ability to do so. Okay, there is your lesson.

 These are my two precious grandsons. 

 I think the picture sums up this story. 

You will understand at the end.

Oh, you need more? Begin reading in Genesis 41:1 and read through the end of the book. You have just read about the greatest example of meekness ever witnessed short of Jesus Christ himself. Oh, yeah what was that Hebrew lesson I taught on a few weeks ago? Could it have been something called.....fractals? Yes, I think that would be the word. Could Joseph be a fractal of the Messiah? Hmmmm. Let us explore that thought.

Joseph (one of 12 brothers) was a young man when his brothers - ten out of eleven, sold him to a caravan of peddlers. Those peddlers then sold him to Pharaoh as a slave. After years of serving Pharaoh (and ending up in prison for quite a few of those through no fault of his own), Joseph comes to be quite powerful within the government. He is given a new Egyptian name and most likely looks very Egyptian. His God has given him the ability to interpret Pharaoh's dreams which involves seven years of great harvest followed by seven years of great famine. It is during this time of famine that the story unfolds.

Those older wise-guys who sold him into slavery many years ago have shown up in Egypt to buy food.  Joseph is a very powerful man. He literally holds, within his power, life and death to the multitudes.  Joseph has been placed in charge, of all the food in the land, by Pharaoh himself. Joseph recognizes the brothers, but they don't recognize him. Aha! He can finally get even with them for what they did to him. "Sell me into slavery and make me have to live in a dank dark prison, will you!"

Now be honest, isn't that what you would have done? How many of us make the statement regularly, “if I were them I would let em have it!”  We throw out statements of that nature all the time. We watch the news and judge people who are arrested. We declare that if we were the judge we would throw the book at them! "If I were his wife......" "If I were the supervisor......" Joseph could have snapped his fingers and had them all thrown into the dungeon. They would have spent the rest of their days on the chain gang or put to death, if that's what he chose for them.  After all Joseph had the power and servants who would do whatever he ordered them to do, without question. So, what did he do?

If you read the narrative through with a western mindset, it sounds as though Joseph is toying with the brothers in order to be cruel to them. He insists they bring back the younger brother, but they must leave one brother behind, for collateral. He then orders his servant to put their money back into their sacks. This act causes the brothers great anguish for many months when they discover the money upon their return home. Our story continues with the brothers returning to Egypt bringing the youngest brother with them, much to the Father's dismay. The return trip does not bode well.  As they re-stock on supplies and are leaving, Joseph's servants pursue them and accuse them of taking a goblet from Joseph’s house. It is found in the youngest brother's sack, after being planted there by a servant at Joseph's instruction.

Hopefully you have been learning from my posts that you must read God's Word from an Eastern mindset, though. As we readjust our thought process we can see that rather than toying with the brothers, Joseph is merely testing the situation. It is of absolute necessity that he be able to know whether the ten who sold him still have animosity toward the youngest brother, Benjamin, the only other child of his mother Rachel. Did you catch the two times Joseph was so overcome with emotion at seeing his brothers he had to turn away from them or leave their presence in order to collect himself? No grudges here, just overwhelming love. 

Rather than repaying them with vengeance, Joseph confesses who he is and grants them immunity and a place to live.  He brings them into the safety of Egypt where they can live in comfort and peace, for their lifetime.  Shortly after his father’s death he tells the brothers,

“Although you intended me harm, God intended it for good:  in order to accomplish – it is as clear as this day – that a vast people be kept alive.”  Genesis 50:20

Aren't you glad that God doesn't pour out His vengeance on us?  Talk about someone with the power to unleash everything on us and give us what we deserve!  And think about this, with every person we would love to "give it" to, there are probably five that would love to "give it" to us.  I tend to forget there are probably just as many or more that I have wronged out there, as have wronged me. 

Oh to have eyes to see such insights into the things which come our way!  Joseph was truly a man led by the spirit of God, so much so that he holds a special place in the teachings on the Messiah and it is more than just a fractal!  Let us take a look at the Messiah fractal and also look at a new concept. The Jews teach there will be two Messiahs; Messiah ben (son of) Joseph and Messiah ben David. Mashiach ben Joseph must come first. (whoo hoo! you think he might already have? - See if you think Yeshua came as this Mashiach the first time!) Let's look at the similarities between Joseph and Yeshua (Jesus).

(Excitement building.......)

1. Joseph and Yeshua have this connection thing with the land of Egypt (Matt 2:13-15)

2. Genesis 41:38 "Could we find another like him - a man in whom is the spirit of God?"(take your pick of NT verses!)

3. Joseph was 30 years old when he came to power or into his leadership role; Yeshua was approximately 30 when he began his ministry.

4. Genesis 41:55 "Go to Joseph. Whatever he tells you, you should do." (Water into wine story John 2:5)

5. Genesis 42:8 "Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him." (Was it not true that the brothers, (Jews), of Yeshua did not recognize him either?)

6. Genesis 42:18 "on the third day, "Do this and live" (hmmm, where else have we read something about the third day and live?)

7. Genesis 42:24 "He turned away from them and wept" And again in Genesis 42:30 "so he went into the room and wept there." (And was it not also recorded that Yeshua wept?)

8. Genesis 44:10 "What you say now is also correct" (Are these not almost the exact words Yeshua replied to the woman at the well?

9. Joseph became a Redeemer for his generation by devising a plan, for storing up enough food during the seven years of good crops, in order to have food enough to last during the seven years of famine.  Yeshua became the Redeemer for not only His generation, but for all mankind!

The previous nine statements or quotes are a concept I want to introduce to you known as verbal tallies. A verbal tally is a portion of scripture or one kind of odd word from scripture that leads you to another portion of scripture and connects the two. To be truly in keeping with the teachings, they should be read the other way around.  For example when you read the quotes from the New Testament it leads you to the scriptures in the Torah.  The problem with most Christians is that we are very familiar with the New Testament, but have only a vague remembrance of Torah. 

Now, do you want to hear more of the teachings on the Messiah?  Okay, well here are the things taught by the Jews regarding the Mashiach ben Yoseph:

1. Mashiach ben Yoseph will prepare the world for the coming of the final redeemer, Mashiach ben David.

2. Mashiach ben Yoseph will be killed and resurrected.

3. His death will be followed by a period of great calamities or tribulations which will occur before the coming of the Mashiach ben David.

 

Does any of this ring a bell with you?  This makes me excited about the coming of the next phase of the Messiah, does it you?  I am setting on GO, BABY!!!!! 

I am also getting so excited about what is to come in the Parashat readings for the coming year.  We have only just begun and the next month should get you ramped up and blow your mind.  I guarantee they will totally change your way of thinking about God and your relationship with Him!  (For the way better I might add, but your paradigm may have to make a major shift in the process!)

 I know I am behind and am hoping to start fresh in the New Year!  As I close out my posts for 2012 and get ready to ramp up for the New Year to come, I want to leave you with a blessing which will be for you and your family in 2013.    

May the Lord God, maker of heaven and earth, pour out blessings upon you.  May your desire be for His Torah and to dwell in His tents!

 

Thank you for reading and please feel free to pass this post along to all your friends or anyone who wants to go deeper in the Word of God.  You are welcome to give me your comments and insights.  I learn as much from you as you learn from me.  In fact, I have a tidbit to pass along in a short little post that I learned from a friend recently.  It may be that the comment you make today, is needed by another reader for “such a time as this.”

 

Shalom!!!

 

 

 

Broken Mirrors, Lost Diamonds and the Festival of Lights!

 

Happy Chanukah!





It is time for me to take a break from the Parashats long enough to slip in a little Hebrew lesson, so to speak. This lesson has been on my mind for weeks, but has become so poignant over the last few days due to a family tragedy for a friend of mine. I can not go into detail for reasons of confidentiality, but I will ask that you pray anyway. It matters not when you are reading this, God will use your prayers to meet a need at the appointed time.

It is also a special holiday season for the Jewish nation.  Today is December 8, 2012 (USA) or 24 Kislev 5773 (Hebrew calendar) and the season of Chanukah begins today at sunset.  Chanukah is the Festival of Lights and what a lesson for us to explore at this time.   I grumble and complain at the many things that prevent me from sitting down at my computer to write, but how appropriate that God, blessed be He, would allow those things to interfere in order for me to have this lesson ready today!  Praise Him!!!!

For this lesson we will travel back to Genesis and the creation. One of the Hebraic teachings is that at creation everything perfectly reflected the image of God as in a mirror.  When sin entered the picture the mirror shattered into billions of pieces.  As that mirror shattered, everything in creation was left with at least a small shard of that image within it.  Some shards were large, yet some were so tiny they could not be seen by the naked eye.  The important principle in this is the fact that all humans contain within in them at least a fragment of the image of God and that carries within it....HOPE!

I had almost forgotten this principle when just a few weeks ago I was in a discussion with a friend regarding a certain individual.  I made the statement that there was no hope for them to which she replied, "they contain a sliver of glass, there is always hope." I had to eat a little crow that day, but I was so glad she reminded me of that.

As I turned around on the job and went back to work, with my head hung low in shame at myself, I began to think about the man who lived among the tombs in Luke 8:26. He most likely was mentally ill and it seemed as if everyone was, at the very least, afraid of him, but had also written him off as "hopeless."  Then Jesus came along and He saw, what was that....a sliver? And Jesus said, "My Father wants the piece of glass that lies in your heart to come back home to the mirror. Will you let me put it back in place?" And the man said, "You believe there is hope for, for.....mmme?"

Not only did Jesus see something in the man, but the man saw something in Jesus.  Do you know what it was?  Let me give you another example and see if you can grasp where I am going with this.  It has to do with Chanukah!

The first time I heard my Rabbi tell this principle my mind immediately thought about an incident which happened many years ago with my parents. When I was about 10 years old, my parents were in St. Louis, Missouri and my dad bought my mom a set of wedding rings at a pawn shop. My mom had never owned more than a gold band and now she had a diamond ring and band to match. The diamond was a sizable one and she wore it for several years before deciding to have it placed into a new fancier mounting. She wore it faithfully without ever taking it off, even when doing laundry by hand (mistake). One evening before going to bed she looked down and noticed the diamond was missing from the setting. She and my father turned the house upside down looking for that diamond to no avail. They looked for weeks, but still nothing. Finally my dad said, "well, I'll just buy you another." And he did.

The next day my parents visited the jewelry store of a friend and they bought a new ring with an even bigger stone. My mother claimed the stone was too big, but daddy said nothing was too good for his wife. Almost a year went by and as they were walking around outside they walked into the garage. It happened that the morning light was coming into the garage at just the right angle.  My dad glanced at the stairway and said, "what is that?" He bent down by the steps leading up into the house and what did he find? The lost diamond! My mother was a meticulous housekeeper and had swept that garage hundreds of times over that year, but had obviously not swept up close to the steps.

The diamond was taken to the jewelers and re-set into its mounting where it still sits today. Both rings are now worn by me, since my mother has passed on, but the story of the lost diamond lives on. You see, only when the light hit the stone just right, could the stone be seen, but it required a light. 

It is God's desire that the mirror be put back together. Impossible, you say? Not with God. Nothing is impossible with him. When the mirror shattered, God put a plan in place to redeem all the pieces.  God's plan was to send a light into the world to seek out the lost shards in order that they may be found.   John 1:5, 9, 12 "The light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overtake it. The real light that shines to every person was coming to the world. To those who received him, who believed in His name, He gave strength to become sons of God."

As His children, we have been given the task of carrying the light and shining it into the darkened world.  In the words of Matthew 28:19 As we go into all the nations, we are to be looking for those shards to bring them to the Father for redemption. 

Romans 10:14-15,  "How, then can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

We are, therefore to look for that shard of reflection in each and every thing, but especially each and every person. We are never to take any human being lightly or regard them as worthless for they contain a reflection of the image of God within them. The image in some is easily seen, but in others whose lives have been so covered in the mud and mire of this world, that image is hidden from us and we have to dig deep in order to find it.

Looking for that shard may require us to leave our comfort zone and venture into unknown or frightening waters or it may result in pain (have you ever broken a mirror or a glass and cut yourself on a small shard while trying to find all the pieces?).  It matters not the cost, do it anyway.  We are given a task and are promised that He, the Light of the world, will be with us as we go.  We are only called to take the light, it is not our job to redeem.  That job belongs to God and God alone.  Only when the light of God hits the sliver of glass can it be seen and at that moment He will draw it back to it's rightful place. 

And this is why Torah matters!  It is within Torah that we learn our principles so we might better understand the work Yeshua (Jesus) layed out for us in the Gospels!  Do you have eyes to see?  Do you have ears to hear?  Let me share with you a little known fact among Christans.  Everything Yeshua said in the Gospels is either a direct quote from or a comment on the Torah (either the written or the oral Torah);  therefore if you do not know Torah, can you truly understand the Gospels?

Do many of the scriptures you memorized as a child come into your head right about now?  Are they making more sense?  What about Luke 19:10:  "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  or the story of the woman in Luke 15:8 who lost one of her coins or the story of the lost sheep?  What about the many, many scripture about the Light:  (just a few)  Psalm 119:130, Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16, Daniel 2:22.  I could go on and on, but I needed to let you see the connection.  It is in Torah that we realize how much God loves and cares for all men, for it is there you see how intricate the plan was to redeem them. 

God believes that all humans have value and are worth redeeming .  Some of them will reflect His light easily, while others will need the Light to hit them at just the perfect angle.  When we forget the image principle, we fall into a dangerous chasm.  It is a place where we begin to regard humans as mere objects without value or worth.  This is the point of the following scripture from the book of Amos, where the prophet proclaims this sin as being the very thing God has against the nation of Israel at the time.  It certainly sounds like our world at the current time, selling or even killing someone for their shoes!

Amos 2:6-7:  "for their selling a righteous man for money and a poor man for shoes.  They aspire as they walk along for the head of the poor and they twist the judgment of the humble; a man and his father go to a young woman in order to have their way with her." 

All humans have worth whether they are rich, poor, functional, dysfunctional, sound-minded, not of sound mind, etc.  Get the point?  And, everyone has a story of what brought them to this place at this very moment.  If you only knew the story behind every person you came into contact with, you might be more tolerant and be willing to shine the light to look for the sliver.  That obnoxious woman who works near you?  Perhaps she believes no one loves her and all she really needs is to be loved.  And the boss you can never please?  Yeah, well, maybe he had a dad he could never please either.  Or the co-worker who is absent a lot?  Just might be that his wife suffers from a mental illness and he is having to deal with another crisis at home.  What about the guy who always looks like he hasn't had any sleep?  Well maybe he has a teenager who is giving him a lot of trouble.  Or that..... well, you understand. 

The absolute truth is everyone, including you, has a story.  Everyone is dealing with something difficult in their life and has some type of need, BUT at the same time all have a sliver of God's image in them.  Now during this Festival of Lights keep shining His light into all the world.  Take every opportunity given to find the pieces of that image so each and every one can have the chance to return to it's rightful place in the mirror.  There is another lesson just waiting for you that will take this one a step further.  Wait for it and it will come at the appointed time (oh that is even another lesson)!  Are you beginning to get excited about Torah?  Shalom!

If you want to know more about Chanukah and it's celebration, you may do so at the following website:  http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/default_cdo/jewish/Hanukkah.htm

Vayeitzei - The Jacob Principle: is your field full of distraction or have you turned the soil into a well watered garden?

                    

Shalom!  I pray that your Thanksgiving holiday was safe, happy and relaxed and if you were brave enough to venture out on black Friday, you were not trampled in the crowd.  I am terribly behind in my writing and will try to get caught up this weekend.  I spent the Thanksgiving weekend out of town at my great-nephew's wedding and had the most fabulous time with my entire family, grandsons and all!  The picture above is that nephew, Adam and his bride, Andrea.  How wonderful that God seems to place into my life the very circumstance of the Parashat for each week.  This week is about a wedding of sorts. 

As we begin this Parashat, (which is actually last week’s lesson), we pick up Jacob as he is in the process of finding a wife.  I find it ironic, that throughout my life as I have read and been taught this section, I never really thought about many of the story’s realities.  One of those realities was Jacob’s age, which was 77 at the time.  Did you think he was much younger?  I grew up thinking he was probably 20-25, so the reality of this love story isn’t about a couple of young hot lovers is it?  This isn’t quite a Romeo and Juliet kind of story, although it has been painted that way.  Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy thinks he is marrying girl but is deceived by father-in-law, boy gets her sister and now must work seven more years to get the real love of his life.  See what I mean.

 I think it’s time we took a REAL look at this Parashat to see what the Word really does say and what it doesn’t say.  Along the way, I think God may have a word for you.  OH and BY THE WAY MEN!  This week is for you.  If last week spoke mainly to the women, God has a special word for you in this one.  I didn’t plan it this way, but He did.  Now grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and prepare to be challenged.  You may never have seen the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah in this light before.

Let’s start with what we do know about Jacob.  Jacob was, as we established last week, a man who dwelt in tents.  By that we learned he was a man who focused on the Lord God and serving Him only day and night.  Jacob was basically a man who sought God with every fiber of his being as well as living every moment in oneness with Him.  He had also been this way for 63 years and had never married when he left his father and mother to go in search of a wife.  He was sold out and devoted with a single minded heart to God and God alone.  I want you to keep that last thought in your mind, because it is going to play a key role in this lesson.

One thing we aren’t told in the scriptures, yet the sages have deduced from their readings and adding up of the age accountings in the scripture is a 14 year gap in Jacob’s life.  The sages deduce from this that Jacob spent those years in the academy of Shem and Eber before going on his way to seek a wife.  Whoa!  A totally sold out Godly man needs to go to an academy to study more?  Wow!  What was he preparing for?  I think we need to really, really take notice of this story!  (Men are you paying attention yet?)    

Now we begin our Parashat.  Jacob is apparently leaving the academy and starting on the next leg of his journey when night falls.  It is necessary for him to find a place to sleep and it just so happens that, as scripture puts it, he happens to be at “the place.”  The Place is Mount Moriah, where Abraham bound Isaac and where the Temple would later stand.  Jacob arranges the stones around his head and lies down and as he sleeps, God appears to him in a dream.  In this dream, there is a ladder that reaches from heaven to earth and angels are going up and down.  There is an entire lesson just on the ladder, but I’ll have to save that for another day.  Oh well, got your curiosity up yet?  Just a little hint; it wasn’t a ladder like we think of.

God speaks to Jacob, in this dream, and says He will give the ground upon which he is lying to him and his descendants.  Jacob’s offspring will be as the dust of the earth and will spread out powerfully westward, eastward, northward and southward and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by him and by his offspring.  God promises to be with him, to guard him wherever he goes and the Lord will return him to this soil for He will not forsake Jacob until He has done what He has spoken about him. 

If you will recall, Isaac has already given Jacob a blessing that says: “Peoples will serve you and regimes will prostrate themselves to you.  Be a lord to your kinsmen and your mother’s sons will prostrate themselves to you.  Cursed be they who curse you and blessed be they who bless you.”  “May El Shaddai bless you, make you fruitful and make you numerous and may you be a congregation of peoples.  May He grant you the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you that you may possess the land of your sojourns which God gave to Abraham.”  Genesis 27:28-29, 28:3-4

Dad has pronounced a spectacular blessing upon him, sent him out and now the God of heaven and earth is blessing him again!  I cannot even begin to imagine how Jacob must have felt when he awakened from that dream!  Joy beyond measure, I’m sure.  Now what?  Well, I guess if Jacob is going to have descendants like the dust of the earth….there needs to be a wife, you suppose?  Kind of hard to procreate without a partner isn’t it?  So on with the journey, right?  Oh no, not just yet.  First things must come first, to a man of God.  Jacob makes a pledge that if God will be with him and guard him on his way and gives him bread to eat and clothes to wear and allows him to return in peace to his father’s house and God will be a God to him then the stone he set up will become a house of God and whatever God gives him he will repeatedly tithe to God. 

I would love to take the time to break this story down into little bits and pieces, but I do have a specific place to go with this one and for that reason I will be traveling pretty fast from this point on.  Jacob finds his way to a well where he meets his future wife, Rachel.  I have always thought Jacob just fell head over heels in love with the sight of her that day.  Then I learned the truth about Jacob’s age and thought, would a 77 year old man really fall deeply in love with and be blown away by a beautiful young woman?   We know that Rachel was a beautiful woman, the scripture tells us that much, but was there something more about her?  Did Jacob see a woman of Godly character?   Any man who is in touch with his spiritual side, the way Jacob was, would surely know when he met a woman of spiritual nobility, right?   After all, the wife he chooses must be the mother of a nation! 

The problem with Rachel is that as much as she is revered and held on a pedestal, there are some issues I could get into great depth on.  Rachel does give birth to a deliverer, but seems to mirror some of the traits we saw in Jacob’s brother Esau.  (Wish I had the time to go into detail on that one.  Perhaps in the near future, but not right now.  They are after all only my thoughts, not the Chassidic Masters!)   

Could it be a possibility that for the first time in Jacob’s life he was faced with something all of us are far too familiar with, a double-minded heart?  You may think you know what I mean by this statement, but then again you may not.  I want to explore this thought with you at length and see how it applies to our lives in today’s society.

For the first time in Jacob’s life he was literally leaving the “tents” to go into the “fields”.  If you recall from last week’s Parashat, tents refers to spiritual learning and study and fields refers to the world where there is idolatry and worldliness.  The tents represent safety and a place where there are no distractions, (the mountaintop experiences if you wish).  The fields however, are not necessarily bad all the time.  Fields are where the crops are grown, but they can also harbor danger.  One of the greatest dangers in a field is in seeing something alluring, just over there.  You get caught up trying to find whatever is alluring you and when you finally arrive at the object you have lost sight of home.  

Jacob, I believe was truly being tested in the fields.  His purpose, (do you remember our lesson on fractals?  Now is a good time to go back and read that one if you haven’t read it already), was two-fold.  His immediate and future purpose was to bring the tents to the fields.  Are you following me?  His entire purpose was to bring into the world a dwelling place for God and also a messiah, which he did.  Stay with me here, if you don’t you’ll be throwing stones at me.  He became the nation of Israel where the temple was eventually built and he did bring into the world a messiah, eventually (down the line) another messiah and ultimately THE MESSIAH!  Oh man, I can’t wait to do the lesson on Messiah with you.  (I only wish I could do this full time.  My time is limited as you can tell.  I am so far behind and have very little time to work on these teachings.  Oh well, God knows when the time is right for each of these posts to be done.  I will leave it in His hands.) 

 

The Field of Distraction

Jacob has left the tents and traveled to the fields.  His mission is to find a wife from his uncle’s house.  The first female he sees just happens to be his niece and this also happens to be his first distraction, for she is beautiful.  Jacob goes back with her to her father’s house and begins to work for him.  I am sure Jacob has worked during his life, since it seems he knows how to do those things, but now he has to work in order to eat and now we have distraction number two.

Jacob asks Laban for Rachel’s hand in marriage, but he seems to know that Laban will try to deceive him so he makes it very clear which daughter he wants to marry.  They agree on a dowry of seven years of labor from Jacob and at the end of that time Laban deceives Jacob anyway and gives him Leah, distraction number three.  An agreement is made for Rachel and a week later he weds Rachel with the promise he will work seven more years as a dowry for her, now there are two wives and a deceitful father-in-law, distraction number four.

We have no record that Jacob ever strayed away from his devotion to God, but this is what I want you to see with me.  As more responsibility is added to Jacob’s life, devotion became more difficult.  Spending time in God’s tents was divided between spending time in the tents of his wives and also among the flocks and herds and trying to appease a difficult, deceitful father-in-law.  Does this sound like your life, with the exception (I hope) of having more than one wife? 

Dedication to the Word of God is so easy on Sunday morning or at a conference right up until the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning.  Suddenly its business meetings and deadlines, the battery’s dead on the car again, a recital at 6 p.m., did I remember to schedule an oil change at the dealer?  What was that again?  Am I taking the children to school this morning or are you?  I can’t possibly fit another thing into my schedule.  Is there enough money in the checking account to pay the mortgage this week?   And property taxes are due by the end of the month and now rumors are flying at work there might be a layoff. 

Distractions, distractions, distractions!  Why must we always have to be in the fields!!!!!  I would love to stay in the tents!  The problem with staying in the tents is that we would become obese while the rest of the world literally starved to death from famine.  (Almost sounds like an analogy of the United States and Third World countries, doesn’t it.)  We quite possibly create many unnecessary distractions, though.  True there are necessary ones such as family and work, but what is in our lives that could be culled out?  Do we need to tear down the “idols” we have allowed to be set up in our fields and replace them with tents?

 If you are familiar with much of the Old Testament, you know there are many times in the book of Kings where you read about a king who allowed Asherah poles to be built in the fields.  Along comes a Godly king who comes in and tears them down.  Are there Asherah poles we need to tear down in our lives?  What activities are you or your family involved in, containing no intrinsic value, which are mainly just time wasters?  What about television?  Do you sit, in the evenings, mindlessly watching programming that would be considered to be “field material”?  What about Church activities?  Are they just that, activities, or is there a spiritual purpose behind each and every one? 

I have to confess, guilty of all charges!!!  Busy lives.  Busy people.  Everyone is, well, just busy.   A co-worker and I were talking about it this past week.  He said, “I get so tired of doing the same thing every day.  I get up, eat breakfast, go to work, go home, change clothes, go work out, go back home, eat supper, take a shower and go to bed, just to do it all over again the next day.”  I said, “yes I know, we are creatures of routine and complain about it, yet if anything interrupts that routine, well then we complain about that also, don’t we?”  That’s when we both had a good laugh! 

It certainly seems that everything in life tries to keep us from focusing on God and growing spiritually.  We get in a little routine of spending more time in the Word and in prayer and what happens?  We have to work overtime or we get sick or a child gets sick or an appliance breaks down or the alarm doesn’t go off or there is a controversy at work which catches us smack dab in the middle!  The next thing you know you are preoccupied with those matters and what were you going to do….oh yeah you were going to spend time with God.  Guess you’ll have to do that some other day.

 

 

Field of Well Watered Soil

 

Why can’t we just live in a little spiritual bubble?  Our problem is we think in the wrong direction.  As western thinkers we think horizontally when we should be thinking vertically.  Let me show you a new way of thinking.  A new thought pattern will bring about an action rather than a reaction in your lifestyle.  (Just so you know, I am learning this along with you also, as I am pointing toward you there are three fingers pointing back at me!)  I am going to call this the Jacob principle.  I really think most, if not all of you, know this principle we just tend not to practice it.  Our lives as westerners is not really conducive to this practice and thought process.  We are loners, not communal.  You’ll see what I mean. 

The Jacob Principle – Rather than letting life be a distraction for your spiritual health, let your spiritual health be a distraction for life.  Let me give you an example.  If every part of your life was filled with thoughts of God and what He thinks and wants, would you do everything differently?  The moment your eyes opened in the morning, what would your first thought be?  As you put on your clothes?  As you make your breakfast?  As you awaken your children?  As you gather your belongings for work?  As you go out the door?  What about when you are driving down the road to work or school?  What would be different about the way you went about your day on the job?  What would happen when your children came to you asking to participate in extracurricular activities?  What would you do with your evenings?  How would you spend your weekends or family vacations?  How would you handle the breakdown of the dishwasher or the plumbing leak?  What about the mechanic bill on the mini-van? 

Can you see anything differently in these scenarios?   I want to give you a little glimpse into the life of a practicing Orthodox Jew for a moment and show you how we can learn from them.  They learned from their father Jacob.  And guess what?  He didn’t have any written word!  For an Orthodox Jew there is a book of prayers called, the Siddur.  The Siddur contains thousands of prayers.  Each day begins with the first conscious thought in the morning.  As soon as a person realizes they are awake, the following prayer is uttered from their lips; “I thank You for returning unto me my soul with compassion, great is Your faithfulness!”  Wow!  What a way to start off your day!  From there a prayer is said after each part of your day, i.e. going to the bathroom, washing your hands, putting on your clothes, etc.  There is a men’s Siddur and a women’s Siddur. 

Not only is an Orthodox Jew’s personal life regimented in this way, but if that person lives in a Jewish community, it too is of the same heart and mind.  This means that all Sabbaths, holidays and feasts are celebrated with one heart and mind.  There is strength in numbers.  We, as American Christians have a hard time being of one heart and mind in our own homes, let alone our churches and communities.  What could be done to bring the “tents” of God to the fields if we as Christians became single-minded individually and jointly? 

A Jew’s life is not only filled with prayers, but everything in life reflects some aspect of the God he or she serves.  From the way the challah bread is braided to the lighting of candles and even the woman’s monthly cycle.  Everything is significant in that God can be seen and a lesson taught from it.  Fathers even take seriously the command to train up their children in the instruction of the Lord.  Hmmm, now there’s a thought.  The daily calendar is another way of incorporating God into the lives of the Jewish life.  There is an occasion every week and every month to celebrate some aspect of God’s provision for them and the nation of Israel! 

We, on the other hand, take so much for granted and are so nonchalant about the gifts we have been given.  It would almost seem as if we look for ways to get out of spending time with God instead of trying to get out of other things in order to spend time with God.  We have two basic celebrations each year to show what God has done for us, Easter and Christmas and many churches cancel their evening services on those holidays as well as any other holidays that would be great times to spend thanking God for his provision.  

      Walk into any church in the United States on a Sunday morning and there are fairly large crowds, but go back to those for the evening service and you will be fortunate to see 20% of the morning crowd in return attendance.  (Probably isn’t 2% on Super Bowl Sunday!)  Drop back by on Wednesday evening and it probably drops again to 50% of that 20%.  The end result is probably only 10% of the Sunday morning crowd is faithful dedicated churchgoers for those churches who have three services each week.  Many churches have done away with the Sunday evening service due to a lack of attendance. 

        The bottom line is this; an Orthodox Jew takes every moment of every day and especially every Sabbath very seriously.  How serious do we even take the Sabbath?  For that matter, and I am actually going to leave everyone with this thought, how serious are we about any of God’s Word?  When was the last time our prayers reflected our thankfulness rather than a list of Lord pleases?  I think I have given good examples of how thinking differently can affect actions.  How different would our outlook be on life if everything we thought, did, ate or said was filtered through the God filter?  Well, go ahead and talk amongst yourselves.  As for me, I’m a little verklempt!  I think I’ll spend more time talking to God and reading Torah and see how many Asherah poles I can tear down in my fields. One of those poles may have to be fb, OH NO!  : (  Oh well, if that's what is necessary!  Shalom!