Gevurah of Chesed (Boundaries to Love)

Today is the 2^nd day of the counting of the Omer.  This is the day of the Gevurah of Chesed (judgment or boundaries of loving kindness).  I do have a confession to make about yesterday’s counting of the Omer.  I told you that the counting is a rectifying of our emotional and spiritual well-being in order for us to remove the Egypt from our lives.  I also reminded you that there is an Egypt for each of us.  The truth is, whenever we are delivered from our Egypt, it seems it doesn’t take long before the Egypt we have left behind begins to catch up to us and draw us back into its’ fold once again.  That is the purpose behind going through the counting of the Omer every single year, over and over and over.  As long as we remain in this world, we are surrounded by Egypts on every side.  Those Egypts will do their best to pull on us, twist us, taunt us, allure us and try to reel us back into their folds. 

As I went through my day today trying to keep Chesed of Chesed on my mind, my Egypt surrounded me with extra forces and I was drawn into conversation after conversation which I knew was displeasing to HASHEM.  By the end of the day I felt dirty and beaten down and ultimately I felt like an epic failure.  The one day in the year in which I should have exuded love, I exuded anything but love it seems.  I was relaying to a friend how much of a failure I felt when she reminded me, “If you recognize your failures, then you haven’t failed.  It is when you can’t see them, that you have truly failed.”  How true!  Reminds me of an old Beatle’s song, “There are none so blind, as he who will not see.”   I wanted to let you know that I struggle every single day of my life, but HASHEM looks at the heart.  He wants a heart that longs to connect with Him!   If you are a parent, think about your child.  You do not stop loving your child each time they do something that displeases you or something you have asked them not to do.  But, oh the difference it makes when you see a look of true heart break on their face for the act they have committed.  That is our connection with HASHEM! 

Now, on to today’s counting of the Omer.  Gevurah of Chesed

I really have written a couple of posts on yesterday and today’s lesson already in previous posts, but will just ask a few questions for today.  This is helping you see where your loving kindness (or your love) may need some boundaries.  Love MUST have boundaries or discipline in order to work properly.  Just as in the picture above, how could a game of baseball be played if there were no boundaries?  How would the players know when they scored a run?  Love must have boundaries so there is no confusion for those involved.  If you really want a full explanation on this you will have to go back to my previous post "What's Love Got To Do With It".  

Now, are you ready for some tough questions? 

Parents  

Do you have boundaries and discipline for your children?  Unconditional love is no love unless it has appropriate boundaries with it.

Do you force your children to follow your dreams and a path you have chosen or do you allow them to follow their own hopes and dreams?

Are you so overprotective with your children that you smother them rather than allowing them room to fail?

Do you have so many rules for your children to follow they barely have time to be children?

Husbands / Wives / Dating Relationships

Do you give the other person in the relationship their own personal space?

Are you sensitive to the other person’s needs or are you selfish?

When you dream about the future, who's future do you consider, yours or theirs or both?

Other Relationships

Are you a person that is easily taken advantage of?

Are you an enabler for someone with a habit or dependency?

Do you isolate yourself?

Do you reach out to others, but let very few into your life?

These questions can help you see whether you have too few boundaries or in the case of the last two questions perhaps too many boundaries.  These are thoughts to ponder for the next 24 hours.  I certainly know where I fit in this category and I have been working on those for the past couple of years.  I am making progress, but I definitely need to pray specifically for direction on them tonight and tomorrow. 

May HASHEM open your eyes to see what HE wants you to see about your inner soul during this counting of the Omer.  Blessed be HE!  Shalom!

Counting Down the Days!!!!!!

Today is the 2^nd day of Pesach (Passover) and it is also the first day of the counting of the Omer.  The directive for the Omer comes from Leviticus 23:15.  Growing up Baptist, this concept is one which was totally new to me when I first began my Hebraic studies, but one which I have found is so needed in our world today.  If you read my post from yesterday, I talked about Pesach being about Egypt and Egypt was about bondage, idols and those who would take away your identity.  I should probably throw slavery into the mix as well.  I started to include slavery last night, but felt that bondage covered that topic and realized today it probably does not.  Judaism covers every area of life and when one follows it to the letter, there will be no need for a Psychologist, Therapist, 12 Step Program or Divorce Lawyer.  Let me explain a bit before going further about the Omer.

It is here that I must introduce a new concept where the idea of time is concerned.  In the Western mindset time is seen as a linear idea.  There is a beginning point (birth, creation, big bang, etc.) and an ending point (death, nuclear war, End Times).   In Eastern Hebraic mindset though, time is cyclical.  Things happen over and over and over spiraling inward getting sharper and clearer with each passing until there is a climax.  This is the cycle of the feasts and festivals and appointments.  Actually when you think about it we function the same way, but tend to not speak of it the same way.  We speak of another birthday coming around again; the seasons come around again; we even talk about the cycle of life and death, i.e. when one person dies another is born to take their place and the cycle of life goes on.  The Jewish believers teach from the Torah that these feasts and festivals set forth by HASHEM, Himself, hold special power when kept at their appointed time.

This appointed time beginning with Pesach is a time for HASHEM’s children to take care of any emotional baggage they are dragging behind them.  This is the time for all of us to rid ourselves of any and all of the Egypt within us and ready ourselves for a pouring out of His Torah into our lives.  There will be 49 days of the counting of the Omer.  Are you ready?  If you are not ready to take this serious, don’t even start.  If you are arrogant enough to think you have no Egypt within you, then great.  Take your place on the left hand of God (sorry, the right hand spot is already taken).  He could probably find a crown to fit your head, but the last time I read the Word I think I read somewhere that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  I think that probably means that everyone has at least a smidgen of Egypt in them somewhere.  I would wager a bet with you that if you were to take it seriously, somewhere during the counting, HASHEM will show you the trace of EGYPT you have let creep back into your life somewhere.  The counting of the Omer is a 49 step process of self-refinement with each day dedicated to rectifying and perfecting one of the sefirot combinations on the Tree of Life.

 Now, for those who want to receive a fresh outpouring of HASHEMS Spirit 50 days from now, are you ready to begin?  (Pssst!  You know what happens in 50 days?  Do you know what feast that is?  What is 50???   Pentecost!!!!!!  And you can receive a fresh outpouring of the Spirit in 50 days if you take this seriously and see what HASHEM has to offer you by re-connecting with HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  He just thought of everything, didn’t He!!!!!  

Ready?  Okay  We have to go back to our diagram of the Tree of Life.  I will post it to one of the tabs at the top of the page and title the tab THE TREE OF LIFE. 

Day 1:  Chesed of Chesed:  loving kindness of loving kindness

First things first:  our prayer to start:

May the Merciful One restore unto us the service of the Bet Hamikdash to its place, speedily in our days; Amen, Selah.

For the Choirmaster; a song with instrumental music; a Psalm. May God be gracious to us and bless us; may He make His countenance shine upon us forever; that Your way be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. The nations will extol You, O God; all the nations will extol You. The nations will rejoice and sing for joy, for You will judge the peoples justly and guide the nations on earth forever. The peoples will extol You, O God; all the peoples will extol You, for the earth will have yielded its produce and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us; and all, from the farthest corners of the earth, shall fear Him.

We implore you, by the great power of Your right hand, release the captive. Accept the prayer of Your people; strengthen us, purify us, Awesome One. Mighty One, we beseech You, guard as the apple of the eye those who seek Your Oneness. Bless them, cleanse them; bestow upon them forever Your merciful righteousness. Powerful, Holy One, in Your abounding goodness, guide Your congregation. Only and Exalted One, turn to Your people who are mindful of Your holiness. Accept our supplication and hear our cry, You who knows secret thoughts. Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.

Master of the universe, You have commanded us through Moses Your servant to count Sefirat Ha-Omer, in order to purify us from our evil and uncleanness. As You have written in Your Torah, "You shall count for yourselves from the day following the day of rest, from the day on which you bring the Omer as a wave-offering; [the counting] shall be for seven full weeks. Until the day following the seventh week shall you count fifty days," so that the souls of Your people Israel may be cleansed from their defilement. Therefore, may it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that in the merit of the Sefirat Ha-Omer which I counted today, the blemish that I have caused in the sefirah Chesed ShebeChesed be rectified and I may be purified and sanctified with supernal holiness. May abundant bounty thereby be bestowed upon all the worlds. May it rectify our nefesh, ruach and neshamah from every baseness and defect, and may it purify and sanctify us with Your supernal holiness. Amen, selah.

Examine the love aspect of love within your life.  Ask yourself the tough questions.  Do I know the One who is love?  Do I allow Him to love others through me?  How do I give love?  How do I receive love?  Can others see love in me and through all my actions or am I just a clanging cymbal or a blaring brass? 

Here comes the tough questions:  Do I say I love, but because of past hurts and possible abuse I withhold my love for fear of being hurt further?  Is my “love” more cordial kindness rather than true Love?  Do I truly have no problem loving others, but have trouble loving myself?  Do I feel unloved, even by HASHEM?  Do I often wonder how anyone could ever love me?  Do I feel or think that if anyone really knew me they could never love me? 

These tough questions are ones that you must ask and definitely work through to COMPLETION with satisfactory wholesome results TODAY!!!!  My friend, HASHEM wants you whole and healthy, not sick and wimpy!!!  HASHEM’s children are Princes and Princesses!  We are not paupers!  We ARE LOVED!!!  And we are the only ones who have the true capacity to love the correct way.  If you need a true vision of love, go back a few posts in my blog to the post entitled, “What’s Love Got to do With IT.”     Until tomorrow, keep asking, praying and searching, my friend, SHALOM!  

Passover is HERE!

Shalom!  It is a very special day!  It is Passover!!!!!  How special this day is.  The first day of the Pesach celebration began at 6 p.m. tonight (Monday).  It is a day of remembrance and re-telling.  It is about Egypt and HASHEM.  You see, all of us have an Egypt that we need to be delivered and redeemed from.  HASHEM is waiting ready to deliver and redeem us from our Egypt.  Egypt is that place in your life filled with bondage, idols and those who take away your identity.  Egypt places you between a virtual rock and a hard place; an army to the back of you and the sea in front of you. 

BUT there is a God who has come to deliver you!!!!  He has redeemed you with an outstretched arm!  This day has so much significance.  For the next 24 hours I want you to reflect on your Egypt.  If you are still in Egypt, lift up your head, your deliverer is here!  If you have already been delivered, reflect on your deliverance and tell someone your story.  It is of the utmost importance that we “remember” by re-telling the story of how HASHEM delivered us from our Egypt.  It is through our re-telling of our deliverance and redemption that others find deliverance and redemption from their Egypt.  Never forget to tell your story at this time of year!  It is your testimony to HASHEM!!!!  Praise HIM!!!!! 

I will be back tomorrow night with more for you, because we have a lot to do over the next many days! (yes I meant to say it that way, although it is incorrect grammar!)  Shalom, my friends!

Something long overdue

This morning I was reminded of something very important.  I know that I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks and very much need to do so.  I could give lots of excuses, but before I even begin to write I need to take care of something vitally important.  I have to stop and take time to thank the One I am writing about.

It is here upon these pages where I want to publicly acknowledge the Lord G-d, maker of heaven and earth, as the one and only.  It is He who gave me everything I would need in order to write and teach.  He gave me life both physically and spiritually and it is to Him I give all glory and honor and praise!  HASHEM, You are my life and the air I breathe.  I could do nothing without you.  I bless You, my G-d, the maker of my soul.  It is because of Your great Chesed that I live and breathe and the world exists.  Thank you for all the provisions in my life.

I do not say these things publicly to draw attention to myself, but to draw attention to you, my G-d, my Redeemer, my Provider.  You are the lifter of my head.  It is for all mankind that you created this world and for that reason you have a plan for our lives.  Oh my great and glorious G-d, open my eyes and the eyes of those who read the words of Your Torah to see You more clearly and give us hearts that want to run to you!

Bless the Lord, Oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name!!!!!




"Barukh attah Adonai Elohenu melekh haolam asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu laasok b'divrei Torah!"

"Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of the Torah!"

I Need to Apologize

I so need to apologize for a post.  I published a new post on Sunday, but it was not correct.  I usually write my posts in a document software first and then copy and paste to the Internet blog page.  This time I didn't do that and I paid a price for it.  I wrote the entire post on the draft section of this website and read it, noticed that I had some errors and possible misrepresentations, did my research and changed a great number of things within the post.  Once I had updated the info, and feeling confident it was correct to the best of my ability, I clicked publish, but an Internet glitch took place as I was posting and did not save the changes I had made, (I knew it took an awfully long time to save and publish, should have figured it out!).  The problem was that on my end it appeared the changes were made and saved.  I had to leave very quickly at that point and was unable to get back on until Tuesday morning, at which time I went to print off a copy of the posting for a friend.  On my way into work I began reading the post and was appalled to see that most of it was nothing but my rough draft with many errors!!!!  I could not get to a computer until Tuesday afternoon to delete the entire post, so I am so very sorry to all of my readers.

Computers are wonderful when everything works great, but sometimes they just mess up and it is not always easy to see from this end of things.   Again, I apologize for posting something that was incorrect and full of misgivings and as I said early on in the life of this blog, I want to ensure that I have printed nothing in error if it is at all possible.  I will try to correct my mistakes and re-post when I can.  I pray that all of you have a wonderfully happy, joyous and blessed week!  Shalom!

So, What's Love Got To Do With It?

So, What’s Love Got To Do With It?

So, the world just celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Big deal, right?  Love was in the air.  Flowers were everywhere and candy was dandy and forever on the hips.  Everyone had someone to love it seems, but by Friday things were back to normal and by next week we will be hard pressed to find love anywhere.  We look for love, “in all the wrong places” and in what we are told are all the “right” places.  We look to our family, friends, social media, dating services, books, movies and church.  The problem is we find disappointment in all those places, even in church. 

If I were to ask people to define the word “love”, I would probably get as many different definitions as there are people.  So the place we really need to start is in a true definition of the word, love.  The U.S. English Thesaurus gives these synonyms for the word love:  affection, adoration, friendship, tenderness, feeling, fondness, devotion, passion, ardor, amity, adore, worship and fancy.   It also has the following phrases:  care for, find irresistible, hold dear and be keen on.  A line from the movie Love Story, became a 20^th century definition for love.  (Seems to show the sway the movie industry has on us!  That movie was released in 1970, 43 years ago!)  You can probably quote it yourself.  “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” 

Breaking each of these down, do they really define love?  What is love and what are the implications of it?   Let me give you a one word definition…..God!  Not feelings, emotions or actions, but God!  God is love and He will never change, give up or fall out or in.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever!  He is I Am! 

Do you remember my last post where I talked about the wedding vows?  Well, the truth is we are incapable of knowing anything about love apart from Him!  Look around you.  What do you see?  Do you see a world full of love by any definition?  I see glimpses of love, but in general I see hatred, greed, jealousy, strife, selfishness.  School shootings, bullying, abductions, child molestations, abuse, neglect shall I go on?  On a typical day, how many stories do you hear that are filled with love? 

But God is love!  And the best part is He first loved us and the only way we can truly know how to love is to be joined with Him in marriage!  I want to pick up where I left off 2 weeks ago.  (Sorry for the delay, but the overtime at work – I have worked 13 days in a row – have kept me a little busy.)  The next section of scripture covers the Parashat – Mishpatim; Exodus chapters 21 – 24. 

When you start reading this section the first words you read are: “And these are the ordinances (laws) that you shall place before them:”  and you will most likely think, what does love or marriage have to do with those?  Let me expound on that thought.  Think back to the last post on the marriage vows.  Love (grace) with boundaries (judgments).  Love must have boundaries in order to function properly, but I want you to have the correct view of what a boundary is. 

A boundary is a marker to show where the safety ends and the danger begins.  Anything outside that boundary line can be a danger to us and when we choose to cross that line we risk injury to ourselves and to any others that may be with us.   The boundaries spelled out in this passage of Scripture, is a little different from the “wedding vows” we looked at last time.  These boundaries are all about how God’s family relates to each other and the world around them.  They are God’s parenting rules, so to speak.  God wants people to know who His children are by their actions toward one another and toward others in the world. 

Let me give you an example.  The greatest spelled out definition of love is in I Corinthians 13.  In verse 4 it says, “Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.”  Great!  Now how can we go wrong with this definition?  Read it again without boundaries.  Patient – a synonym for patient is tolerant.  Can we be patient or tolerant with something that is deplorable and harmful to another and call this love?  Was Paul implying that we are just to be patient and kind with a child or spouse who is an addict or are we to intervene?  What about that word jealous?  Alright, true love means not being jealous.  So then it’s okay for a spouse to have other sexual partners?  We just aren’t supposed to be easily angered by it or jealous of them?  Can you see my point? 

Love has boundaries, but not ultimatums.  Love does NOT say, “I will love you if you do certain things or act a certain way…”  Love says, “because I love you I want the best for you……”   Those two statements are worlds apart.  Boundaries are "care markers."  I want to relay something to you that I heard from the mouth of one of my son's friends a few years ago.  During a particular rebellious period of his life, my son and one of his friends was in our kitchen and had started out the back door.  The conversation between my son and his father was not a good one and as my husband looked at our son he simply said, "son, I'm telling you this, because I care about you."  Our son replied, "well, I don't want you to care."  To that remark, his friend replied, "oh you want them to care!"  I stood there stunned for a moment as they turned and walked out the door.  

I knew a little about that young man's life and it wasn't good.  I won't go into detail about it, but that incident was two years ago and in that short two years he has done a stint in juvenile hall and is now serving time for grand theft.  My heart breaks for him.  His parents set no boundaries.  My son rebelled heavily, BUT we stayed the course, because we loved him - unconditionally!  Was it easy?  Absolutely not!  That year was the hardest year of my life, but the reward has been momentous!!!!  This past Valentine's Day, in fact, my son posted on facebook a note which said, (regarding both me and his now girlfriend) "Happy Valentines Day to the two most important women in my life (here he named us both, but I have deleted that for the girlfriend's privacy). They help me get through so much, and I owe my happiness to both of them! Love you girls!"

 Could a mom ask for anything more?  Do you think those boundaries were the correct thing?  Were they in line with what God meant for us to do with our son?  Were they an extension of our love?  You had better believe it.  Two families, one who showed true love, the kind with boundaries; while the other said they loved, but never set boundaries at all.  I am going to give you one other example, but you will have to purchase this one.  If you want to hear some beautiful music and also hear some fantastic testimonies, check out a DVD by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  There is one particular one which has a testimony by a young woman who was raised by parents who loved "unconditionally" they claimed.  The problem was the parents didn't believe in boundaries of any kind.  You really need to hear both the mother and daughter's story.  It is titled, I'm Amazed  http://store.brooklyntabernacle.org/products.php?product=I%27m-Amazed-%28DVD%29

Read on into verse 6, “Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth.”  What we tend to relay to the world, unfortunately, is a lot of finger pointing.  Love is about the truth and at times that means speaking the truth in love.  (I am so afraid someone is going to hear me say something here that I am not saying!  This is not an excuse for soapbox preaching and letting someone have it!  This kind of love talk should only occur after much prayer and more prayer and allowing the Father to lead the heart, mind and mouth, got it?  Well?  Okay!)  And this only happens between family members.  As for the world, we are to love and show them Christ, period!  Love is always concerned with the welfare of the other person not self-righteousness; that fact is supposed to be the motivation behind the discipline process with our children.  Our goal should be to shape our children into well behaved adults not allow them to become out of control beasts.     

At one point in my life I was given the following definition for love that I lived by for many years.  “Love is not a feeling you fall in or out of.  It is a deliberate choice you make based on what is best for all those around you regardless of the cost to yourself.”  I love this definition for the most part (there is that word love again!)  The only problem I have with it now that I know a little more is this:  love really isn’t a choice.  Love is God and if we are His then it really isn’t a choice it is who we are.  We MUST love!  Yes we do have a choice to be who we are or to act as an impostor, but I am His and I should want the world to know to whom I belong! 

This is where the section of Mishpatim comes into play.  These “ordinances” are the measuring rod for us to live by.  They are examples of how we should conduct ourselves in every area of our life.  It also shows the world our love and lets the world see how God loves us and them.  Love must be put into action for the world to see it.  The worst thing about any of God’s children crossing the boundaries is that it gives the people of the world a reason to mock God.  When we disobey our Father, we bring dishonor to our Father.  He still loves us and we need to know that we can never do anything to lose that love, but we may face natural consequences of our actions.  We will definitely face a strained relationship with Him until we resolve the issue through our repentance.  We never lose our status as His child, but my, oh my how that relationship is not the same until WE repent.  You know what I am talking about and many of you are probably there right now.  There are seasons of my life when I have been that rebellious teenager, haven’t you?  Testing the boundaries and crossing them with an, “I dare you” look.  Oh how I grieve over those days in my life. 

Go back to verse 1 in our Corinthians reading.  “I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels; but if I lack love, I have become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.”    My family is a very musical family.  My oldest son is a guitarist and my youngest son is a brass player so I know musical instruments.  This verse reminds me of an incident a few months ago.  My youngest son has an old trumpet in his room, but it has no mouthpiece.  He does have several though, that fit a tuba and they are sitting around on shelves.  We had a family cookout at our house and my 8 year old great-nephew wandered into my son’s room and found the trumpet.  He then picked up one of the mouthpieces for a tuba and tried to make it fit and proceeded to “play” the trumpet.  He carried that trumpet all through the house and out into the yard “playing” that trumpet.  The reason I have put quotation marks around playing, is that at 8 years old and never having lessons (and much to the chagrin of the entire family in a house with only hardwood floors), all he managed to get out was the sound of “blaring brass!”  Believe me, it was not what you would have heard if you had been listening to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra! 

I am so afraid this is what the world hears when we talk about love.  Just as many of my family members kept yelling, “Luke, stop playing that trumpet!  You are hurting our ears!”  The world keeps telling us, “Stop trying to tell us about love, because you are hurting our ears!”  We aren’t playing beautiful melodious music.  We are “blaring brass” that are annoying, distracting and will eventually cause people to go deaf.  Oh my!  Are people putting ear plugs in their ears to keep from hearing us?  I’m afraid so and that means we had better start putting our love into action, BUT we have to follow the instructions on how to do that from the Torah or we will begin skewing love in our own direction, not Gods. 

Aha!  That’s where Mishpatim comes into play!  There are 4 chapters of instructions, but there are many more than these since these are just the beginning.  These four chapters have to do with civil and tort law.  We need to also understand that rather than taking each of these literally, they need to be understood in context.  They are not about legalities as much as they are about us making sure that in every area of our life, love is the driving force in the decisions we make.  Those decisions should be based equally on grace, mercy and judgment; chesed AND gevurah.  I have somewhere further I want to go with this one when we get to the book of Leviticus, so hang onto this thought process!!!

Now let me show you something even more exciting as we step into the section known as Terumah!  This section is known as “The Heave Offering.”  This begins a section of scripture that a lot of people find to be very boring details of the description of how to build the Tabernacle.  That is the problem with Western eyes.  Oh, but to see things with Eastern eyes!!!! 

The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, is the dwelling place of God, Himself.  BUT, it also is….the Messiah!  Do you remember when I talked in earlier posts about fractals?  Well, this is NOT one.  You see a fractal contains the whole, but isn’t the whole.  This is the whole.  The Shechinah came upon and into the Tabernacle and all the people for miles could see it.  God, dwelling among His people.  The Tabernacle was God’s physical dwelling on earth, just as Jesus was God’s physical dwelling on earth. 

I want you to see something so really, really deep in this.  I am going to print a quote from one of the Jewish sages on this one that I found. 

“What is the meaning of the verse (Song of Songs ), "I have come into My garden, My sister, My bride"? This means [the G-d says, "I have returned] to My bridal chamber, to the place which has been My principal abode from the very beginning." For was not the principal abode of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) in the terrestrial regions? For so it is written (Genesis 3:8), "And they heard the voice of the L-rd G-d walking in the garden"

Is this not absolutely wonderful!  The quote above was a commentary on the Shechinah coming to rest on the Tabernacle.  Think about it.  Weren’t we talking about God being the Groom, in my last post?  WOW!  God returned to His bridal chamber when He came into the Tabernacle!!!!  What about when He came to earth as a baby!!!!  Mama Mia!!!!  If you can see that the Tabernacle WAS the Messiah and vice versa, I want you to really, really hold onto that thought for the next several weeks.  It is imperative that you understand that fact in light of the scripture we are going to delve into. 

Now, what does love have to do with the Tabernacle?  Go back to the first part of this post.  What is the definition of love?  God!  If God is love and the Tabernacle is where He dwells on earth then the Tabernacle must be full of LOVE!  If the Tabernacle is the Messiah, then the Messiah is also full of LOVE, right?   And if we have the Messiah living in us, then we must also be full of LOVE, right?  Come on, now, right?  We are, once Yeshua ascended to heaven, the receptacles of the Holy Spirit who came to dwell in us, an extension of God, Himself. 

So, why don’t we love like Yeshua loved?  Matthew 22:37-40 tells us that after being questioned as to what was the greatest commandment, Yeshua answered:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your knowledge.’  This is the greatest and first mitzvah (commandment).  But the second is similar to it:  ‘Love your fellow man as yourself.  The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two mitzvot.’”

So why aren’t we loving God with all our heart, soul and knowledge and loving our fellow man as ourselves?  Don’t worry; I’m asking myself this question as much or more than I am asking you.  Yeshua told His disciples, “I am giving you a new mitzvah:  that you love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  With this all will know that you are my disciples:  if love dwells among you.”  John 13:34-35 

There it is!  If Love dwells among you!!!!  Who is love?  God is love!!!!!  You cannot have one without the other!  If you say you have God, but have not love…….well, remember the 8 yr. old with the trumpet?   The world is lost and dying in their quest for the one thing we have….LOVE!  Why are we hoarding something that everyone needs and believe me there is plenty for everyone!  Why is loving so difficult?  Yeshua told us to love our enemies, but the problem is that we have problems loving our brothers and sisters in the church!  Am I right?  How many churches do you know that are in a constant squabble or have split over insignificant issues?  Where is the love? 

Friends, love has EVERYTHING to do with everything!!!!  GOD wants to saturate every single part of our life!  He doesn’t want a little corner, but the entire life!  Never forget this one thing; Love means more than just one sided emotions and actions.  If you have only love (chesed, grace, mercy) without judgment (gevurah, boundaries) then you have a skewed vision of life and God.  God is a God of order and balance and He always measures out what we need to keep things in balance.   This one principle is in every verse of scripture you read, from the 1^st verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation:  LOVE HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT my friend, but love is a two-way street.  God loves you, but it does you no good unless you accept His love.  Have you accepted His love?  He wants to count you as His own!  Let me tell you, there may be boundaries, but the property inside………well its’ an Oasis!!!

I will leave you with a little piece of homework with this one.  It just seems appropriate.  Do a little research on some of the Judaic websites on the phrase:  measure for measure!   Until next time, Shalom!    

The God of the Outstretched Arm

Original photo by Aaron Cowan, used with permission 

from the website http://aaroncowanphotos.wordpress.com

Okay, as I promised I am picking up where I left you hanging with the last post.  And I am also giving you another two for one with this one.  These are some of the most exciting scriptures in the Word of God, so hang on to your hats, people!  And keep the picture you see above in the back of your mind.  I know it isn't the Red Sea which in all honesty would look more like Lake Michigan in size, but it can give you a visual image, none the less, for it's primitive natural look!  

If we have experienced God’s grace, then we don’t have to worry about God’s judgment, right?  …………..right?  Well, do we?  Hmmm.  Well, let’s take a good look at how God’s judgment can be defined, will that be fair enough?  Okay, are you ready to dive into more of the Tree of Life?  All right, come on let’s go!!!!

While researching for the Parashat on the Tree of Life posting I found some of the most AWESOME information that needed to wait until this week!!!!!   God is soooo magnificent!  Last weeks’ Parashat is Beshalach and covers the reading of Exodus 13:17 – 17:14.  That portion of scripture covers the Israelites first leg of their escape from Egypt following the dreadful plagues and the first Passover.

The first obstacle they faced was a body of water, but that is not all.   Once they left Egypt, God re-strengthened Pharaoh’s heart and he decided to pursue the Israelites and bring them back.  And herein lays the Israelites dilemma, the sea before them and the Egyptian army closing in behind them!  What are they going to do!  Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!

A little research on the website http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/redsea.htm  brought me to the following facts: at it's most narrow point, the Red Sea is 12 miles wide (Gulf of Suez) and the average depth is 1640 ft.  Does this give you a little perspective on their dilemma?  Yes, I would say my friends picture is not quite up to spec and yes Lake Michigan is probably a better match, but the pictures I had of it were too commercialized (taken from Navy Pier in Chicago, I think you understand my point.)

At 12 miles I don't think you could see the other side and the Gulf of Suez itself is a mere 195 miles in length.  The entire Red Sea is 1200 miles in length 190 miles wide at it's widest point with a maximum depth of 8200 ft.  Wow!  That is a little bit bigger than the lake near my house!  Just sayin!  1640 ft deep means that as they crossed they had to descend down the side of a mountain the equivalent of a 164 story drop and then ascend back up the same within that 12 mile walk!  Blows that little vision of them walking across a flat plain, doesn't it?

Now, just stop here for a moment, because I want to talk through a thought with you.  Most, if not all of you, know how this story goes.  Even if you weren’t brought up in church learning this story, you’ve probably seen the movie with Charlton Heston or at least the animated version.  Think about something with me.  IF GOD is so powerful and can do ANYTHING, why did He cause the water to separate (or part) so the Israelites could walk across on dry ground?  He could have done this part any way He wanted to, could He not?  If Jesus walked on water to get from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other, then why didn’t God just have the people walk on the water across to the other side?  I mean, come on, God could have had large fish give each of them a ride to the other side if He chose, but really why not have them just walk on water.  It would have made a great correlation with the New Testament and Jesus walking on the water, would it not?  After all, He knew Jesus was going to do that, didn’t He and at that point the disciples would have said, “You have to be the Messiah, you walked on water just like Moses!”  Well, let me tell you why, but first I have to back track a little, so hang on!

Think back to last week and the Tree of Life.  Do you remember the hands or arms?  Chesed (loving kindness, grace) and Gevurah (judgment, might), well the sages teach that the world was created with Chesed.  Psalm 89:3 (your Bible may be 89:2) the original Hebrew says the World was built with loving kindness (chesed).  It is because of God’s great chesed that the world and everything in it exists.  His Chesed is unending and it is the very reason for the creation.  He created so He would have someone to bestow Chesed on.  (There is a greater lesson here, but for another time!)  His nature is complete benevolence.  He who is good, it is His nature to do good. 

Now, we have a great God whose nature is loving kindness and He has an infinite supply of it.  He is in the creating mood and is creating, but there is a problem.  His loving kindness and His willingness to pour out that loving kindness would never stop without something to cause it to stop, therefore Gevurah, judgment!  God needed boundaries to His creating!  Why, you ask?  The creation itself, pure and simple.  It was for our benefit.  Infinite love, pure and Holy poured out immeasurably without restraint would have nullified us!  Let me see if I can explain.

There is a song recorded by Nicole Mullin which says, “Who told the sun where to stand in the morning and who told the oceans, you can only come this far, and who told the moon, where to hide till evening” You see, without Gevurah, there would be no boundaries.  Where would the water stop?  Gevurah or judgment is making a decision based on where the boundaries would be best placed to benefit creation.  God doesn’t need boundaries, but we do.  We need dry land and oceans.  We need the sun by day and the moon by night, do we not?  I want to pursue this thought further just a little later in this post, but for now, let me get back to my point on the crossing of the sea. 

And this is where I wanted to take you with the crossing of the Red Sea……one other thing about creation……..Chesed also means………[drum roll please(as in the second day)] the separation of waters!  There it is!!!!!  The separation of the waters means that the infinite chesed of God which is referred to as “the higher waters”, is separated from “the lower waters” – finite chesed!  That is it!  That is why God with His mercy and grace separated the waters for the Israelites to walk through on dry ground.  He was showing them a picture of His grace and mercy!  The separation of the waters!!! 

After they crossed over the Egyptians tried to follow, but God told Moses to hold out the staff and when he did, the waters closed up and drown them all.  Now let me show you one other thing about this portion of scripture that our Bibles just cannot capture.  After the Egyptians were drowned, Moses and the people sang a song of deliverance called, “The Song of the Sea”.  I want to show you the way it was originally written in Hebrew, taken from a Sefer Torah.

Do you see anything that stands out to you?  It is two walls of water with the Israelites walking through the middle!  The elongated letters have a meaning also!  Is this not fantastic!  I am told that even the white spaces have meaning.  I think I understand what that means!  Oh WOW!  Are you getting a better picture now?  Do you see the story a little clearer? 

Now I want to bring you up to something even greater, are you ready?  You are going to see a VERY familiar portion of scripture with BRAND NEW EYES!  At least I certainly hope you do!  Remember that God poured out loving kindness on us and chose us from the foundations of the world!  Do not ever forget that!  Come on; let’s see what else He has in store for us!

Let us travel now to the other side of the tree for a good look at the branch we call Gevurah.  As our Parashat for this week continues the Israelites have crossed the Red Sea, they have seen the Egyptian Army drown and three months later they have arrived at Mt. Sinai.  I’m tired just thinking about it!  At this point, I think you all know what is going to happen next, right?  Do you, really?  Are you sure?  Perhaps you should read the passage for yourself.  Exodus 18:1 – 20:23 is the reading of Parashat Yisro. 

The picture we have mostly seen as we have been taught this scripture is one of a mountain covered in a thick black cloud with lightning and thunder and a big booming voice that shook the earth like an earthquake giving Moses lots of “THOU SHALT NOTS! RESTRICTIONS, A TYRANT THAT WANTS TO TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM, MAN!”  What we have instead is nothing of the sort.  What the Jews have passed down SINCE the time of Moses is a TOTALLY different story!  Well, there is the cloud over the mountain part, but the connotation of God is totally different! Get out of here, you say?  For real!!! 

Let me give you a brand new picture, so all of you Charlton Heston fans, SORRY, you’ll never be able to watch that movie again!  New movie to watch now!  Here goes; A man desires a woman to be his wife.  He sends a messenger to tell the woman of the bridegroom’s wishes and his proposal.  She then replies back with an answer of, “Everything I will do” if she wishes to accept the proposal.  In chapter 19 God tells Moses to give a proposal to the people and the people respond back with, “Everything that HASHEM has spoken we shall do!”   (Sounds like a marriage proposal to me!)

Next on the agenda, A WEDDING!  And what do you need for a wedding, well you use the standard ole vows or you can write your own, but someone had to be the first one to write those vows!  God wrote wedding vows for His bride!  Gevurah!  Boundaries for the marriage!  Have you ever thought of the “10 Commandments” in that way?  God is setting down the boundaries for a perfect relationship within the marriage. 

Now let’s just stop for a minute, because I want you to think for a moment.  (I am going to go into the individual 10 in a minute, so hang on.)  What kind of marriage would any of us have without some kind of boundaries for that marriage?  What if we said our vows (like our salvation experience), and then spent the rest of our marriage like we spend in our relationship with God?  On fire throughout the honeymoon, then hit or miss for the next 10 years?  Keep that thought in mind as we delve into the individual commandments, oh yeah and they aren’t called commandments.  The Jews know them as “connections or the 10 Words”.   You see there were only 10 words on those tablets.  We’ll discuss that in a later post!  Oh we have so much to re-learn! 

   

1.        I am the Lord your God.  (I am to be your only husband)  - Simple enough, right?

2.       You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence.  You shall not make yourself a carved image nor any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth.  You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them, for I am HASHEM, your God – a jealous God (Would you want your spouse to have an idol of someone other than you in your home?  Would you want them to “worship” or adore someone else beside you?  Ladies, how do you feel about your husband looking at nude or scantily clad women in a “men’s” magazine?  I thought so, enough said and men don’t want their wives crooning over a superstar either, hint, hint!)

3.       You shall not take the Name of HASHEM, your God in vain (Do you want your spouse either cursing you or using your name to swear by?)

4.       Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.  Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work; but the seventh day is Sabbath to HASHEM, your God; you shall not do any work (every couple needs a special time each week when they spend time with each other and only with each other, blocking out everything else in the world!  And work should never come before that special day!)

5.       Honor your father and your mother, so that your days will be lengthened upon the land that HASHEM, your God, gives you.  (Honoring parents gives our spouse a glimpse into our nature.  It allows that spouse to see how we might respond when that spouse is in need.  If we honor our parents it naturally follows that we will honor others, especially our spouse.)

6.       You shall not kill (Murder is more than taking a physical life.  In Jewish thought to speak evil of someone in order to hurt their reputation you murder them over and over and over.  Would you want your spouse to speak words of harm over you and your reputation?)

7.       You shall not commit adultery (Well, I think this one is self-explanatory!)

8.       You shall not steal (Stealing, trustworthiness.  How do you think this comes into play in a marriage?  Marinate on it…..!)

9.       You shall not bear false witness against your fellow (this also means gossip and slander – a spouse who will gossip and slander others will probably gossip and slander their own!)

10.   You shall not covet (Is your spouse and what they have to offer not good enough for you?)

What kind of marriage would you have if there were no boundaries or expectations?  What if your spouse simply said, “Do you want to marry me?”  And you said, “Yes” and that was it.  You had no clue where you went from there.  Do you live at their place or yours?  Do you know when they will come home or if they will have no other partners but you?  If you stop at the grocery store on the way home from work, will they be angry or will they even be at home?  Walking on eggshells, many of you know that feeling, because you have lived it.  Boundaries, judgments – always a bad thing?

We all know how short we fall in our own marriages, but when you were saying your vows in front of your guests at the wedding were you thinking, “Gee, I don’t like these commandments!”?  I certainly doubt it.  Even if your marriage ended in divorce, most likely you were thinking, “to have and to hold, in sickness and in health……yes, yes….I will do all of these things.  You didn’t see them as restrictions, you were actually looking forward to fulfilling every last one of them and saying, “I will stand by all these VOWS!”  The 10 Commandments, (Connections, Words) – God’s Wedding Vows!

I don’t know about you, but makes me want to put on my wedding dress (if I could get it to zip) and send out invitations and order a cake and throw rice and reserve a limo and…..oh, no can’t do that.   But, all kidding aside, (since I’m a woman and get teary eyed at the least thing), I am about to cry just thinking about how much God loves me!  Want to know something else that is so cool?  I told you a few weeks ago how God puts an event into my life that goes with the Parashat I am working on, well today I was out about town shopping and I went to this thrift store in town called Angel’s Attic.  It is a sort of goodwill store where people donate things they no longer want.  The items are then re-sold and the money used to support a clinic in town which provides services for working people with no insurance.  Guess what their window display was today?...........Yep you guessed it, wedding dresses!!!!!!   It was all about weddings!!!!!   Ain’t God soooo good!   Whew!  We could have church, right now!   Can I get a witness up in here?   If it were May or June I wouldn't have been surprised, but how many businesses do you know that have a wedding themed window in February!  Ha!  Here is the picture - couldn't resist showing it to you....guess they were thinking about Valentines Day!

Guys, God loves you too and those vows were for you as well!  You are as much His as the women are, let me show you how.  Men, and women for that fact, do you remember early on in my posts when I presented a Hebraic thought to you called, fractals?  (I'll give you a refresher - broccoli!)  Well, this is a fractal; Marriage.  I have already written a post along the line of marriage, but I want you to see it in this light.  Men, I know it is hard for you to see yourself as a Bride in this picture, so let me see if I can give you a better picture.  You, in your marriage are the snapshot or fractal of God in the bigger picture.  Can you understand that?  As God is the Groom and the Israelites were the Bride, men are the groom in a marriage and they are a fractal representing God in the relationship between Him and Israel, but also representing a future fulfillment in Christ and the Church!  That is why we are told by Paul in Ephesians 5: 25 “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.”   You are supposed to be a picture of God and Christ to the WORLD!   

Men, you are SO important in the relationship.  More than you could ever dream and Ladies, we need to understand how important the role of a man is in the marriage!  If we could just wrap our heads around the truth of the role of the husband and wife in a marriage from God’s perspective and the picture it is supposed to show to the world!  WOW, could this ever change the rate of divorce within the body of Christ!  And once we got this figured out, could we ever change the way people see GOD!!!!  (We aren't giving them much of a picture by looking at our marriages these days, are we?)

The boundaries are there to help us have the very best relationship and keep the line of communication open with our one and only true love, God!  Breaking a vow doesn’t mean the marriage is over, it only means a strain in the relationship.  (Do you remember the illustration I gave several weeks ago with the electrical outlet?  If not, go back until you find that post and re-read that one, because it has to do with the consequences of not being connected properly in the relationship!)

Think about your own marriage for a moment.  If your spouse lies to you about something, are you no longer married?  Of course not, but what does that do to the relationship until the issue is resolved?  Now, if the lying continues and goes on and on and on, the human marriage will probably end in divorce.  On the other hand when someone says they are in a relationship with God, yet lives a life that is constantly crossing boundaries we have to stop and ask ourselves, “Was there really a relationship there in the first place?” 

Now, for this week I am going to leave you with this thought, God told Moses to tell the people He was going to redeem them with an outstretched arm and great judgments.  Chesed and Gevurah.  Overwhelming loving kindness with boundaries!  Boundaries for our sake, not His!  Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, His child and forever I am!