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!

Two For the Price of One! (and a bonus!)

I apologize for not posting last week, but I spent most of my time researching the subject matter for this post.  In order to make it up to you, I am giving you a two for one special by combining last weeks and this week’s Parashat together.  This post will include the Parashat of both Va’eira and Bo.  These cover the scripture reading of Genesis 6:2 – 13:16 and takes us through the entire saga of the plagues.  I would love to spend time on each and every one of the plagues, but that is not where I feel the need to take you at this time.  I told you in my last post the book of Exodus begins some of the most exciting reading, promises and prophecy in the entire Bible.  As I began reading chapter 6, there it was!  I was captivated with one verse and I knew I had to camp there with you, but I must give you a little background on why that verse grabbed me so. Last summer the majority of the United States experienced a severe drought.  My area was caught in the worst portion of that drought and although we have received several inches of rain within the past week we are still many inches behind.  During the worst part of the drought I began to question God as to why He was allowing it and what we needed to do in order for Him to send rain.  I kept hearing a specific verse in my mind every time I prayed and God began opening my eyes to that scripture in a way I had never seen before.  I began writing a book about it, but before finishing the book things began to distract me to the point I was unable to complete it.  I have not been able to pick it up and finish it yet, but now I think I know why.  The main theme in that book is the same theme where I stopped in this passage, although it is two totally different scripture passages it uses the same phrase.  God knew I needed to write this blog post first before I could finish the book.  He is so awesome.  I am now going to introduce you to a new Hebraic concept.  It is one that permeates the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  After learning this you will begin to see so many things throughout scripture that you never thought about before.  You are going to so enjoy this journey, because you are going to get to know your Father better and then you’ll also know His son better too! Go with me now to Genesis 2:9  “And HASHEM God caused to sprout from the ground every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food; also the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad.” And also to Genesis 3:22-24 “And HASHEM God said ‘Behold Man has become like the Unique One among us, knowing good and bad; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever!’ So HASHEM God banished him from the Garden of Eden, to work the soil from which he was taken.  And having driven out the man, He stationed at the east of the Garden of Eden the Cherubim and the flame of the ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.” What was so important about this tree?  Of course if we are looking at it with our western eyes we see only a tree, right?  But, if we look at it with the new eyes I have been teaching all of you to see with, we can see much more.  Let me tell you a little about this tree before we go to our Parashat.  The Jews have taught for thousands of years that with 10 utterances, God spoke the world into existence.  (Psalms 33)  I wanted to relay this to you, but it is a rather lengthy discussion and for time’s sake I will not go into that subject at this time.  I am also not as well versed on that particular subject and how it relates; although, I do know it is connected to this tree! What I do know is there is also a connection to this tree and a Parashat to come in the next few weeks!  (CAN NOT WAIT FOR THAT ONE!  You are gonna love it!  I promise!)  There is ALSO a connection to this tree and some 7 fruit to be exact (with their actual harvest equivalent),  [do these sound anything like a verse you might have read somewhere in Galatians maybe?]:  Transcendence (wheat) [goodness]; vitality (barley) [faithfulness]; joy (grapes) [joy, you think!]; awareness (fig) [love]; action (pomegranate) [kindness, gentleness]; struggle (olive) [self-control]; tranquility (date) [peace, patience].  One other very important connection to our Parashat from this two week section is……THE TEN PLAGUES!  Yep!  They are connected to this tree also!  (This could get very deep, couldn’t it!)  Just let me give you one hint….any time you see the number 10; just know that it relates in some way to this tree, nuff said! I hope you are learning something new!  Now let me get to the really good stuff about the Tree, because this is the starting point for all of the above mentioned points!  I am sure you have heard about the Tree of Life before.  It is mentioned, specifically, 12 times in the entire Bible beginning in Genesis 2:9 and ending in Revelation 22:19!  I have no clue how many times it is alluded to throughout the entire Bible!  Too many to count I am sure.  The best way to present it is to give you a diagram.  The Tree of Life is also called the 10 Sieferot (there are a couple of variations on the spelling).  It is a picture of a “stick” tree depicting 10 attributes of God.  They are connected and as your level of education into Judaism deepens, so does the levels of depth into the tree and its’ meaning.  I will keep this very simple, since I am on level one myself.  (ha ha!) What you usually see when looking at a diagram of the Tree of Life is basically God from the back.  So if the circle is on your right, it is God’s right and if it is on your left, then it is God’s left.  Now, by looking at this diagram is this explanation on the hands and arms beginning to ring any bells on scriptures you have heard all your life?  Think, right hand of  God, righteous right hand, etc. (Hamsters, start turning those wheels!)  As you look at and begin to study this tree, for those of you who have been in a church where you have heard a lot of scripture all your life and been a student of the Bible, those scriptures are going to start clicking into place like a jigsaw puzzle!  You are going to begin seeing scripture like you have never seen it before!  God is sooo good, all the time! Now that you have seen this and hopefully taken a long look at it, I want to bring you into the Parashat!  Go with me now to Exodus 6:6-8.  This passage is one which is quoted by all Jews every year at the Passover meal known as Seder.  It is also called the four “I Wills” and they are quoted along with the four cups drank at the meal.  The “I Wills” (I Shalls) are definitely promises by God to His people, but are also prophecy.  One great thing about prophecy is that there is always an immediate fulfillment, but there is also a future fulfillment and another future fulfillment and again a future fulfillment each one occurring in a spiral with greater detail until an ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy!  Now, let us read that passage: “Therefore, say to the Children of Israel: ‘I am HASHEM, and I shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  I shall take you to Me for a people and I shall be a God to you; and you shall know that I am HASHEM your God, Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt.  I shall bring you to the land about which I raised My hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I shall give it to you as a heritage – I am HASHEM.’” Was there anything in that passage that jumped out at you?  What about, “I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” Go back and take a long look at that diagram again.  Read the wording where the arms or hands are located and think about an outstretched arm.  Grace in one direction, judgment in the other!  God is getting ready to lead His people out of Egypt.  Immediate for sure, but what a future fulfillment?  Think about a time in the future when God would redeem his people by stretching out His arm with grace and judgment?  Look at the scripture with me in Mark14:22-25 where Yeshua is observing the Passover Seder with his disciples.  Do you remember the four “I Wills”?  As I have already stated, at the Seder there are four specific cups that are drunk and one of the “I Wills” is quoted after each one.  Two are drunk before the meal and then immediately following the meal a third cup is drunk at which time those present will recite:  “ I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” ALWAYS SPOKEN AFTER THE THIRD CUP!   Keep this thought in mind as you read this portion of scripture. “When they ate, Yeshua took bread, made a blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.  He said, ‘Take it; eat it.  This is my body.’  He took the cup, made a blessing (what blessing?  "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgments") and gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.  He said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out on behalf of many.  Amen, I say to you, I will surely not drink of the fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’” Do you see what I see?  Yeshua took the cup of  “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” and said after this time, I won’t be drinking this cup with you again until when?  The day I drink it with you in the kingdom of God!  Whew!!!!!!!!!  Do you see it!  Do you have goosebumps?  Ain’t this scripture great! Go with me to Luke 23:32-33, 39-40, 42-43 and let’s look at something even goosebumpier (is that even a word?, don’t know and don’t care, it just sounds good here!) “There were also two others with him, wicked men who were found deserving of death.  When they came to the place that is called Golgotha they crucified him there with the two wicked men, one on his right and the other on his left.  …..One of the wicked men being hanged insulted him, saying ‘Are you not the Mashiach?  Save yourself and us!’  The other one answered and reprimanded him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God?’ ….  He said to Yeshua, ‘Please remember me, my master, when you come into your kingdom!’  Yeshua said to him, ‘Amen, I say to you that today you will be with me in Gan Eden.’”(paradise) An outstretched arm of judgment in one direction and an outstretched arm of grace in the other!  Two men, two arms and two outcomes!  (What do you bet the one who would be with him in Gan Eden was on his right?) Oh my friend, I have told you all of this to bring you to one short point that is packed with dynamite.  God’s grace has always been part of the plan.  His Chesed and His outstretched arm!  From the creation of the world to the final days of the earth it has always been and it always will be about grace!  It is not a new testament thought.  It is as old as God himself!  Now there is a thought for you!  God is grace!  They are inseparable.  God the Son is leading you with His hand of grace to God the Father. Aren't you glad that grace allows us the privilege of not having to face God's judgment?   Oh really?  Does it?  We'll talk..........Shalom!

Parashat Shemot - Labor and Delivery!



 

This is me with my oldest grandson, 5 years ago on December 24.  He was less than 24 hours old at the time.  Such a joyous day!  So hard to believe the little guy will be starting school in the fall.  And we have added another grandson since then!  Joy, such joy!

A New Year and with it the chance for a new beginning.  These words can conjure up all kinds of thoughts and mind pictures.  For many people New Year’s Day brings a New Year’s Resolution full of hopes and dreams of; losing weight, stopping a bad habit or finding new romance.  For others it is a chance to leave a rather bad year behind in hopes of a better year ahead.  Then there are those who are looking toward the fulfillment of a promise; the birth of a long awaited child or the culmination of years or months of engagement with a wedding ceremony.  A fresh start, a do over, a new beginning.  We all want a do over at least once in our life, don’t we?   This week’s Parashat is all about an end, a new beginning and a glimmer at the fulfillment of a promise.  I am so excited about what is to come in the next months in the Torah!!!!  I hope to teach you things about His word that will make you love Him more in 2013 than you have ever loved Him in your life!  Let’s go now to Egypt to begin our journey!

Our reading for this week is Exodus 1:1 – 6:1.  It is so important that you read the Word.  I know that many, if not all of you think you know this story well.  I thought I knew this story well myself until I began the studies under my Rabbi and oh how much I did not know!  It is amazing how much we over read (kind of like overhear in part and fill in the rest with our imagination), or we rely on children’s books or movies!  One other problem with the modern day church is we are really, really good at just reading a verse or two and never reading an entire passage!  By doing so, we miss a lot of scripture and never know what it says!  (I am using a lot of exclamation marks for a reason here.)  Also, do not forget what I have been teaching you about looking at the scripture from a new mindset as you read this passage.

Now, having said all of that, you will DEFINITELY need to read this entire passage for yourself, because I am not going in-depth on it.  I think you will find nuggets within this story you have either forgotten or you never really read in the first place.  Before going further, let me suggest that in order to get the most out of your reading, it would be in your best interest to purchase a Torah.  You cannot just purchase these at your local Christian bookstore.  They can only be purchased through a Judaic website for the most authentic translation possible.  There are several of these on Amazon, but they are NOT reliable, so PLEASE DO NOT purchase one of those books neither the hard copy nor for the Kindle.   There are two websites I do recommend:

http://www.judaism.com/books/bible_texts/index.asp?cdo=chabad.org

http://artscroll.com/

Either of these websites have the translation I would recommend for you and they are absolutely authentic.  You will not go wrong with a Chumash (this is The Torah, make sure to choose the one with Rashi’s comments and if possible choose the Ashkenasi  translation since that is what I quote from most often) or a Tanach (the entire Old Testament, although it will not be in the same order you are use to) ordered from them.  I have ordered from the Artscroll website and was totally pleased with the content and the company.   

Now on to our Parashat!  At this point in our reading, approximately 400 years have passed since God made a covenant with Abraham to make him into a great nation.  If you want a refresher on the covenant you can read Genesis 15 and 17:1-8.  I have been torn between two themes or directions to go in for this writing, and to be quite frank I had a dream about one, but chose the other.  The one I dreamed about had to do with the conversation between Moses and God at the burning bush and it would have been entitled, “Who are you and who am I?”  I think I was just intended to give the title so each of you can meditate on it with God and God alone.  That one is quite personal and I would challenge you to take it up with Him, because I cannot answer that question for you.  God has a task for each of us and only He can tell you who you are in His grand scheme. 

The option I chose to write about is using an analogy of giving birth, although I will use other scenarios as well.  If you are one of my male readers you will still be able to connect with this one, so don’t leave me yet.  So many times the greatest new beginnings and the fulfillment of promises in our lives begin with some of the greatest pain, thus my analogy of childbirth.    I believe so often, unless there is pain associated with the blessing, we tend to take it for granted.  Just as you will see over the coming weeks, we are no different than the children of Israel.  Many times, in order for us to have a thankful heart, God must shake us to the core of our being.  It almost always involves pain, whether our own or someone else’s. 

The people, who were descendants of Jacob (Israel), had grown significantly while in Egypt.  As their numbers increased, a new leader arose.  This Pharaoh did not care about the covenant between the previous Pharaoh and Joseph.  Feeling threatened by this foreign group of people, he made them into Egypt’s slaves.  As the case throughout the world’s history, if you feel threatened by a people group, make them into slaves, is this not correct?  Now the pain and suffering begins.  The true labor pains, so to speak.  Hang on, because this labor is going to be a long one.  It is, after all, a first child and they mostly take a long time to come into the world! 

God promised Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, but let me ask you this, did Abraham live to see this accomplished?  Read all of the covenant promise from Genesis 15.  God also told Abraham that his offspring would spend 400 years as aliens in a land not their own and they will be oppressed.   Oh my, have I mentioned 400 years somewhere in this post?  How old was Abraham when he died?  Certainly not 400!   Did the people know about this promise?  The sages say, yes!  Abraham taught Isaac, Isaac taught Jacob, Jacob taught his sons, who then taught their sons, etc.

(Let me get off on a side road for just a minute here.  This is a subject that greatly bothers me.  In our modern society we fail to do this one thing.  We do not teach our children, yet in not teaching them the things we should, we teach them after all.  We teach our children they have no responsibility to teach their own children.  We teach them it is everyone else’s responsibility to teach their children.  We have come to believe it is the responsibility of the Church, school and government to teach our children.  I won’t elaborate further on this issue; I will save it for another post.  I just needed to get that off my chest.) Now back to the Parashat.

This was not the only promise the people were passing down throughout the generations.  Lest you forget, Jacob gave a blessing to each of his twelve sons, each of those sons passed down the promise of those blessings to his sons.  Those sons would have passed down the promise of Abraham along with the promise of his grandfather for his father along with any blessing his father gave to him, etc.  Whew!  That was a mouthful!  There may have been thousands of blessings to be fulfilled in the future generations that would have been passed along from father to son.  All would have passed down the promise of God to Abraham for that promise actually affected each and every one of them.

Now Moses comes on the scene to start the fulfillment of the promise and the people all say, “Hallelujah, AMEN!”  But wait, there is a problem!  The Israelites didn’t come out the big lottery winners here.  In fact, life got worse, really, really worse.  Can you imagine the conversation among the people as life suddenly became more difficult in Egypt?  Perhaps it went something like this in an average home. 

                Wife, “Dear, how was your day at the brick factory?”

                Husband, “Horrible, the Boss is now saying that Pharaoh won’t give us straw, we have to find it ourselves and still make our quota.  The days are going to be longer and the pay isn’t going up, in fact, it may even go down.  We are going to have to make the youngest children go to work to put food on the table.  And now they also beat us if we even stop to get a drink of water.  Things just keep going from bad to worse.  Where is this promise that my father told me about?  Hasn’t it been about 400 years already?  When is God going to deliver us?”

Does this even vaguely resemble any kind of conversation in your home?  Certainly sounds like a recent one in mine.  Can’t quite relate?  Let me see if I can help.

                Wife, “Dear, how was your day at work?”

                Husband, “Horrible, there is another layoff coming next month and I’m not sure where my job stands.  The new tax hike went into effect and with the increase in the cost of insurance my paycheck is $35 less each week than it was last year.  Do you realize that I will be bringing home $140 less each month, but our bills won’t be any less?  What if I’m the one who gets laid off?  Even if I’m not, they will just add more work to what I already do and expect me to get it all done in the same time frame.  We still don’t have the hospital paid off from the testing you had done and now our youngest has a dentist appointment.  Almost all of our appliances are 15 years old and the car MUST have new tires.  What if Congress doesn’t resolve this Fiscal Cliff thing?  Will it ever end?  Things just keep going from bad to worse.  When is God going to deliver us?”

There, is that a little better?  Can you now relate?  Wow, things haven’t really changed in like, 4000 years, have they?  They just got a lot more technologically savvy.  God had given the Israelites a promise.  He would make them into a great and mighty nation in THEIR land, not in the land of Egypt.  He would deliver them and in doing so, would make His name great.  Only one problem, we see with human eyes and well, God sees with His eyes.  They are two absolutely different sets of eyes.  Two different views; one in the valley looking up, the other from atop the mountain overlooking the valley. 

God is about to begin the fulfillment of the promise and thus also begins a time of pain and suffering for His people (actually the first of many times throughout history).  The pain became so great that Moses went back to God at the end of our reading with these words:

                “My Lord, why have You done evil to this people, why have You sent me?  From the time I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name he did evil to this people, but You did not rescue Your people.”

Birth pangs.  I’ve been there and probably most of my readers have also, even the men.  You have either felt them or like Moses, witnessed them.  A long awaited and glorious event is about to take place, but what?  Pain?  Suffering?  Wait a minute?  No one told me it would be like this?  I didn’t know it was going to be this painful?  I don’t think I can bear it!  Take this pain away!  If I had known it would be this painful, I would not have chosen this road!  I don’t think I want this promise, Lord!  Oh my, how many women in the midst of hard labor have said that, but alas it is too late at this point!  I still laugh when I think of the Bill Cosby monologue about his wife giving birth and she screams at him, “Give me morphine!” 

A new nation was about to be born and the labor pains had begun.  Hard labor, nothing joyous in that, I can tell you from personal experience.  Just as we want to maybe have just enough pain to allow us time to reach the hospital, Moses thought God would send him in and lead them out.  Maybe a little pain, but not suffering through hours and hours of labor.  Not months or years of an evil ruler.  Just a quick deliverance and on to the Promised Land.  As Moses cried out to God on behalf of the people, God responds.

                “HASHEM said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh, for through a strong hand will he send them out, and with a strong hand will he drive them from his land.’”

To see the hand of God at work!  I love the fact that we can look back on this historical event and see the big picture.  It gives us the unique advantage of using it as a guideline, for all other situations like it, in our own life as well.  We are able to read ahead in the story and know that God did, in fact, deliver His people in a way that has never been witnessed, before or since.  All of the labor pain was in order for God’s power to be revealed!  I am reminded at this point of the verse;

                “”I have spoken these things to you so that you will have shalom in me.  You have trouble in the world, but let your heart be brave; I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33

Think back to the delivery of your first child or, in fact, any of your children.  No matter how difficult the delivery, when you saw the face of that child for the first time, were you amazed at the awe and wonder of the miracle of birth?  Did you give God the glory?  Most likely you did.  You may have even questioned how God found you worthy to be the parent of that child.  Even those who do not claim to believe in God, will look with amazement at the miracle of a newborn infant. 

God’s power and glory were not just revealed and evident to His people, but to the Egyptians also.  I want to fast forward 2000 years + another 2000 years.  God had also given another promise within that same promise to Abraham.  In Genesis 18:18 we are told that Abraham will become a great and mighty nation and that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him.  Hmmm, I wonder what that could mean.  Could that be the promised Messiah?  If so, does that mean more labor pains?

Goodness, are we going to have to go through all of that hardship again like the Israelites did in Egypt? Some of the same things that happened in Egypt happened in Bethlehem and in all Judea 2000 years ago.  Well, let’s see now; if you are going to give birth there are two ways to go about it.  You either have to go through labor or have a C-section.  Either of those requires pain, I know, because I have had one of each.  So yes, I guess it means a hardship of some kind or another. 

I know this has not been the most flowing post, but I intend to take the Messianic section a bit farther in the next Parashat to come, but for this week I want to leave you with something to hang on to.  I know, by reading a lot of Facebook posts and also hearing, by way of the grapevine, there are a lot of hurting people in God’s family right now.  Every day we hear of more pain and suffering than we can hardly bear.  We, as Christians, search the Scriptures for God’s promises.  We cling to those promises; write them on our hearts and in songs.  We cry out to God and it seems at times, God is simply not listening. 

Just as during a long, long labor it may seem like nothing is happening and the pain is too great to bear, eventually the birth WILL occur and joy will come with the morning.  God is not being silent, He has a perfect timetable.  A premature baby has multiple problems and at times those problems turn into fatalities.  God’s promises are never premature and they NEVER FAIL.  They are always perfectly on time and He always delivers a happy, healthy outcome! 

God’s promise, to you as an individual, is at the end of a road less traveled.  It is a road which has a very narrow path, a lot more obstacles, twists, and turns and treacherous stretches, BUT the reward at the end is greater than anything imaginable.  God’s ultimate promise will be one where His power and His glory will be witnessed by the entire world.  Although Abraham never physically saw the end result of his promise in a nation, he did see the birth of his son, Isaac.  I may never physically see, here on earth, the coming of the Messiah, but I have seen the birth of His work in me.  Whether I live to actually see the fulfillment from earth or I am a participant with the heavenly host, I can’t wait to see it happen, can you?  I think I felt a pain, could labor have begun?