The Best Gift Ever

“Out of His fullness, we have all received grace on top of grace.” John 1:16

In speaking to a friend this morning, I was reminded of just how much we all need grace. To give it to others and to receive it ourselves.

Grace is often talked about in the context of forgiveness, but it is so much more than that. It really is the gift that keeps on giving. It is a gift we can never earn, nor is it a gift we can give for a price (then it wouldn’t be a gift, would it?).

Grace is the means by which we receive salvation, the forgiveness of our sins.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. ” Ephesians 2:8-9

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We) are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua.” Romans 3:23-24 

But grace doesn’t stop there. It also teaches us how to live once we are saved.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, training us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live in a manner that is self-controlled and righteous and godly in the present age. We wait for the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua. He gave Himself for us so that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and so that He might purify for Himself a chosen people, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:11-14

But wait! There’s more! Grace not only saves us, it also teaches us how to live as redeemed children of a holy God. And not only does grace teach us how to live, it gives us the strength to live the righteous life to which we have been called.

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may dwell in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Grace saves us, it teaches us, and it strengthens us. None of this salvation process is dependent upon us. Not our merit, not our knowledge, and not our ability. Grace is wrapped up in the presence of a loving God who knows that our flesh is no match for the sin, pain, addiction, trauma, and fear of this world. A God who will go to any lengths to rescue us from all those things. It is a gift that when truly understood, elicits tremendous humility and gratitude, but also brings an awareness of the tremendous responsibility that comes with it.

God rarely gives us a gift that we are meant to keep to ourselves.

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of the many-sided grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10

Sometimes it’s hard to know how to show grace to others. And even if you know how to, circumstances can make it difficult to want to.

Sometimes the grace we need to give comes in the form of forgiveness. When we realize the immense forgiveness we have been given by God, it makes us more willing to forgive others. This doesn’t mean it’s always easy. It just means that we understand that forgiveness is necessary not only for them, but for us to be able to heal from the offense. When we forgive someone, it may not change them, but it will always change us… and it’s always for the better.

Sometimes grace comes in the form of teaching – think parents, teachers, caregivers, or even friends when we need to speak truth into the lives of others. Correction and reprove, offering godly counsel, and studying the Bible together are all ways we can use grace to teach others.

Sometimes it comes in the form of serving. We serve when we do for others what they can’t do for themselves. We serve when we come alongside someone who is struggling. We serve when we see a need and fill it. We serve when we show compassion, love, or kindness to someone who needs it. When we serve others, we are giving them strength. We are using our strength (physically, emotionally, or through our resources) to give them something they needed or to do something they couldn’t do on their own.

Grace also helps us see beyond the moment, beyond the circumstance, beyond the behavior. Grace helps us see others, to see ourselves, through the eyes of the One from whom all grace flows. And that is when grace can truly have its perfect work.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves in tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience— bearing with one another and forgiving each other, if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord pardoned you, so also you must pardon others. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfect harmony. Let the shalom (peace) of Messiah rule in your hearts—to this shalom (peace) you were surely called in one body. Also be thankful. Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:12-17

“Be tenderly devoted to one another in brotherly love; outdo one another in giving honor. Do not be lagging in zeal; be fervent in spirit. Keep serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, enduring in distress, persisting in prayer, contributing to the needs of the believers, extending hospitality. Bless those who persecute you—bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Repay no one evil for evil; give thought to what is good in the eyes of all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in shalom with all people.” Romans 12:10-18

“With this in mind, we pray for you constantly, that our God may consider you worthy of the calling and fulfill with power every good desire and work of faith, so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

 

Removing the Veil

“Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” – 2 Corinthians 3:16

Seed:

Deuteronomy 30:9-16; Isaiah 25:6-8; John 6:63-69; Romans 8:2-8; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18

Plant:

Have you ever heard the saying, “Once you see something, you can’t unsee it”? I’ve heard and used this expression over the years, and it can be applied two ways. One is when you actually see something, either majestic or gruesome, and it stays with you. You see it replay in your mind over and over again. It elicits either a sense of longing or foreboding whenever its memory comes to mind. Whether by choice or by chance, its image is now etched in your mind, and you can’t unsee it.

Another use is when you either notice or someone else points out the similarity between one thing and another. For example, there is an abstract picture my mother painted hanging in our home. I always thought it looked like mountains with the sun setting behind and a stream wandering across the field below them. One day, I realized how similar the texture in this picture is to the lava fields we explored in Hawai’i. Now I can’t unsee it. Whenever I look at the picture, the peaceful mountainous landscape I once saw now wrestles in my mind with the memory of the harsh, rocky landscape left behind by Mauna Loa’s fierce eruptions.

Years ago, I had a “can’t unsee it” experience with God’s Word. Once God opened my heart to His Torah, I can’t unsee it. It has become the thing through which I not only view scripture, but how I see myself and the world around me. 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 sums this experience up perfectly. If you’re anything like me, sometimes it takes a few different ways of receiving information for your brain to fully wrap around it, so here it is in two different translations just to give us all a more vivid picture:

“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – ESV 

“What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away. Yes, till today, whenever Moshe is read, a veil lies over their heart. “But,” says the Torah, “whenever someone turns to Adonai, the veil is taken away. Now, “Adonai” in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of Adonai is, there is freedom. So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by Adonai the Spirit.” – CJB

During Old Testament times, before Messiah came, people read scripture with a veil over their faces, without the full understanding of who Messiah was to be. Not just in the flesh, but as an emissary of freedom. Our freedom. Freedom from the bondage to sin. Freedom from the penalty of our sin. Freedom from the inability to resist sin and live for righteousness. Freedom from the compulsion to satisfy our fleshly desires. Freedom to overcome all that separates us from our Heavenly Father.

We are told that in Messiah we are given the ability (freedom) to flee from evil and pursue that which is good, but how will we know which is which without something to guides us? Yeshua (Jesus) said that He didn’t come to abolish the Law (Torah), but to fulfill it. He came to show us how to live according to Torah the way God intended so that we might learn to do likewise. Torah is the light that exposes sin and illuminates righteousness. (Rom. 3:20,31) The law is not a heavy burden as many believe, but a joy, a blessing, and life. (Deut. 30:19-20, Psa. 119:92-93; Rom. 7:22; 1 John 5:3… and so many more.)

It is only through Messiah that we see Torah for what it is… our freedom.

Years ago, I gave God permission to rewrite my faith. To take anything that I believed about Him that wasn’t true and get rid of it, and to strengthen what was true so that my faith might be genuine and pure. I began to read the Bible and let Him speak to me Himself instead of listening to what someone else had to say about Him. It was then that He began to open my eyes to the beauty of His Word… all of it. I began to see Torah, His law, through the lens of Messiah. And now, I can’t unsee it.

Everything makes so much more sense. Things that didn’t fit together before have now become seamless threads in a beautiful tapestry. Seeming contradictions now come together into a single truth. In our turning to the LORD through faith in Messiah, the veil truly is lifted, and we begin to see Him as He really is. Yeshua (Jesus) walked according to Torah, and we are called to walk as He walked. To imitate Him. To follow Him. And when we do, that is when we begin the transformation into His likeness, from one degree of glory to another. And the freedom that comes from Torah, from faith, from the power of His Holy Spirit in us, becomes a reality in our lives.

Just as the pharisees presented to Israel a legalistic view of the Law through works and manmade decrees, we have been presented with a false messiah who did away with the Law altogether. Neither of these views are correct. Both of them are veiled displays of the truth, keeping us from seeing and experiencing the freedom Messiah offers to us all. And hindering us from being changed into His image. If we can’t see what He looks like, how can we become like Him?

We are told that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Word made flesh. (John 1:14) We are also told that Torah is the Word. Torah was the written Word; Messiah is the living Word. They are one in the same. Yeshua is the Word of God, the living, incarnate righteousness of the God of all creation. It is in this realization that the veil is lifted from our face, and we can see clearly the glory of God. And once you see His glory, it becomes something you can’t… something you never want to unsee.

Harvest:

• In what ways has my view of Messiah and Torah been distorted?
• Am I willing to let God rewrite my faith into one that is based on the truth of who He is?
• Read the whole of Psalm 119 this week and ask God to help you see His Torah the way David, a man after God’s own heart, did.

Father, thank You for sending Messiah that I might be free. I ask you right now to cause Your freedom to be a reality in my life. Show me anywhere that I am in bondage, anywhere that sin has a hold in my life. Send Your Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth. Father, You are truth, and it is Your truth that will set me free. I thank You and praise You in the name of Yeshua our Messiah. Amen

She Believed God

Seed:

Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:1-25; Galatians 3:1-9; Hebrews 11:1-40; James 2:14-26; 1 John 5:1-12

Plant:

Last week, I posed a question on social media. I asked: If you could only be remembered for one thing, what would you want it to be? The number one answer was to be remembered as a kind person. Several wanted to be remembered as one who followed God faithfully and stood for His truth above all else. There were others answers as well, but every one was a good one. Unless it is somehow for evil, I’m not sure there is a wrong way to answer this question.

This question, as are most questions I pose to others, was prompted by the fact that I was asking myself the very same thing. While washing dishes a few days earlier, I began talking with God over my kitchen sink, and a verse came to mind. “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” (Romans 4:3)

Abraham believed God… What a beautiful way to be remembered.

Believed. What does it really mean to believe? To trust? To have faith? Does scripture give us a clear definition of what belief is or is it some vague concept of accepting as true the words or promises of another, specifically God? Thankfully, God is pretty good at giving us answers to questions like this. Sometimes we just have to dig a little bit to find it. In 1 John we are given a very clear and specific answer to what it means to believe.

“Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?” – 1 John 5:1-5

The Greek word for believe in the above scripture is pisteuō. According to Strong’s Concordance, it means to have confidence, faith, to be persuaded, commit, entrust (especially one’s wellbeing to Messiah).  Let’s take this a step further. The word entrust, according to Dictionary.com, means 1) to charge or invest with a trust or responsibility; charge with a specific office or duty involving Trust: “We entrusted him with our lives.” 2) to commit (something) in trust to; confide, as for care, use, or performance; to entrust a secret, money, powers, or work to another.

There are so many directions I could go from here. This concept of belief, especially in context of 1 John 5, is packed with foundational scriptural insight. But we’re only going to build on the foundation of our foundation today.

Our belief is rooted in the knowledge that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah. The only atoning sacrifice for our sin. The only source of payment acceptable and worthy to release us from our debt. And it goes beyond that knowledge into a full entrusting of our very lives to the charge of His care. To entrust Messiah with our lives means to give Him full authority over our money, work, abilities, health, purpose, thoughts, desires, even our very existence. To give Messiah permission to use these new lives we now have in Him however He sees fit. That is what it means to believe.

Abraham believed. His belief was built upon the same foundation ours is – Messiah. He believed God would send the Messiah He promised through Abraham’s seed. We believe in a Missiah who came, he believed in a Messiah to come. The same God. The same Messiah. The same promise. The same way of Salvation. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

A trustee is the person responsible for the handlings of any of the assets in a trust. He is the one who makes sure the terms of the trust are carried out. When Abraham believed, he handed over the responsibility for his care to the One who was to come. Messiah became the trustee of Abraham’s life. God’s instructions to Abraham concerning righteousness and justice were the terms of that trust. And by living according to those terms, Abraham was able to receive what the LORD had promised him.

“For I have made myself known to him so that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of Adonai by doing righteousness and justice, so that Adonai may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”  – Genesis 18:19

Faith has always been the way to salvation. Works of righteousness have never saved a single person. But once we believe (have faith, trust, confidence), those works of righteousness become the terms by which we live our lives. Messiah was charged with making sure those terms are clearly known to everyone who believes in Him. When He came in the flesh, He taught His disciples how to live. He didn’t just teach them with words. He showed them. He modeled for them, and us, how to walk according to the terms of the trust of our belief. He lived according to the instructions of God – Torah.

When we violate those terms (sin), we violate that trust and forfeit the promise that comes with it. We cannot live our lives however we want and expect God to bless us. Living how we want instead of how God instructs shows that we don’t truly believe.

We can’t give Him some of our lives. This part but not that. If we truly believe, we are submitting the whole of who we are to the fullness of who He is. This doesn’t mean we won’t mess up occasionally. Abraham did. David did. The disciples did. We will, too. This is where grace comes in. Grace is the force that picks us up, brushes us off, and strengthens our resolve to continue to uphold the terms of our trust. But sinful behavior should not be something we choose, justify, or embrace.

If I could only choose one thing, that’s what I want people to remember about me… She believed God.

My mind is going in so many directions right now. I’m not sure I would be able to make sense of it all enough to relate it to you in this blog. This is one of those sit on the couch together for hours as we talk excitedly about all the connections and colors and beauty hidden and bursting forth in the Word of God. So, I’ll leave you today with this last verse and pray that we will both see all the things our Father wants us to see as we learn what it means to truly believe.

“After you heard the message of truth—the Good News of your salvation—and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession—to His glorious praise! Therefore, ever since I heard of your trust in the Lord Yeshua and of your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I mention you in my prayers— that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, our glorious Father, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in knowing Him.” – Ephesians 1:13-17

Harvest:

• Does my belief line up with the Biblical definition of belief?
• Are there any areas of my life which I have not yet entrusted to Messiah?
• If I could only choose one thing, how would I hope to be remembered?

Escorting the Bride

Photo by Jeremy Wong on Pexels.com

Husbands, love your wives just as Messiah also loved His community and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, having cleansed her by immersion in the word.

Ephesians 5:25-26

Seed:

Ephesians 5:24-28; Psalm 119:1-7; 2 Peter 3:14-18; Revelation 19:6-8

Plant:

I learned something last week. It was something that connected another piece in the ever-expanding puzzle I call my faith. I was reading a book someone loaned to me called Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come, by Joseph Good. If you haven’t read it, you definitely need to put it on your 2024 list of books to read. Here’s what he said that not only got my attention, but also brought tears to my eyes:

“Each Jewish wedding requires two witnesses. These two are often the same as the friends of the bridegroom, one assigned to the bride while the other is assigned to the groom. Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) who is of the spirit of Elijah, called himself a friend of the bridegroom.”

“You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,’ but rather, ‘I am sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the best man rejoices when he stands and hears the bridegroom’s voice. So now my joy is complete!” – John 3:28-29

Good went on to say, “According to Jewish tradition, the other friend of the bridegroom is Moses. He is understood to be the one assigned to the bride. A function of this friend of the bridegroom is to escort the bride to her groom. The rabbis saw Moses in this role as he escorted Israel to Mount Sinai to meet with G-d for the betrothal.”

“Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lowest part of the mountain.” – Genesis 19:17

In scripture, Elijah represents the prophets. They were the friend assigned to the bridegroom. It is through the prophets that God revealed the coming Messiah to His people. John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the LORD. He was the one who would announce the coming of the bridegroom (Messiah) to His bride (the children of Israel, both native born and grafted in). (See Matt. 3:1-3 and 17:12-13)

Moses represents the Law, or Torah. Torah is the friend who escorts the bride to the wedding. What is the job of the one who escorts the bride? Ephesians 5:25-27 explains:

“Husbands, love your wives just as Messiah also loved His community and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, having cleansed her by immersion in the word. Messiah did this so that He might present to Himself His glorious community—not having stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but in order that she might be holy and blameless.” 

I hope you’re starting to feel the glow of a little lightbulb over your head right now, but in case you’re not, let me see if I can connect these puzzle pieces together for us. In Jewish tradition and throughout scripture, Torah (God’s instruction in righteousness found in the first five books of the Bible) is called the Word. We also see in John 1:1-14, that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Word. Yeshua didn’t just embody or live out Torah. He WAS Torah. He was the Word made flesh. He was the living, breathing righteousness of God.

Here’s where the tears came for me. I knew Torah was for our good, to keep us set apart for the LORD that we might be holy as He is holy and useful for His good purpose. They were instructions from a loving Father to His children, and keeping Torah is not a way of salvation, but is a result of our salvation and love for God. A loving father sets boundaries for his children, and loving children honor their father by staying within those boundaries. But I’d never seen Torah as the protective detail assigned to keep watch over His bride. Oh, what love He lavishes upon us! What care He gives to His beloved.

God gave us His Torah so that we could be found without spot or blemish when our Bridegroom (Messiah) comes for us, His bride. Since the beginning of time, God’s Word has been twisted, and our hearts have been hardened, and spots and blemishes have appeared all over His bride. So, God sent our Messiah. He showed us by the example of His Word made flesh what it really means to follow God, to live lives that are holy and set apart for our Heavenly Father, without spot or blemish. Not only did He show us how to live, but He died in our place so that all our spots and blemishes could be washed away. Then, not only did He promise the Holy Spirit as our Helper to walk as He walked (Torah observant), but He commissioned husbands to carry that torch as the head of their households. What an extraordinary responsibility to bear.

In the garden, Adam was given the instruction not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God didn’t give this instruction to Eve, just Adam. And He expected Adam to lead his wife. But Adam didn’t. He was standing silent by Eve’s side watching as she interacted with the serpent. Not only did he not stop Eve, but he indulged in the sin with her. And the silence of Adam continues. The role of men has been diminished and twisted and despised. And so, too, has the role of Torah in the lives of believers.

Men, we need you. We need you to be the protective escorts God has commissioned you to be. We need you to be examples of faithful followers of God’s instruction. I know this is a big job, a high calling. It is a HOLY calling. But we need you to lead like David, who’s heart longed so deeply for God and His Torah that he penned these words:

Turn me away from the deceitful way, and be gracious to me with Your Torah. 
I have chosen the way of faithfulness. I have set my heart on Your judgments. 
I cling to Your testimonies. Adonai, do not put me to shame! 
I run the course of Your mitzvot, for You open wide my heart. 
Teach me the way of Your decrees, Adonai, and I will follow them to the end. 
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Torah and observe it with all my heart.

– Psalm 119:29-34

And again, he said:

If Your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 
I will never forget Your precepts. For with them You have kept me alive. 
I am Yours, save me! For I have sought out Your precepts. 
The wicked wait for me to destroy me. But I will study Your testimonies. 
I have seen a limit to all perfection, yet Your commandment is boundless. 
O how I love Your Torah! It is my meditation all day.

– Psalm 119:92-97

Women, we are not exempt if we do not have a godly husband or father in our life. We, too, are called to be holy as He is holy. To be examples of righteousness and faithfulness. As the men in our lives are out slaying the dragons (as my husband would say) we need to be lifting them up in prayer. We need to be managing our households and raising our children and working at our jobs, all the while doing everything as unto the LORD. (Col. 3:17) If we have an unbelieving husband, it may be by our example that they come to faith in the One True God. (1 Cor. 7:16, this same principle applies to husbands, too.) And we, too, need the prayers of our husbands and fathers and brothers, that we might be found faithful in our calling as daughters of the King of kings. It may be our husbands who are to be the example of how to lead like Messiah, but it is us who are called to be the example of how to submit to Messiah. An equally extraordinary responsibility to bear.

Our love of and commitment to Torah, God’s instruction, His protective escort for His bride (that’s all of us, men and women alike), is the key to living a life pleasing to our Bridegroom. It’s not a burden. It’s not just for the Jews. It wasn’t done away with when Yeshua died and rose again. All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

That’s how much God loves us. That’s how much He want us to be with Him. That’s how fiercely protective He is over His beloved (that’s you and me, by the way).

Do these things because they will keep you safe on your way to Me….

Don’t do these things because they will not only stain your wedding gown, but they may even keep you from our wedding…

Harvest:

• Is this revelation of Torah new to you? If so, how can you begin to embrace the idea of Torah as your escort on your way to the Wedding of the Lamb?
• How can you be praying for the men in your life to be godly leaders of not only their homes, but also in their workplace, church, and community, showing what it means to lay down their life, pick up their cross, and follow God? How can you support and encourage them in this role?
• How can you be praying for the women in your life to be godly examples of what it means to submit to the will of our Heavenly Father, saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done,”? How can you support them in this role?

Life or Death (Part 2)

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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death.” – Romans 8:1-2

Seed:

Romans 3:1-31; Romans 8:1-8; Galatians 3:19-25; Ephesians 1:3-12;

Plant:

It has taken more than a week for me to get back to our discussion about what the Bible has to say about God’s Law. But here I am, finally. I started to write this yesterday, but then life happened. It was a (mostly) quiet morning once the chickens and dogs were fed, the big boys were off to school, and the little ones were watching cartoons in the other room. But then the fussing came, I had to leave early to pick my son up from his school, and then when I sat back down to write again, I’d lost everything I’d written so far, which was quite a bit. C’est la vie.

In my last post, we asked the question: is God’s Law (Torah) the same as the “law of sin and death” from which we have been released? Is it indeed a heavy burden we no longer have to carry? In my opinion, I feel we answered that question with a scripturally backed “no.” From the prophets of old to the apostles of new, we found that God’s instruction, or commands, are life-giving and come with great reward for those who follow them. The LORD tells us that if we keep His commands, He will bless us. (Deut. 30:16) King David valued them above any worldly treasure. (Psalm 19:10) Yeshua (Jesus) said that if we love Him, we will obey His commands. (John 14:15) And that whoever does them and teaches others about them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:19) The apostle Paul said that he delighted in God’s law in his inner most being. (Rom. 7:22) And both God said and John affirmed that Torah is indeed not a burden to carry. (Deut. 30:11-14; 1 John 5:3)

So, if Torah is not a burden for us to bear, and it is not the thing from which we have been released, what is? What does it mean to no longer be under the Law but under grace? Let’s see if we can find that thread and run with it. I think the perfect place to start looking is in Romans.

The book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome. This community was made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah. Paul had yet to visit this group in Rome, but had heard about them and their faith from other congregations with which he did have a personal relationship. The community of believers throughout the Mediterranean was small but close. Even though they were spread out, they were connected by their faith and their common struggles. Pastoral letters of encouragement (including the ones that make up our New Testament) were carried to the congregations throughout the region, and reports of their well-being (or lack thereof) were spread right along with them. Thus, Paul’s knowledge of the conflict going on in Rome.

It is obvious that Paul intended to encourage the churches in Rome with his letter. He also intended to set some things straight. It appears that some false doctrines, mixed with some pride and jealousy, had found their way into the hearts, minds, and actions of the believers there. Not far into the letter we see two competing doctrines were being addressed. One was that the Law had been abolished, the other was that simply being an observant Jew meant you were saved.

These two viewpoints were addressed in many of the New Testament letters. It was a common struggle between the Jewish and Gentile believers. Some of those from a traditional Jewish background still thought they could rest on their Jewish heritage – ie. descendants of Abraham and circumcision – as their ticket to salvation, while others had to depend on their works of the Law to save them. On the other hand, there were those who believed that this newfound faith and the grace that came with it meant they didn’t have to obey the law at all. Paul sets forth to show them that neither one is right. Both negate the free gift of salvation and the responsibility of the believers once they are saved. Here’s what he says in chapter three:

“For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua. God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. For we consider a person to be set right apart from Torah observance. Is God the God of the Jewish people only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since God is One, He will set right the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then nullify the Torah through faithfulness? May it never be! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah.”

Romans 3:22b-31

Faith in the death and resurrection of Yeshua as the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins is what saves us. It is in our choosing of Him as our Lord and Savior, turning from our sinfulness to His righteousness. That, and only that, is what brings us into right standing with God. Once we are saved, we then pursue works of righteousness according to the Law.

The reason obedience to God’s Torah is not a burden is because as His children, we have His Holy Spirit within us. In our flesh, we are bound to its sinful desires. Once we are saved, we are released from that bondage and enabled to serve the law of righteousness.

Paul tells us that the Torah is good because it teaches us what sin is. Here’s what he says in Romans seven:

“What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah. For I would not have known about coveting if the Torah had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking an opportunity, worked in me through the commandment all kinds of coveting. For apart from the Torah, sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from the Torah; but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died. The commandment meant for life was found to cause death. Sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Romans 7:7-12

Just like Adam and Eve, who had no frame of reference for sin until God said, “You shall not…”, if there were no law, we would not know what sin was either. But once sin entered the world, so did temptation. And being a Gentile, or non-believer, is not an excuse. God has put in all of us a spirit of discernment, or a conscience. Romans 2:14-15 says, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, do by nature the things of the Torah, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the Torah. They show that the work of the Torah is written in their hearts.”

You see, God doesn’t hold anyone accountable for things they do not know. Which is why He made Himself evident, all of creation bearing witness to His eternal glory, to all mankind. Once we acknowledge that He is, He sends His Holy Spirit to minister to our spirits, leading us into all righteousness. (Rom. 5:12-13; Rom. 8:16; John 16:13) We don’t have to have a bible to know Him, but it sure makes a huge difference. As scripture says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!” (Isa. 52:7)

The law of sin and death says that as unbelievers, we are bound to sin and we will die. The Law of Grace sets us free from that bondage so that we, by the power of His Spirit within us, might live for righteousness. We are no longer under the Law. We are now under grace. No longer being “under” the Law does not mean that the Law no longer applies, it simply means that it is no longer the measure by which we will be judged. Nonbelievers only hope for the day of judgement is in fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law in themselves, which no one can do. Our hope as believers is in the fact that Yeshua fulfilled that righteous requirement on our behalf. Being under grace means that the blood of Yeshua has atoned for our sins for which we have sought repentance and found forgiveness. As Paul said:

“Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”

Romans 6:12-18

Grace = Forgiveness.

Paul wrote in Hebrews that, “without faith it is impossible to please God. For the one who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6) It is our faith that makes us children of God, and as His children, we are to obey Him as our Heavenly Father. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 13:8) He will not break His covenant nor alter the word that has gone out of His mouth. (Psa. 89:34) All of His rules and commandments and laws were given because He knows what’s best for us, and they will not change. He knows what will benefit us and what will destroy us, even when we don’t understand or agree.

What a blessing and a gift that He has freed us from the sin that entangles us. He has cancelled the debt that we could never pay. And He has given us the ability to live lives of righteousness, goodness, and peace.

Harvest:

Father, thank You for Your loving and wise instruction. You truly have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Messiah Yeshua. (Eph. 1:3) Let our hearts see the beauty in living according to Your righteous decree. Help us see that it is not a burden to honor Your Word. Show me Your ways, oh LORD, and teach me Your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me; for you are the God who saves me, my hope is in you all day long. (Psa. 25:4-5). Amen

Life or Death

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“I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

– Deuteronomy 30:19

Seed:
Deuteronomy 30:11-20; Psalm 19:8-12; Psalm 119; John 14:15-21; Romans 7:7-25; 1 John 3:4-10, 19-24; 1 John 5:1-3

Plant:
Sometimes I wonder if it’s a pure desire to seek the heart of God or if there’s also a slight bend toward rebellion against the status quo which causes me to often question what someone says about God’s Word just because he’s a pastor, teacher, or simply a long-time Christian. I think it’s mostly about pursing the One to whom I owe my life, the One who saved me from myself and has shown me the sublime peace and joy that come with His everlasting love. But I’ve also seen my share of false teachers preaching false doctrines for which masses of itching ears fall hook, line, and sinker, simply because they lack the desire to see what God has to say about the matter. (2 Tim. 4:3)

I don’t want that to be me. Which is why I suppose I’ve developed a sincere love for studying God’s Word myself.

A very common belief among mainstream Christianity is that the Law of God (Torah) was a heavy burden that those before the coming of Messiah were unable to carry. But when Yeshua (Jesus) came, He released us from that burden and replaced it with something called grace. Obedience to God’s Law is no longer necessary for those who are now in Messiah (Christ).

But is that line of thought consistent with the whole of Scripture?

My goal today is not to tickle your ears, but to help you find a thread. If you want to know if a certain interpretation of scripture is correct, you simply have to find out what the rest of the Bible has to say about it. And that’s what I call a thread. It is a common thought or understanding woven throughout scripture that either supports or contradicts what we believe. As Peter said in his second letter, no prophecy comes about by a man’s own interpretation, but by the Word of God. (2 Peter 1:20-21) So whatever we believe must be supported by scripture as a whole, because as they say, scripture interprets scripture.

A good place for us to pick up this thread today is in Deuteronomy 30. Here’s where we find what God says about His instruction (law, Torah):

“For this mitzvah (command) which I am giving you today is not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach.  It isn’t in the sky, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’  Likewise, it isn’t beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’  On the contrary, the word is very close to you — in your mouth, even in your heart; therefore, you can do it!

Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil — in that I am ordering you today to love Adonai your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings ; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.”

– Deuteronomy 30:11-16

Life and good. This is what God says about His Law. It’s not a burden. It’s not too hard. And it brings blessings to those who follow it. According to this, it is disobedience to His Torah that brings death and destruction. But this is only one example. Are there more? Is there indeed a thread that supports this train of thought? Yup. Lots more. Let’s look at a few together.

“Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.”

– Joshua 23:6-8

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

– Psalm 19:7-11

Those are just a few from the Old Testament. If you have the time to read Psalm 119 in its entirety, I recommend you do. It is the longest of all the Psalms, written by David, the man after God’s own heart. And the entire Psalm is about God’s instruction… His mitzvot, Torah, or Law. David expresses his delight in them over all riches (v. 14, 71-72). He extols the wonders hidden there for those who love Him (v. 18). And he boasts of the reality that the Law of the Lord is life to those who obey it (v. 25, 92-93, 156). It seems to me that had David heard that anyone believed God’s Law was believed to be a burden or had somehow become obsolete, he’d have drawn his sword, or maybe grabbed a sling, and gone in for a Goliath 2.0.

But these are just the Old Testament. Did this change when the Son of God arrived on the scene? Did He teach His disciples who then taught the early church to abandon this life-giving Law for a new-found grace? Let’s start with what Yeshua (Jesus) had to say. He was, after all, the flesh and blood vessel in which the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. (Col. 1:9)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

– John 14:15-21

And then there’s Paul:

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

– Romans 7:22-25

And John:

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

– 1 John 3:24

“Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the one born of Him. We know that we love God’s children by this—when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God—that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

– 1 John 5:1-3

It seems to me that the Bible paints a very different picture of God’s Torah than one of a burdensome yoke from which we have been untethered. The writers of both Old and New Testaments seem to agree that His Law brings life, and it is through our obedience to it that we prove our love for God in return. That is a complete shift from the doctrines I was taught in church. It is a revelation that has injected my faith with technicolor. It has changed how I see my Heavenly Father – from a strict disciplinarian with too many rules to a loving Father who knows what is best for me and wants to keep me safe from harm.

I think this is enough for today. If this is a new concept for you, you’re probably going to need some time to pray and take it all in. I hope you will also take the time to read the scriptures I listed at the top of this post. I think they will help to strengthen and lengthen the thread we’ve started to find today.

There’s still so much more to discuss, to discover, but I’ll wait and continue it in another post, hopefully this week or next. If God’s Law isn’t the law of sin and death, what is? And what is the heavy burden from which we have been released? We’ll see if we can find the thread for those questions next time. Until then, I hope you will continue to pray and seek and pursue the heart of God. I will be doing that too.

Harvest:

Father, thank You for Your Word. Sometimes it can be so hard to discern what is true and what is not. There are many false teachers trying to distort Your truth for their selfish gain. Give us the wisdom that we need today so that, as David said, our eyes would be opened to the wonderous things in Your Law. (Psa. 119:18) Amen

Redeeming the Wrinkles

Seed:

2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:18-25; 1 Peter 3:3-4; Galatians 5:22-26

Plant:

When I was talking to my mother yesterday, she said something to me that I can’t get out of my mind. I’ve been pondering it, and I thought I’d share my ponderings with you.

She was telling me about a woman who lives near her who has dementia. Although she and my mother are acquainted, when they saw each other the other day the woman said to my mom, “I don’t know your name, but I know you’re a nice person because your wrinkles go in the right direction.”

Although dementia is slowly robbing this woman of many things, it has yet to steal her ability to see people. To see beyond the external to something much deeper. And she saw something in my mom, through something most of us lament over, that revealed who she was inside.

This reminded me of how our lives should be as children of God. People are supposed to be able to look at us, at our lives, and see Him inside of us.

Often times, it is our scars, our weaknesses, our circumstances, the things we may be lamenting over as a woman laments over the wrinkles invading her once youthful face, through which others are able to see the most beautiful picture of God. It isn’t our fancy clothes or salon styled hair or radiant skin through which others see our Heavenly Father. It is through the fruit of the Spirit permeating our lives regardless of those things by which they get a glimpse of Him.

Do others, when they look at me, see the mercy, grace, goodness, faithfulness, strength, and holiness of God? Do my wrinkles, scars, and shortcomings reflect His perfect love?

We aren’t going to be perfect, but I think that’s the point. We are all in need of a Savior. We all need someone to step in and fix the broken messes of our lives. But are our wrinkles going in the right direction? Are all the things that our Messiah came to redeem pointing others to our Redeemer?

Harvest:

Heavenly Father, thank You for our wrinkles. For all the imperfections in our lives that point to Your perfect love, Your perfect provision, Your perfect mercy, Your perfect strength, and Your perfect ability to redeem our lives from sin. May I continue to be transformed day by day, from one degree of glory to another, into the image of Your Son, that I would be – scars and all – a beautiful reflection of You to the world. Amen.

Washing the Dishes With Your Tears

“As she stood behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to drench His feet with tears and kept wiping them with her head of hair. Then she was kissing His feet and anointing them with perfume.” Luke 7:38 TLV

Read: Luke 7:36-50; John 14:15-27; Philippians 4:10-13

This morning as I was washing dishes, I began to cry. We’ve got a lot going on. My plate is full. And today I don’t feel like I’ve got the strength to carry the load that is sitting heavily upon my shoulders.

As I washed and as I cried, I also laughed to myself thinking that I could just turn the water off and wash the dishes with my tears. At that moment, God reminded me of the woman from the story recorded in Luke 7.

Yeshua (Jesus) was at the home of a Pharisee. They were reclining at the table eating dinner when a women from the village came in and knelt down behind Him. She began to weep, and with her tears she washed the feet of Yeshua.

The first word used to describe this woman was “sinful.” She was a sinful woman who dared to enter the presence of a Holy God (Remember, it was in Yeshua that the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. See Col. 1:9). She had reached the point that the burden of her sinfulness was too great for her to bear, and she knew that He was the only one who could release her from it’s weight.

So she wept. And she hoped. And as she did, the weight of her burden was lifted. The heaviness was taken off her shoulders and placed squarely on those of the One upon whom her tears fell.

After an exchange with the Pharisees who were taken aback by this encounter, Yeshua told this woman that her sins were forgiven, and in place of her heavy burden she was given peace.

Peace. The absence of worry and conflict. A place of rest and comfort.

There are few things in this world that even come close to the peace offered to us through Yeshua our Messiah. That’s because His peace is something we can’t get from the things of this world. Here, our lives will never be completely absent of the presence of conflict. We will never have a time when there isn’t something threatening the calm of our minds with it’s invitation to worry.

However, what we get when we encounter Yeshua is HIS peace. His peace is one that knows no matter what might happen in this world, it has no bearing on the world to come. That nothing can separate us from the Father’s love. And that we will never have to carry our burdens alone.

Trials and struggles and battles might come against us, but our minds, when set on Him, can still have peace. When we feel like life is about to overwhelm us, we can come to Yeshua, lay down at His feet, and trust that He will help us carry the weight. The peace that He gives is not the absence of adversity, but His presence in it.

What weight are you bearing today? Is it the weight of your sin? Is it illness or financial trouble? Is there a prodigal in your life for whom you are longing to see return home? Is it your marriage? Or an addiction? Or loneliness? Let this promise bring peace to you today:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’ 
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” 
Matthew 11:28-30 TLV

Putting Away the Asherah Poles

I know many of my posts will never win any popularity contests, but that’s ok. I am much less concerned with being popular than I am with being holy. I’m afraid this post may fall into that unpopular category, none the less it is what I feel compelled to write.

I see a lack of a pursuit of holiness within the church today, much like we see in the history of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. Surprisingly, it manifests this time of year possibly more than any other. Are you surprised that I would say that? This is, after all, the Christmas season, when everyone around the world is celebrating the birth of Christ. To that I say, is that really what we are doing?

First, let’s step back and see one of the ways Israel continued to turn away from the LORD:

"And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth." - Judges 3:7 

Asherah poles were a common practice in the worship of Asherah, the pagan goddess of fertility, during the period when the Old Testament was written. When the LORD told Israel to drive the nations out of their land, He included the instruction to destroy all their high places and the Asherah poles, cutting them down and burning them to the ground. Many times in scripture, we see where Israel turned form the LORD and rebuilt these pagan idols and began to worship them. We even see instances where they tried to incorporate them into their worship of God. This, however, was an abomination to the LORD and contributed to their exile into those foreign nations whose pagan practices they’d embraced.

Pagan symbols have no place in our worship of the One True God. He made it very clear that we are not to worship Him the way the pagans worship their Gods. (Deut. 12:4) But, Israel continued to do just that. They embraced the rituals of the pagan nations around them and even made up rituals of their own. Holiness became less about setting themselves apart for God and more about doing what was right in their own eyes.

Here’s where the parallel of Christmas comes in…

Christmas is rampant with pagan imagery and customs. Evergreen trees were decorated during winter solstice celebrations as a way to offer gifts the the tree’s spirit. Mistletoe is an ancient fertility symbol under which much more than kissing took place. The yule log is steeped in pagan rituals centered around the rebirth of the sun after the winter solstice. Even the story of the birth of Messiah has been recreated to fit a narrative far from the actual biblical account. Yet all these things have become tied up in our Christian celebrations, handed down from one generation to the next, without so much as a thought as to where they came from.

Now we have added a fat man in a red suit created as a marketing campaign by a soda pop company, to whom our children must be accountable for their actions. We have promoted going into debt just to buy gifts our families don’t need as an honorable venture. And most of our celebrations have nothing to do with the very thing we claim to be celebrating.

When the pilgrims first came to this country, they also came with laws that prohibited Christmas observances. Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Council even abolished Christmas itself in December of 1657. They understood the pagan influences, the reality that Messiah’s birth was not in December, and the need to separate themselves from such unholy things. It wasn’t until the 1800’s that Christmas became more widely practiced in the United States, when the presence of Dutch and Anglican influence became more prominent.

With so many fond memories and so much joyous celebration wrapped up in this time of year, it can be hard for many of us to want to let go of something we’ve come to hold so dear. But many of the traditions, if not all, are simply glittery versions of Asherah poles tied up with pretty red bows. When faced with the truth of the origins of our Christmas traditions, and of Christmas itself, we must be willing to ask ourselves some questions:

• Do we believe God meant it when He said we are not to try to “Christianize” pagan practices and incorporate them into our worship of Him?
• Am I really willing to hear His answers to these question even if it means letting go of something I’ve held dear for so long?
• Am I willing to pursue holiness even when it’s not the popular thing to do?
• If not Christmas, what kind of celebration does honor God?

These are some hard questions. Believe me when I say I have wrestled with them all. But they are worth asking, whether about Christmas or anything else this world tempts us to embrace. However, the more I learn about God and the celebrations (feasts) He instructed us to observe, the less joy I find in the counterfeits of the world. He has given us such hope in the promise of His salvation, and each of His holy days points us to that. There’s no marketing, no greed, no hustle and bustle, just adoration and worship of the One from whom all blessings flow.

If this stirs you at all, I recommend that you research the celebration of Hanukkah, which begins tonight (Dec. 18th). What a beautiful place to start when considering the cost/benefit between embracing or dismantling the Asherah poles of this world.

• Links to articles for further study:

https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102978/jewish/The-Story-of-Chanukah.htm

https://rcg.org/realtruth/articles/169-ttooc.html

• An online teaching about the history of Hanukkah and how it pertains to the church today:

Embracing Freedom

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Seed:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20;

Psalm 119:129-136

Romans 3:1-31

1 John 5:1-4

Plant:

When Israel was in Egypt, they had many rules to follow. As slaves, they were told when to wake up and when to go to sleep, what they could eat, and what task they were required to complete each day. They weren’t even allowed the freedom to worship their own God.

Once they were rescued out of Egypt and freed from their bondage, they didn’t know what to do. There was no Pharaoh, there was no slave driver, there was no tyrant barking out orders. So what did they do? They grumbled at Moses, disregarded the LORD, and when they tried to make up their own way of doing things they wound up in all kinds of trouble. At one point they even mourned the captivity from which they’d been delivered.

There is a modern term for this kind of behavior. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome. This is when a victim identifies with or attaches to their abuser. Some signs of this include appeasement of their captor, learned helplessness, and unwillingness to detach from their abuser and heal. In extreme cases, they will even resist any attempt to be rescued.

It would seem logical that over four hundred years as slaves in a foreign land might have this effect on a people. The slavery Israel endured must have somehow become normal to them. After all, the generation alive at the time of the exodus had never known freedom. And as they sat at the foot of Mt. Sinai, with Moses atop the mountain and nothing to do but sit and wait, the Israelites grew restless.

They were in unknown territory, both physically and metaphorically, and the memories of the pagan gods of Egypt seemed to have offered some comfort. Rather than rest in this new found freedom, they longed to return to the life they knew.

I’m sure they were wondering why they should trade the rules of the Egyptians for the rules of a God they hardly knew. After all, they didn’t even know what His rules were going to be. Maybe they felt they were simply exchanging one task master for another. Who knows why they resisted the future the LORD was offering, but I’m sure it probably had something to do with not wanting to let go of the familiarity of the past.

What they failed to see was that the rules of the Egyptians were a form of oppression. The rules of God are a means of redemption. Instead of being forced into slavery, they were being invited into relationship. A covenant with the God of all creation who promised provision, love, and peace.

Without God, we too are slaves. But our captor isn’t a person, it’s our sin. We are forced to obey the very thing that keeps us imprisoned in this life and inevitably leads to our destruction in the next.

But with God, we are freed from the law of sin and death and now can choose to follow the law of grace. We still have rules to follow, but they are for our welfare, not our sorrow. Instead of beatings, we get blessings. Instead of hostility, we get love. Instead of appeasement, we find pleasure. Instead of death, we’re offered life.

Obedience to the LORD’s commands is not oppressive or restrictive or a burden. Rather they are uplifting, healing, and a joy. We are finally fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created, and there is nothing better than that.

Just as Israel had a choice, so do we. The LORD has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. Let us choose this day whom we will serve. (Joshua 24:14-15)

Harvest:

LORD, Heavenly Father, show me Your ways and teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth for you are my God and Savior. Search my heart, oh LORD, and know me. Show me if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Help me to show my love for You by keeping Your commandments with my whole heart, because You loved me first and saved me from my sins. Amen.

(Prayer taken from Psalm 25:4-5, Psalm 139:23-24, John 14:15, and 1 John 4:19)