We read in the Torah (Vaetchanan) “And I pleaded (ואתחנן) with the LORD at that time, to say…” (Deut. 3:23), which implies that we must first pray in order to be able to pray, that is, we make ourselves ready to pray by finding the inner freedom and grace to groan before the LORD…. If you can’t find the words to pray, then plead with the LORD and ask for the Holy Spirit to groan on your behalf (Rom. 8:26). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will show forth your praise” (Psalm 51:15).

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If you earnestly pray yet are tempted to think that God is not responding, remind yourself that every prayer uttered to God from a heart of honest faith, that is, from a heart that trusts in God’s redemptive love given in Messiah, is indeed answered, and not a syllable goes unheeded or will be lost before heaven. Just as assuredly we believe that no one will get away with evil — that justice will eventually be served and all wrongs redressed at the bar of Eternal Judgment — so we understand that every utterance of the heart of faith finds compassionate response from the heart of heaven. Indeed the essence of teshuvah (return, “repentance”) is heartfelt prayer, and therefore when we bring honest words and turn back to accept the truth, God’s mercy and compassion are decisively evoked (1 John 1:9). The most important thing is not to lose faith, however, but to believe that God hears you and will indeed answer the cry of your heart. Decide to believe and settle your expectation. Never give up hope. God is faithful; He will do it (1 Thess. 5:24).

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What we fear says a lot about us, since fear is closely linked to what we value and ultimately worship… All the world is lit up with the radiance of God our Savior. Fearing lesser things blinds us to the truth of Reality and glorifies the realm of darkness. The world system is based on slavery to such lesser gods and fears, but we are to walk in the awe of the LORD God Almighty alone, and the light of his reverence overcomes the fear of this world. As the Gerer Rebbe said: “If a man has fear of anything except the Creator, he is in some degree an idolater. For to fear is to offer worship to the thing feared, and this form of worship may be offered only to the LORD.”

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In our Torah for this week (i.e., Vaetchanan), Moses recalled the awesome revelation of the Torah at Sinai, describing how the mountain “burned with fire unto the heart of heaven” (בּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ עַד־לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִם) when the Ten Commandments were inscribed upon the two tablets of testimony: “And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone” (Deut. 4:11-13).

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Learn the Hebrew for Hosea 14:1.

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