The disciples assumed Yeshua needed earthly bread to find strength, but he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (John 4:32). This “hidden bread” (i.e., lechem ha-nistar: לֶחֶם הַנִסְתָּר) was the passion and joy He had doing the will of God… Notice how the Teacher often used metaphors to elevate the thinking of his students. Earthly bread is a shadow of a deeper reality. Just as physical bread is a means to physical life, so “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that God speaks” (Deut. 8:4; Matt. 4:4). Therefore Yeshua is the true manna, the “Living Bread” (לֶחֶם חַיִּים) from heaven that sustains us in “the desert” of this world. He is the One who truly satisfies the heart by removing the inner pain of our emptiness and hunger.

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Faith perseveres in the way of life… “You who have clung to the LORD your God are all alive today” (Deut. 4:4). The Hebrew word devakut (דְּבָקוּת) means “cleaving” and refers to communion with God. This word comes from davak (דָּבַק), meaning to “cling” or “stick” (the Modern Hebrew word for “glue” is devek (דֶבֶק) which also comes from the same root, as does the Yiddish word “davka”). Devakut, then, implies being intimately connected with God in an earnest and passionate relationship…. The sages comment that we can cleave to God only one day at a time, since our future is conditioned upon this present day and its challenges. As Yeshua said: “Take therefore no thought for tomorrow: for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient for the day its own trouble” (Matt. 6:34). One day at a time. The LORD gives us daily bread (לֶחֶם חֻקֵּנוּ) so that we may persevere for this day; he feeds us with hunger to teach us to rely on alone him for true life (Deut. 8:3). “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand today — if you hear his voice” (Psalm 95:7). Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart (Heb. 3:15). “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God, but encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:12-13).

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Some people seem to think that the gospel means that God’s wrath for sin has been negated (or “satisfied”) by the sacrifice of Yeshua, and now God no longer sees or judges sin…. Because of Yeshua, the cross “extinguishes Mount Sinai’s flame” and now everyone is acceptable to God — regardless of their behavior… “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our sins away from us…” God’s love trumps all things and now we can all “let it be” and “let go, let God…”

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“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). The way of faith always represents collision with the world (κόσμος) and its philosophy of the “good life.” Happy are those who “hunger and thirst” for righteousness, who refrain from this world and make themselves its exiles because of their inner heartache for true life. For them no amount of the world’s pleasures can obscure the difference between what is and what ought to be… This world is at best a corridor to the world to come, a “valley of decision” about what we ultimately choose to believe and to love… The heart of faith looks forward to “the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

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It is written in our Scriptures: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). We are “in” but not “of” the world, so that means that we share in the common hardships and sorrows of this world. However, the difference is this: We do not suffer alone, for God’s love surrounds us with comfort. For those who know Yeshua, suffering does not demand an intellectual answer to “why” we suffer as much as it evokes the heart’s cry for God’s presence… In the midst of our troubles the Spirit groans within us: “My soul clings to you and your right hand upholds me” (Psalm 63:8). We come to God in our brokenness, holding fast to his promise of comfort, and God upholds us with his hand. “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your word gives me life” (Psalm 119:50).

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Our life in this world will end far sooner than we expect, and then what will become of us? I am not here thinking of the end of “the” world, but rather the end of your world – when you will die and face the light of eternity. Today, this moment, you are on the way, going someplace; your “latter days” are already come… If you are not prepared today, how will you be better prepared tomorrow? Today is the day of salvation, the hour that matters most (Psalm 95:7; Heb. 3:13). Learn to die to the world now, to let go of what presently holds you captive, so that you are free to meet that which forever shall come. Don’t put off genuine teshuvah: turn while there is still time (Eph. 5:15-16). And may God give us mercy to say from the heart: “For me to live is Messiah, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

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It is vital to affirm your identity as a beloved child of God… You may not always feel the connection, but you must choose it regardless of your present emotional state, because your place in God’s heart is a matter of truth, not sentimentality. Who you really are is grounded in the Reality and power of the LORD God of Israel.

After all, God loved you before you were born (Jer. 1:5; 31:3); he knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-16); he gives you life from above and adopts you as his own (John 1:12; Rom. 8:15); he knows the number of the hairs on your head and every thought and word of your heart (Matt. 10:30; 12:26; Psalm 139:4); he directs every step of your journey throughout this life (Psalm 37:23; 139:3; 23; Prov. 16:9); he foresaw you when he offered up his life in redemption for your healing (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:18); you are briah chadashah, a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); you are always welcome in his presence (Eph. 1:6; Heb. 4:16); he will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5); he prepares a place for you in the world to come (Jer. 29:11; John 14:1-3); and one day he will wipe away every tear from your eyes (Rev. 7:17; 21:4).

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Do you need a reason to be truly thankful, friend? Well how about remembering the incalculable blessing you have been given because Yeshua died on the cross in exchange for your life, saving you from the penalty of the law and healing you from the hopeless condition of “spiritual death.” Is not this the most amazing and wonderful thing ever done for you? Because of Yeshua you have an everlasting hope; you will never be separated from love; you have a place within the heart of God; you are forever accepted, welcomed, and beloved…. Because of Yeshua, you will never die; you will be resurrected from the dead to experience peace and love and joy forever and ever as a member of God’s family… Moreover, because of God’s grace you are given strength to face the challenges of this life and to live without fear. You understand this world to be a “corridor” to the world to come where you will enjoy the great consolation of heaven, even experiencing the glory of the direct and personal revelation of God Himself!

Read more “By His Wounds we are healed…”