You are Chosen and Treasured…

ONE OF THE GREATEST OF MISTAKES is to forget your beloved status before the LORD… “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). Forgetting who you are leads to forgetting who the LORD is, just as forgetting who the LORD is leads to forgetting who you are… A passage from our Torah reading this week (i.e., Emor) speaks to us along these lines: “You are children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be for him am segulah (עם סגלה) – a treasured people out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 14:1-2).

In this verse, Moses reminds the people that since they are children of the LORD they were not to mourn for the dead like those without any hope of life beyond the grave… Our God, the Father of Israel, is eternal, and even if our earthly fathers were to die, we will never be orphans, because the LORD, the Everlasting God who is the “God of the spirits of all flesh” (אֱלהֵי הָרוּחת לְכָל־בָּשָׂר), always watches over us: “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:3). But if we forget who we are, if we lose sight of our place in the Heavenly Father’s heart, then we are likely to fall into a state of excessive and self-destructive mourning over the losses we experience in this world. In the most tragic cases, this can lead to the darkness of unremedied despair, “living among the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones” (Mark 5:5). On the other hand, if remember our place at the Father’s table as his children, if we take hold that we are beloved of God – his very own “treasured people” – then we will regard the difficulties we encounter in this world as a test of faith intended for our good (Deut. 8:3,16, Jer. 29:11).

Notice further that this passage states that the people were chosen by the LORD to be his own “possession” (i.e., segulah: סְגֻלָּה) from all other peoples in the earth. The grammar here uses a comparative use of the preposition “min,” meaning “more than” the other peoples of the earth. This idea was first mentioned when God said to the elders at Sinai, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my possession more than all other peoples (סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים), for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5-6). The truth that the Jewish people were specially chosen to reveal God’s salvation and mercy is repeated elsewhere in Scripture, including Mal. 3:17, Psalm 135:4, Deut. 7:6, 26:18. The word segulah essentially means valuable “personal property,” guarded for safe keeping, such as David’s treasure of gold and silver which he donated to the Temple (1 Chron. 29:3), or Solomon’s treasure collected from the kings and provinces (Eccl. 2:8). Undoubtedly God’s redeemed people are regarded as a treasured group of people among the nations of the earth…

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The Long Road Home…

Teshuvah (“repentance”) is often described as “turning” back to God, though practically speaking it is an ongoing turning, that is, a turning to God both in moments of ambiguity, pain, and distress, as well as in moments of respite and relative happiness… It is in the midst of the ego’s clamor, before the parade of worldly fears or pressures, in the crucible of “everydayness” that we must “come to ourselves” and (re)find God. In that sense, teshuvah is a sort of focus, a direction, a seeking, and a center of life, the place of constant repair for the inner breach we constantly feel. It’s a long road home to finally understand you belong at your Father’s table… That is the message of the parable of the prodigal’s return (see Luke 15:11-32).

It is written in the Mishnah (Avot:15b), “repent one day before you die,” but who knows the day of one’s death in advance? Therefore “seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him when he is near” (Isa. 55:6). “In eternity you will not be asked how large a fortune you are leaving behind – the survivors ask about that. Nor will you be asked about how many battles you won, about how sagacious you were, how powerful your influence – that, after all, becomes your reputation for posterity. No, eternity will not ask about what worldly goods remain behind you, but about what riches you have gathered in heaven. It will ask you about how often you have conquered your own thought, about what control you have exercised over yourself or whether you have been a slave, about how often you have mastered yourself in self-denial or whether you have never done so” (Kierkegaard).

Just as God humbled Israel with manna in the desert, so He humbles us. “Give us this day our daily bread and deliver us…” The purpose of affliction is ultimately good and healing: God humbles us with manna, the “bread of affliction, so “that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). In other words, God uses tzuris to lead us to do teshuvah and accept the truth. We often pray that our problems be taken away, but God sometimes ordains these very problems so that we will turn and draw near to Him… We are being weaned from this present age to be made ready for heavenly glory, for things unimaginably wonderful, soon to be revealed to you. Chazak – stay the course, friends; the hour is near.

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

By Means of His Light…

C.S. Lewis once made the helpful distinction between “looking at” and “looking along” a sunbeam (Lewis: “Meditation in a Tool Shed,” 1945). In the former case the mind looks “at” the beam itself, from a supposedly “transcendental” perspective, as if it could objectively describe the thing in descriptive terms, as a “fact” or by reducing the phenomena to simpler, more “natural” terms (e.g., defining light as waves or particles or energy). In the latter case, the mind see “along” the beam in relationship with it, seeing by its means, as part of his horizon of experience, not focusing on it (as a fact) but experiencing other things through its agency, and interpreting them in a semantic world of interrelated meanings. Now Lewis’ point was that modern scientific humanism assumes it provides a “truer” interpretation of experience by looking “at” things, as for example, when it “reduces” (i.e., explains away) religious experience as a matter of genetics, sociology, psychology, or some other “natural” paradigm. Of course such a presupposition is without real warrant, since “looking at” something involves its own way of “looking along” the axis of assumptions hidden within its own methodology…. In short, there is no true “looking at” things as an independent observer, since everyone is affected by their own biases and assumptions they bring to experience. Such awareness should instill within every soul a deep sense of humility. Nevertheless, in questions of faith we are both look at and look along the contours of life to make inferences to the best explanation, and therefore as Lewis succinctly said, “ ‘I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.’ We (all of us) walk by faith, not by sight, and the only real question is what direction are we looking…

You can put this another way by saying that while in other sciences the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred – like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope. – C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity

 

Hebrew Lesson:

 

 

The Battle Belongs to the Lord…

In light of the threat of an invasion from the east, King Jehoshaphat (המלך יהושפט) of Judah prayed: “O LORD, God of our fathers (יהוה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵינוּ), are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you… O our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us; we do not know what to do: but our eyes are upon you (כִּי עָלֶיךָ עֵינֵינוּ)… After he prayed, the Spirit of God spoke forth: “Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s'” (2 Chron. 20). Amen, Lord, our eyes are upon you…

This teaches us the great principle of our spiritual warfare: “the battle is not yours but God” (לֹא לָכֶם הַמִּלְחָמָה כִּי לֵאלֹהִים). So be encouraged in the midst of your struggle. Listen for that song singing: “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed… for the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chron. 20:15). Recall what King David said to the giant Goliath: “The LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Sam. 17:47). Therefore may we look to the Lord and remain steady in our times of testing, friend!

 

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Idolatry and Rage…

We are warned not to destroy ourselves by allowing bitterness, anger, or fear to consume our hearts. In our Torah this week (Eikev) we read: “And you shall not bring an abominable thing (תּוֹעֵבָה) into your house and become devoted to destruction like it” (Deut. 7:26). The sages of the Mishnah said that yielding to rage is equivalent to idol worship and should never be brought into the home. Indeed, rage is linked with avodah zarah – idolatry – because it exalts the ego and claims that the Lord can’t (or won’t) help you in your moment of testing or need. The Scriptures are clear, however, that “there is no test given to you that you cannot handle with God’s help” (1 Cor. 10:13), and we are invited to come boldly before the Divine Presence to find just such help in our time of need (Heb. 4:16). Believing that you can’t overcome your fear or anger problem is therefore a form of idolatry. As is written: Lo yiheyeh vekha el zar (לא־יִהְיֶה בְךָ אֵל זָר) — “there shall be no foreign god within you” (Psalm 81:9), which means that we must expressly deny the ego’s demand to have its will be done. Being full of a sense of self-importance is to be enslaved to vanity and to have a foreign god “within you.” God and human arrogance cannot coexist – since the inner world of the arrogant person denies God’s rightful place as King. As it is written in our Scriptures: “The wrath of man (קֶצֶף אָדָם) does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). God will indeed help us if we ask according to his will (1 John 5:14-15). Thank you, God. “Blessed is the LORD who delivers us from self-destruction.” Amen.

 

Hebrew Blessing:

 

Remembering the LORD…

“Only watch yourself, and watch your soul diligently, lest you forget…” (Deut. 4:9a; Deut. 8:11). We are in constant and great need to remember the greatness of God, for when we forget this central truth, we lose sight of who we are and why we exist… Therefore we are earnestly admonished to guard our hearts with all diligence, for from the heart flows the streams of life (Prov. 4:23). Forgetfulness leads to apathy and indulgent thinking – a sure recipe for idolatry and despair… On the other hand, as we “practice the presence” of God, we encounter daily miracles and realize that our life comes from above: “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). If we do not know God in all our ways, we lose touch with the purpose for our lives; if we close our eyes to the wonders of life, we forget both their source and the source of all that exists…

 

 

C.S. Lewis related that during his college years he “played with” philosophy as way to show off or gain prestige among his fellow students. One day, however, he overheard a conversation between a Christian acquaintance who was discussing Plato’s thinking with another person. As he listened, it suddenly dawned on him that they were discussing philosophy as if it really mattered, as if it could somehow change their lives. Questions about reality, truth, beauty, justice, and so on suddenly became weighty and existential – matters of life and death – and that realization marked a key point in his conversion to Christianity.

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Believing in Love…

We read in our Torah portion for this week (i.e., parashat Eikev): “But now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask from you … but to love him with all your heart and with all your soul?” (Deut. 10:12). But how are we able to love God be’khol levavka (בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ) – “with all our heart” – and be’khol nafshekha (וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶׁךָ) – “with all our soul,” apart from healing of the brokenness that makes our hearts divided and sick? That is what the redemption from Egypt was about: we were personally chosen by God, redeemed by his grace, led out from from cruel bondage, only to be led into the desert, away from the world, where we slowly began to understand that we were valued, cared for, and beloved of God. We believed in the possibility of promise, of covenant… Only then could we hear the request from heaven: “Now love Me…” In other words, we can only truly love God by knowing we are beloved by God, and the invitation to love him is a response of his great passion for you (1 John 4:19). Accept that you are accepted in the heart of the Beloved (Eph. 1:4-6).

What the LORD asks from us is humanly impossible, since the human heart is unable to truly love and serve the LORD apart from intervening grace (Eph. 2:1-10). The real miracle of faith is found in a transformed heart. It is never a question of “willpower” or the “zeal” of man; no – it is never a question of what I can do but rather what God can do (John 1:13).

 

 

We love because He loves us (and we receive and accept that love). It is the strength of his love that keeps you, not the strength of your own… Nevertheless it seems to be the pattern of God’s grace to bring affliction and trouble into our lives so that we will begin to seek the Presence of God (i.e., the “troubles of love”). We all are delivered from Egypt by the blood (i.e., the love) of God in the tribulation of hard exile. After all, how many of us came to know the LORD apart from the pain that comes from apprehending our own slavery to inner brokenness? Indeed it is a “severe mercy.” Therefore our Savior says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The hard “outer shell” of the seed must be broken so that the life of the Spirit can come through… The commandment to love the LORD, then, only finds its voice after we come to faith, after we experience the Holy Spirit’s power, indeed, after we are made alive from the dead.

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For more on this, seeBlessings and Brokenness.

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Fear thou not…

Most of us understand that loving God is our essential obligation, the end or “goal” of all the other commandments, the very reason why God has spoken and why we exist. Yeshua plainly taught that this was the point of “the Torah and the prophets,” the rest being commentary (Matt. 7:12, Matt. 22:36-40). However, while love is our greatest duty – the yoke of heaven – you might be surprised to learn that the most frequent commandment is simply al-tira, “Be not afraid.” Over and over again in the Scriptures we hear the LORD saying to those who trust in Him, al tira, “be not afraid.”

 

This is a word for the exiles of every age: Be not afraid – al-tira – not of man, nor of war, nor of tribulation, nor even of death itself (Rom. 8:35-39). If God be for us, who can be against us? Indeed, Yeshua came to die to destroy the power of death “and to release all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15). The resurrection of the Messiah is the focal point of history – not the “dust of death.” Death does not have the final word. Indeed, because Yeshua is alive, we also shall live (John 14:19). Because of Yeshua’s victory, we can now live without fear: al-tira, “Be not afraid, it is I.” “There is no fear in God’s perfect love,” as the Apostle John wrote (1 John 4:18). If we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), then we find courage because of the heart He imparts to us… God will uphold you – even in the trials of your faith.

Of course this doesn’t mean that we should pretend that evil doesn’t exist or that there’s no real danger in this world. No, the Scriptures are clear that there are spiritual enemies in the world and we are engaged in a genuine spiritual war (1 Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 6:10-18). Indeed every day the media attempts to frighten us by broadcasting lies and fearmongering propaganda. We must fight these messages of fear by remembering the truth and promises of God; we must never fear mere men but rather the LORD our God, who is our Maker, our King, and our Redeemer. We must train our minds to see beyond mere appearances, to ignore the messages of this dark world, and to look for God’s Presence in everything.

 

 

We must trust in the LORD and His care for our lives, which always comes “as we hope” in Him… May it please God to impart to each us the courage that comes from Heaven itself. May He help us not to live in fear, but rather to walk in faith, full of confidence. So remember: al-tira, “be not afraid!” Let us be strong and be strengthened in Yeshua our King.

 

 

Inner Ache of Loneliness…

You may sometimes feel lonely and afraid, wondering if anyone really cares for you; you may feel abandoned to wander about in your heartache, without a sense of acceptance or “place” for your life; you may feel estranged from others, in a place of desperation, a silent scream, without apparent comfort in the world… These are real feelings and I do not discount them, though often such feelings arise from unbelief, or at least from questioning whether God’s love is for you, after all…

Friend, there is an intimate comfort for your mourning; there is heavenly consolation for the grief and emptiness you feel inside. Look again to the cross and attend to God’s passion for you; believe in the miracle of Yeshua’s love for you; by faith see his blood shed for you… He knows your alienation: he was “despised and rejected of men”; he knows the pains of your heart: he was a “man of sorrows acquainted with grief”; he knows the heartache of being forsaken, abandoned, and utterly betrayed. Indeed Yeshua knows your infirmities; he understands how you hurt and calls you to his comfort… Therefore when feelings of loneliness well up within you, go inward to commune with the Spirit. Ask God for his consolation so that you too might console others who are suffering (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Do not lose hope but foresee your blessed future. Focus on the coming day of healing for all the world. Remind yourself again and again that you are never really alone, that nothing can separate you from God’s love, and that God’s Name is “I-am-with-you-always,” “I am your Abba, your true home and place of belonging, all your dreams of love will come true, and unimaginable beauty and endless delight await you in the glories of the world to come.”

 

Whoever has God truly has a companion in all places, both on the street and among people.. Why is this so? It is because such people posses God alone, keeping their gaze fixed upon him, and thus all things reveal God for them…. Such people bear God in all their deeds and in the places they go, and it is God alone who is the author of all they do.” (Meister Eckhart: Talks of Instruction)

You will never experience peace as long as you regard the acceptance of who you are as conditional, since you will only be as secure as your own best efforts, a project that will exhaust you in the end. Instead you must know yourself as truly loved by God, just as the “prodigal son” came to know his father’s unconditional love and acceptance despite his many misdeeds (Luke 15:11-32). The incarnation of Jesus means that God “runs to meet and embrace you,” regardless of whatever happened in your life that made you run away from home. And whatever else it may be, sin is the separation from God’s love, but Yeshua made the decision to die for your sins before you were born. Your sin cannot overrule God’s surpassing and personal love for your soul, since God gave up his very life for you to find life.

A.W. Tozer once wrote: “The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorptions in the love of Christ; and because with his circle of friends there are few who share his inner experiences, he’s forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord himself suffered in the same way.

“The man (or woman) who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided, and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for the friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none, he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart. It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.”

Such was Abraham’s test, as he had no way to communicate his burden regarding the sacrifice of his beloved son Isaac. And there is also a loneliness that arises when you must wrestle through disappointment in your walk with God… This is an empty place where you realize that you’re request has been denied, and yet you must continue to walk on in trust. That is a hard place, too.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). Yes, blessed are those who suffer such desperate need, who know inner emptiness, who are not made numb to the ache, and who cry from the heart for deliverance. Blessed are those who are in dread over themselves, who fall as one dead before the Divine Presence, who know they are undone, ruined, and dying for life… The great danger, spiritually speaking, is to become complacent, untouched by poverty of heart, to be lulled asleep, lost within a dream, made comatose, living-yet-dead. The gift of faith first reveals our own lostness and then imparts courage to live with ourselves despite ourselves as we seek God’s healing and life…