“Whoever battles with monsters had better see to it that it does not turn him into a monster” (Nietzsche). A God-fearing man once complained to a sage that he was tormented by evil desire and had become despondent over it. The sage listened intently and then said, “Guard yourself from such despondency above all else, for it is worse than sin. When the yetzer [evil impulse] awakens desire in us, it is not concerned with plunging us into sin, but with plunging us into despair by way of our sinning.”
We recall the words of James the Righteous: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived…” (James 1:14-16). In other words, sin begins with selfish desire, but the “fruit” or “end” of sin is death, understood as separation from life, healing, love, peace, and so on. Sin “crouches” at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (Gen. 4:7).
How we choose to think inevitably leads to decisions and actions… In our warfare against the yetzer and the devil, we must be sure to rely upon God’s love and grace, lest we find ourselves fighting “evil with evil,” thereby amusing the powers of darkness… Tzedek tzedek tirdorf (צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדּף) means that we must pursue righteousness righteously (Deut. 16:20). Some people seem to be so afraid that sin and evil will overtake them that they quite forget to exercise caution that they resist sin and evil in sinful ways… May God help us to see our sin and our battle against evil only in the light of His glorious Presence.
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 16:8 Reading:
The 
Passover is the archetypal picture of the redemption of God. Its theme goes back to the very beginning, to the orchard of Eden itself, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the forbidden tree. Because of their transgression, our original ancestors incurred the plague of death and were exiled from the Divine Presence, though God graciously promised to heal them through the coming Seed of the woman – the Savior who would crush the head of the serpent and break the fangs of his venomous sting (Gen. 3:15). Soon after making this great promise, God clothed our primordial parents with the skin of a sacrificed lamb (Gen. 3:21), linking their coming deliverance with the “Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:18-20). The very first “Passover” was in the garden. The story extends to the world to come, too, where in the redeemed paradise of God we will celebrate the victory of the Lamb who was slain for our redemption (Rev. 5:12-13, Rev. 19:7).
It is written in the book of Hebrews that faith (understood in context to refer to the superior ministry of Yeshua that brings eternal redemption and that supersedes the earthly ministrations of the Levites) is the “underlying substance” (i.e., ὑπόστασις, or “being”) of our hope that “demonstrates” (ἔλεγχος) the realm of the unseen in the decisions and actions of those who truly believe. Faith is also a subjective conviction of the heart that apprehends the “unseen,” though that passion is a response to the hidden reality of God, and it is the work or practice of faith that makes the unseen seen. Another way to say this is that the believing heart “substantiates” the promise of God – apprehending the future and making it present within the heart (2 Cor. 4:18). “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
Those who know the Lord Yeshua understand that He is none other than the very Lawgiver and King of Israel, and it was He who spoke to Moses at Sinai regarding the moral will of God. His is the Voice of God (קוֹל אֱלהִים) speaking from the midst of the fire (Deut. 4:33). Yes of course (and thank God) that Yeshua is also our Savior who graciously died for us to be pardoned from the verdict of the law, but he did NOT die so that we should continue to sin but rather to be delivered from sin’s power in our lives…. We are never “perfected” in this life, and each of us will struggle with sin, but we should never allow sin to become a regular practice, and we should never live a secret and double life of hypocrisy… If we struggle, fair enough — we need to be honest, confess the truth, and get help, but we should never hide the truth about who we really are, since that leads to sickness of the heart and self-destructive despair. May God have mercy and help us all be on guard from the deceptions of the enemy of our souls.
So much depends on how you look at things… Take the Tabernacle, or “Mishkan,” for instance. Compared to the glories of the Egyptian pyramids, the Sphinx, the enormous temples at Thebes and other places, the Mishkan must have seemed unimpressive and a bit underwheming. The Holy Place structure, for instance, measured just 20 x 20 cubits in size – a modest area covered in animal skins and curtains. Inside the tent structure (ohel) was placed the Menorah, the Shulchan (table), and the relatively small Golden Altar used to burn incense. The tent was further divided by a curtain (parochet) that cordoned off the Holy of Holies, a 10 x 10 cubit square section that contained the most sacred ritual object of all, namely, the Ark of the Covenant. All in all the Mishkan seemed to be a rather humble dwelling shrine when compared to the opulent structures of Egypt.
Just as we ask God for daily bread (לֶחֶם חֻקֵּנוּ), so we ask him for our daily deliverance: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt 6:13). Note that the term translated “evil” in many translations (“deliver us from evil”) is a substantive rather than an adjective: τοῦ πονηροῦ, the evil one… “Give us this day our daily deliverance from the evil one….” Our daily bread and our daily deliverance are connected with our decision to “choose life” (בַּחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים) — and to always choose life — even in moments we find difficult, distressing, and even when we might wish that we were no longer living… Choosing life means refusing to escape reality by evading the significance of our choices; it means finding the will to regard life as worthy; it implies that we will eat our bread in trust that the Lord is at work even in the darkest of hours (Passover occurred at midnight)… Choosing life means refusing to eat the fruit of death and to seek Yeshua, the Tree of Life. We live one day at a time; we only have today. We are given daily bread for this hour of our need. Today is the day of your deliverance – if you are willing to walk in it. Therefore, the Spirit of the Living God cries out, “Choose life and live!”
The ancient Greek philosophers sought for “salvation” (Σωτηρία), which they generally understood as freedom from the fear of death… Therefore Socrates sought to dispel mythical superstition by regarding philosophy as the “practice for death,” by which he meant that reflecting upon this “shadowy world” would instill a profound hunger for the eternal (and ideal) world, and he therefore advised that, since we all must die, we ought to prepare ourselves now for eternity, by focusing the mind on what is most essential, real, and beautiful.
If you can’t detect God’s hand in your circumstances, then trust His heart… The heart of faith affirms: gam zu l’tovah (גַּם זוּ לְטוֹבָה): “this too is for good,” particularly when the present hour may be shrouded in darkness… Whenever I am confused about life (which is often enough), I try to remember what God said to Moses after the tragic sin of the Golden Calf: “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my Name, ‘The LORD’ (יהוה). And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exod. 33:19). God’s character does not change: the LORD is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” The meaning of the Name, however, cannot be known apart from understanding the need of the heart…