TorahBytes: Yom Kippur - God's Provision (Sukkot)

And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9; ESV)

I present this week's message in anticipation of the holy day of Yom Kippur (English: the Day of Atonement), which begins this evening. At the same time the synagogue readings upon which this message is based are for the Feast of Sukkot (English: Feast of Tabernacles or Booths), which begins Friday evening. These two God-ordained occasions are intimately related, being part of the series of holidays of this Jewish month. Ten days ago was what is commonly known as Rosh Hashanah (English: New Year), but referred to in the Torah as Yom Teruah (English: the Day of Blowing [most likely of the shofar]). The blowing of the shofar (English: ram's horn) at Rosh Hashanah reminds us in our busyness not to forget that God is the creator of all things and the one to whom we must give an account. This begins a process of self-examination to make sure that we are in right relationship with both God and other people. The culmination of this process is Yom Kippur, when in ancient times, the Kohen HaGadol (English: the High Priest) would take the blood of a special annual sacrifice into the Kodesh Ha'kedashim (English: Holy of Holies). Contrary to how some may think, the observance of Yom Kippur was not to attain spiritual cleansing and forgiveness from God, but to receive it. Once this process was complete, then we are sufficiently prepared for the week-long festival of thanksgiving and rejoicing, Sukkot, five days later.

According to the prophet Zechariah, the Feast of Sukkot is intimately associated with the restoration of all things and the establishment of the age to come. The culmination of the ages will be marked by this festival of thanksgiving and joy.

Just like in the Torah where Yom Kippur is part of the necessary process on the way to celebrating Sukkot, so there are necessary steps to participating in the Sukkot of God's future reign. Unless we are right with God, we will not be part of this celebration. Being right with God requires that we take our lives very seriously and accept God's standards for cleansing and forgiveness. I don't know how many people attending synagogue for the high holy days understand how much the ritual has strayed from its roots in the Torah. While the essential aspect of humbling oneself before God has been retained, God's provision of cleansing and forgiveness through the blood of the sacrifice has been replaced by the merits of our own actions. The provision of God has been replaced by the deeds of people as if our own efforts could ever make us right with God.

The main reason for this error is our failure as a people to accept God's provision of cleansing and forgiveness, the one that the original Yom Kippur rituals foreshadowed, that is the atoning sacrificial death of the Messiah. While we must play our part in our restoration of right relationship with God, we will never attain to God's standards in this regard as long as we reject his provision of cleansing and forgiveness in the Messiah.

Yeshua the Messiah is the fulfillment of all that Yom Kippur anticipated. It is through him, his death and his resurrection, that we become adequately prepared to participate in the great celebration of Sukkot in the age to come. Yom Kippur reminds us that God's intent for us is to know his cleansing and forgiveness. A great future celebration awaits us if we would receive God's provision though Yeshua now.

TorahBytes: God's Sovereignty (Ha'azinu)

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 32:39; ESV)

I have been giving considerable thought lately to the subject of God's sovereignty. This has to do with the issue of how much God is in control of life. I am not looking for philosophical conclusions as much as biblical ones, since I accept that the Scriptures (Old and New Covenant writings) are God's accurate revelation of himself and of life. From my study of the Scriptures throughout the years I have discovered that God reveals his many-faceted truth without necessarily providing how its complexities work together. God is in no way obliged to satisfy our intellect. Rather he has graciously provided us in the Scriptures everything we need in order to live life the way he intended. This includes the command to seek him as to how we are to apply his Word to our lives. This is why we need to work hard at understanding what the Scriptures say and grow in the wisdom of how to live lives firmly based on its teaching.

Therefore struggling over what the Scriptures teach about God's sovereignty and what it means for our lives is not a waste of time. Far from it! It is easy to claim to believe the Bible, but if we don't take the time to grapple with what it is saying, it is doubtful whether or not we have really allowed its teaching to have access to our hearts and minds.

In Jewish tradition the days between Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a period of introspection, of spiritual house cleaning so to speak. Having a set time each year to do this prevents us from neglecting this much-needed process and also from looking in on ourselves too much. From time to time we need to purposely check ourselves to make sure that we are truly in the faith and that we are right with God and with others. As we do, we then need to make whatever necessary adjustments are appropriate.

The issue of God's sovereignty is most relevant to this period of introspection, for it deals with a concept called primary cause. If God is truly sovereign then he is ultimately responsible for everything that happens. Since we don't normally deal directly with God, but rather with others as well as with both animate and inanimate objects, then if God is sovereign, it is his decisions that are ultimately behind everything that happens through these secondary causes. One of the common philosophical difficulties regarding this subject is the relationship between God and the secondary causes for it seems that this is an area that God has chosen to keep hidden from us.

What we can surmise from what the Bible does teach on this is that while life doesn't always seem to be in God's control, it is. I am well aware of the many other questions that arise, but whether or not there are answers to those questions, that God is sovereign is clear. To believe anything less is to reject God as he is revealed in the Scriptures. If how you comfort your heart and mind over this subject in anyway diminishes this truth, you have also diminished God himself.

To take the time to examine ourselves to make sure that we are right with God and others is a useless exercise if we don't accept God for who he is. If God is not really the Master of the Universe as we say in countless traditional Hebrew prayers, then we will not know what adjustments to make or how to make them. Diminishing God's rulership over the universe to anything less than all powerful raises other forces to places of authority that God never assigned to them.

On the other hand, if we could accept God's own statement as spoken through Moses that life, death, danger and restoration are exclusively in his control, then our focus can be fixed firmly on God, the primary cause of everything that happens to us. Once we accept that God is ultimately in control of all of life, then not only can we learn to relate to him as we ought, but how we relate to others will begin to fall into place.

TorahBytes: Connecting with God's Reality (Rosh Hashanah)

There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. (1 Samuel 2:2; ESV)

God gets a lot of attention. We hear about him all the time from the mouths of believers and non-believers alike. He is adored, he is scorned, he is exalted, he is mocked. Though many try, he cannot be ignored. I don't think there is a being or concept in all human experience upon which so much effort has been spent trying to disprove his existence. As for those who choose not to ignore him, how to relate to him has been far from straightforward. Millions of people claim some sort of belief in God, but the differences between their versions of him are so great that many curious seekers are turned off, thinking it impossible to come to any definite understanding. It doesn't have to be this way though.

To some the Bible is just another book of superstitions and myths - one of a multitude of human attempts to define spiritual reality. That it claims to reveal the one true God is taken to be no different from all the other so-called sacred texts in existence. Yet there is something about how God is presented in the Bible that sets it apart from everything else. The Bible doesn't try to convince us to accept a God who is distant and unknowable. On the contrary it invites us to know God, to encounter his reality for ourselves.

This week's Haftarah is special for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. It was likely chosen to parallel the special holiday Torah reading that speaks of the miraculous birth of Abraham and Sarah's son, Isaac. The Haftarah speaks of another special birth, that of the prophet to be, Samuel. In both cases the mothers to be could not conceive. In the case of Samuel's mother, Hannah, she was desperate for a child - a desperation she took to God. We might miss how profound her request was. She performed no complex ritual nor did she pronounce some elaborate incantation. Rather from an honest, but hurting heart she cried out to the invisible creator God, who, if he made the universe, and if he gave Sarah a child in her old age, certainly could make a barren woman pregnant. And he did.

When Hannah fulfilled her promise to God by dedicating Samuel to his service, she broke out in an exuberant song through which she proclaimed her understanding of God. What makes her song special is that it emerged from a reality that until that time was just hypothetical. It's not that she didn't know God before. Obviously she did or else she would have not prayed as she did. But God's provision of a son was confirmation of what she already believed, thus allowing her to walk in God's reality at a much deeper level.

God doesn't expect us to only know him at a theoretical level. That which we know about him in theory is meant to be responded to. His reality is meant to be proven through lives willing to take him at his word. We may not be desperate like Hannah was, but as we earnestly pursue him, we will find him. Hannah is just one example of people just like us, whom God is inviting to experience his reality.

At this the beginning of another year, we have an opportunity to see if our understanding of God is one simply of theory or a proven reality. The Bible claims that God desires to be real in our lives. We are not expected to pretend, get hyped up, or be content in our confusion and emptiness. There is a reality beyond our wildest dreams waiting for us to take hold of if we are willing to let it take hold of us.

TorahBytes:Bitter Roots (Nizzavim & Va-Yelekh)

Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, "I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart." This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 29:18,19; ESV)

It appears that the writer of the New Covenant book of "Hebrews" had this week's Torah portion in mind when he wrote:

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. (Hebrews 12:15,16; ESV)

These passages are encouraging God's people to make sure that there doesn't arise among them what in one place is called "a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit" and in the other a "root of bitterness." The Torah portion refers to a person who on one hand claims to be part of the covenant community yet stubbornly follows his own way. Similarly, in Hebrews, there is concern over people in their midst who are immoral and self-seeking.

In the Torah we learn that tolerating such behavior will "lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike" or, in other words, destructive behavior is destructive not only for the individual doing it, but for the community at large. Similarly in Hebrews, such behavior, "causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." In both cases it seems that the issue being addressed is not so much that this kind of behavior is unacceptable, but that the community needs to understand that such behavior has a profound negative affect on the whole community.

It can be difficult for us to comprehend the truth expressed in these passages. Many of us have been brought up to think of ourselves in strict individualistic terms. We don't readily see the implications of how our lives strongly affect the communities we are a part of, including family, neighborhood, school, congregation, company, and so on. Sometimes our unwillingness to accept this truth leads us to say things such as, "if someone has an issue with what I am doing, that's their problem". While that attitude may be appropriate on the occasions when we need to take a stand for what is right, it is inappropriate when we insist on doing what is wrong.

That someone hearing or reading this might get right with God out of a realization that their misbehavior affects those around them would be wonderful, but this is not whom is being address by these passages. Rather it is the communities that these people are a part of that need to take this message seriously. It is the communities, both the leaders and the other members, who need to make sure that this kind of misbehavior does not have a place among them.

The need for communities to address misbehavior challenges the concept of individuality. Many of us hesitate to speak into the lives of others, even those closest to us. Because we value individuality over community, we think that to address misbehavior is worse than the attempt to correct it. It's not as if the Bible places community over individuality, it is that it provides us with a truly balanced approach to each.

The reality is that failing to address misbehavior in our communities leads to the disastrous results mentioned in these passages. Failing to deal with sin in individuals will result in great trouble for the wider community. On the other hand if we would confront the emergence of bitter roots in our midst, then not only will our communities be far better off, but we will also give these troubling individuals the opportunity they need to get themselves right with God.

TorahBytes: Only God Can Change Our Hearts (Ki Tavo)

But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 29:4; ESV)

As Moses is nearing the end of his time as leader of his people and prepares them for their new life in the Promised Land, he expects that they will not remain faithful to God. He is well aware that even though they had been recipients of God's goodness and witnesses of his power, they had never undergone the change of heart necessary to keep them in right relationship with him. While the consequences of their inadequate spiritual state is made clear, this statement is the ultimate reason for this: "But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear (Devarim / Deuteronomy 29:4; ESV).

One of the most difficult and perhaps most controversial issues in the entire Bible is the relationship between God's sovereignty and human responsibility. While the Bible claims that God is master and king of the entire universe, we human creatures will be held accountable for our actions. People through the ages have grappled with how both of these truths can be true at the same time. Some insist on emphasizing one over the other, thinking that either God is limited in his sovereignty or we have no actual control over our actions.

But is it necessary to resolve this tension? If the Scriptures teach both and we can't figure out how they work together, then perhaps we don't have all the information we would need to know to sufficiently resolve this difficult philosophical problem. This approach may not easily satisfy you, but don't we regularly hold certain things to be true without working out all the logical inconsistencies between them? I accept that this issue is a most difficult and important one, and that the acceptance of one of these truths challenges the reality of the other. But the humility that comes from accepting that we don't have all it takes to know everything, might enable us to live with the tension (and the blessing) that arises from holding both God's sovereignty and human responsibility to be fully true at the same time.

Rejecting either of these two basic truths cuts us off from the reality of life as God created it. Instead of striving for philosophical comfort, we would be much better off to learn to live with the tension. These words of Moses we have read are a wonderful opportunity to do this.

According to Moses, the people's inability to follow God in the way they should is because God had not given them that ability. As each one of us accepts how we have failed to measure up to God's standards just as the people of Israel of old, we need to realize that our spiritual inadequacy is ultimately due to God's leaving us in our natural sinful state. To be what God designed us to be can only become a reality as God himself graciously grants changes in our hearts. Human striving will never overcome our spiritual inadequacies. We need God's transforming power.

This is why God's remedy for Israel's ongoing waywardness was that he himself would cause the necessary changes we so desperately need. Many years later, through the prophet Jeremiah, God said that he would one day bring about what Moses said had not occurred in his day - a permanent change of heart: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; ESV).

To be what God wants us to be requires the work of God in our lives. Does this mean therefore that there is nothing we can do with the spiritual inadequacies in our lives? If God hasn't changed us, then is there nothing we can do about it? Yes and no. While we cannot by our own efforts make us what we are not, we can submit ourselves to God and look to him to affect this change.

But isn't this circular reasoning? Is not our inability to rely on God due to God's not changing our hearts sufficiently so that we can rely on him? This is where not accepting that we don't know everything gets in the way of reality. While it is true that we need God's work in our hearts to rely on him, we don't see the evidence of God's work until we rely on him. As we submit to God's sovereignty we may just find that he has changed our hearts.

TorahBytes: Free from Shame (Ki Teze)

Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. (Isaiah 54:4; ESV)

Years ago a friend of mine who was a Bible translator and an expert in cross-cultural communication explained to me how some cultures are guilt based while others are shame based. It is common to confuse guilt and shame, but they are actually quite different. Understanding this difference can help us to learn to live free of both.

Guilt is the result of breaking a clearly defined law or rule. Guilt is usually accompanied by a fear of punishment at the hands of an authority of some kind. Taking a cookie when your mom or dad told you not to may result in guilt. A judge determines guilt based on whether or not you have broken the law. A person is either guilty or not. If found guilty, then a sentence of some kind would be given.

Shame is not so straightforward. Shame often comes from a deep internal sense of having done something unacceptable due to a sense of failure to measure up to certain standards or expectations. Guilt may be included, especially if a rule or law is broken, but not all rules carry the same level of shame and a rule doesn't need to be broken to experience shame. Shame is present when there is a perception that our behavior is such that we don't deserve to be accepted by those with whom we have relationship. That relationship could be family, friends, community group, work place, school, and so on. Shame often leads to a desire to hide from others. Embarrassment often comes from a sense of shame.

Shame is much more difficult to deal with than guilt. It is relatively easy to determine when a well-defined rule has been broken thus making someone guilty or not. Shame has more to do with perceptions, not facts. That perception may be influenced by right and wrong, but in a very vague way.

Western society, with a foundation upon the rule of law, has for the most part been guilt based. Our leaders sought to establish a way of life that had one clear standard for all people. In recent years moral issues have been more and more removed from our legal codes. Personal preferences and special interests influence and control morality more than objective legal standards. As a result, while we continue to use the language of a guilt-based society, we have largely become a shame-based society. The often felt heaviness of heart and turmoil of mind that we call guilt may actually be shame. We wonder what we have done wrong, but we no longer possess the moral clarity to determine guilt, and so we feel ashamed.

It may appear that the current casting off of traditional morality is devoid of shame. Immorality is flaunted and celebrated. But this can only occur where the legalities controlling these behaviors are no longer in force. What is actually being celebrated is the apparent freedom from guilt. Yet the intensity of the celebration as well as the violent attempt to silence detractors may be very well derived from the desire to cover shame.

The redefining of morality will never free us from shame, since at its most basic level it is due to our alienation from God. It was God's clarification of right and wrong through the giving of the Torah that enabled us to understand this alienation along with its resulting shame.

God desires to free us from shame. Through the Messiah God has dealt with not only our guilt but also our shame. Through Yeshua we can not only be forgiven, but also be set free from that nagging sense of shame that continues to heavily burden so many of us. Seeing our shame for what it is is the first step to our being free from it.

TorahBytes: Abominable Practices (Shofetim)

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 18:9; ESV)

As the people of Israel were prepared by God to enter the Promised Land, they were given specific details as to how they were to live. God's directives are not just a bunch of arbitrary religious regulations. Rather, they are an entire way of life that if carefully adhered to will enable God's people to live the way human beings were designed by God to live. While there were certain aspects of this lifestyle that were only for a certain time and place, much of what God revealed to Moses is his intention for all people for all time.

God's directives are expressed both positively, things we should do, and negatively, things we shouldn't do. I have heard it said that if we would fill our lives with good things, then we wouldn't have time for bad things. But that's not true. We humans seem to be able to always make time for bad stuff, no matter what else we may be doing. If we neglect obeying God in what he tells us not to do, we will certainly get ourselves and others into big trouble.

One of God's negative directives concerns our relationship to what Moses calls "the abominable practices" of the nations they were to dispossess. The people of Israel were to "not learn to follow" those practices. The way this is expressed emphasizes something more than just the avoiding of these practices. The people were to keep themselves from learning to follow them. This may suggest that while the people's initial reaction would be one of repulsion, if they allowed themselves they would learn to adopt them. God's directive then was that they should never even learn about them.

It is a challenge not to learn to follow abominable practices today. The sinful ways that are part and parcel of popular culture do not simply keep to themselves, waiting to see who might be interested in them. Rather they aggressively seek to influence us, calling to us to come and learn. They put on an appealing front in order to deceive us into thinking that any concern we may have over these things is an overreaction. Not only are abominable practices aggressive in their desire to lure us into their clutches, they are more than happy to have easy access to our lives through technology. At one time in order to learn these evil things, one had to purposefully go out of their way to seek them out. Now we can engage them with the simple push of a button anywhere, anytime.

To not learn to follow the abominable practices of our day takes a considerable amount of wisdom and effort. Perhaps like never before, we need to know the Scriptures. There are so many voices speaking in the name of the Bible, but do we have the ability to discern who is speaking the truth? Also, we need to have the courage to let the truth of Scripture confront the practices of the cultures around us. Cultural practices are not neutral. They are either under the influence of God or in the grip of evil. Too many people naively go along with the way things are, not taking the time to discern if they are truly of God or not. Once it is evident that certain practices are evil, we must not learn to follow them.

TorahBytes: God's Words - No More, No Less (Re'eh)

Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 13:1 [English 12:32]; ESV)

In the biblical book Mishlei (English: Proverbs) we read:

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Mishlei / Proverbs 30:5,6; ESV)

Whatever God has said is true. Why would we want to add or subtract to what he has revealed? Can we enhance his Word by adding to it? And what would we gain by taking anything away from it? Through the Scriptures God has given us all we need in order to know him and to know our place and purpose in his plan.

Yet for one reason or another, even those of us who claim to accept the Bible as God's written and authoritative Word, add and subtract from it - at times knowingly, at times unknowingly.

Some of the ways we add to God's Word is due to speculation. The Bible doesn't always give us the kind of detail we may prefer or expect. Lack of description in a narrative portion or not being given an explanation as to why God said this or that may lead us to make guesses. Not being satisfied with the information we do have, there is a tendency to elaborate. While giving some time to speculation can be helpful in gaining better understanding of a particular portion, we may read our speculations into the words of the Bible, resulting in our becoming confused over what God has really said.

Legends are stories or concepts that may or may not be historically accurate, but to which we may have sentimental attachment. Similarly, traditions are rarely questioned as to whether they are condoned by the Scriptures. Loyalty to legends and traditions may blind us from accepting that they are actually additions to God's Word.

We may also add to the Bible through how we interpret it. Interpretations may not look like additions, but when they become authoritative we have added our opinions of the Bible to the Bible.

Subtracting from the Bible is something we may do simply because we want to. When certain passages make us uncomfortable, we may choose to reject them. A more subtle way in which we reject portions of God's Word is to ignore them. We might do that by not allowing ourselves to be exposed to certain portions of Scripture or by not taking the time to understand them.

Theological preferences may limit how open we are to the whole Bible. Instead of letting the Bible mold how we think about God and life, our commitment to an interpretive scheme or grid may filter out parts of the Bible.

Another way we subtract from God's Word arises from how we answer the very important question, "What in the Bible applies to us today?" Of course there are significant Bible passages that we are not expected to keep today (for example, I know of no serious Bible scholar who would insist that we follow the Old Covenant sacrificial regulations - not that we cannot learn from such passages). Be that as it may, there is a growing tendency among some to deny the relevancy of Bible passages based on the fact that our current culture is so very different from the cultures of Bible times. This view makes culture the interpretive key rather than the biblical text. If culture becomes the basis of whether or not to follow a directive of God, then we have little basis to follow almost anything in the Bible.

But note what we read from the book of Mishlei:

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Mishlei / Proverbs 30:5,6; ESV)

There is an intimate connection between our relationship to the words of God and the protection we have in him. Neglecting his words places us in significant danger. To add to his words will result in God's confronting us and in some way showing that we have misrepresented him. It is when we receive, believe, and act upon his every word that the Master of the Universe will be our protection and refuge.

TorahBytes: God's Words (Ekev)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, 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. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:3; ESV)

As Moses recaps the forty-year journey of the people of Israel through the wilderness, he explains the purpose of the provision of manna. Manna was the food that miraculously appeared on the ground each day, except on the Sabbath. Through this God was teaching the people to rely solely upon him. The statement "man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD" is sometimes taken to mean that our lives depend on not just physical substance, but also upon God. But that is not what this says. What we have here is actually two ways of living. One is "by bread alone"; the other is "by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD". Either we live life dependent on the fulfilling of our basic physical needs or upon God. The people of Israel needed to learn that for life to be lived the way God intended, we need to be dependent upon him alone.

Note that relying upon God is not described in vague terms, but with reference to his words. Moses didn't say that man lives by depending or trusting in God, which would be true, but that "man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD". Living life the way God intends requires strict attention to his every word.

What Moses says is of great importance with regard to our understanding of the inspiration of the Bible. If the Scriptures (Old and New Covenant writings) are inspired by God, then to what extent are the words themselves inspired? Are the Scriptures only inspired in some general sense or did God intend the words themselves to be written the way they were? The New Covenant writings state the latter:

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

There has been a growing tendency among Bible believers to think that it is only the meaning of the words and not the words themselves that are inspired by God. Failing to accept that words determine meaning, opens us up to all sorts of concepts that God never intended.

Some Bible scholars belittle the words of Scripture by asserting that these words are only truly relevant to the time and culture in which they were written. They claim that in order for us to effectively understand and apply the teachings of the Bible to our day, it is necessary to separate the words from their intended meaning. Because the Bible writers saw the world so differently from how we do, it's only the eternal truths, which are somehow contained within or behind the words they wrote, that are relevant to us today.

This approach rejects the fact that it is God's words, not just his Word in some general sense, which are inspired. It rejects what Moses said (God through Moses actually) that we are to live by every word that comes from God's mouth. God inspired the writers of Scripture to write the very words through which he has revealed both himself and his will to us.

It is true that there are many differences between the way the writers of Scripture and we today view the world. But perhaps if we lived by every word that came from God's mouth, we would once again view the world the way God does.

TorahBytes: Discipline (Va-Ethannan)

Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 4:36; ESV)

Perhaps the oldest misconception about the difference between the Old and New Covenant writings (Old and New Testaments) is that their portrayals of God are opposed to one another. This is commonly expressed as "the Old Covenant God is a god of wrath and the New Covenant God is a god of love". This false dichotomy can only emerge from selective reading. There is no time here for me to demonstrate that the portrayal of the God of Israel is consistent right through the entire Bible. His complex personality as one who regards his human creatures as his children, longs to be in right relationship with them, going to great means to restore such a relationship, yet insisting on strict adherence to his will, a neglect of which means grave consequences, is how the whole Bible portrays him.

I think many people who have any understanding of the God of the Old Covenant, but have never read the New Covenant Scriptures, would be quite surprised at how consistent the God of Yeshua, Paul, and Peter is with the God of Moses, David, and Isaiah.

Few, if any, serious adherents of the New Covenant would think that the Bible refers to two distinct gods. Yet it seems to be common to think that under the New Covenant he has gone through some sort of transformation. It is as if at one time he went around with an angry scowl waiting to strike anyone who stepped out of line. But with the coming of Yeshua, he has morphed into a sort of Santa Claus, taking us on his knee and showering us with presents - the adorable kids we all are. These two caricatures in no way accurately describe the God of the Bible.

This warped view of God would make understanding the reference I read from this week's Torah portion next to impossible. According to Moses the purpose of God's speaking to the people of Israel was to discipline them. Let's not be confused by the word discipline. In this context it is not referred to punishment, but rather to a lifestyle in keeping with God's standards. This is like the discipline an athlete undergoes or the learning of a diligent student, which is another word for disciple.

Readers of the New Covenant should be quite familiar with the term disciple, since it is used so frequently to describe followers of Yeshua. Followers of Yeshua today, therefore, should be quick to note that God's purpose in speaking to his people has not changed throughout all these centuries.

While through Yeshua God has accomplished his goal of reconciliation with people, he still speaks to us in order to discipline us. Human beings naturally desire freedom from all restraint, preferring to live for self. We tend to bristle under the concept of a God to whom we must give an account, and we value personal pleasure over loving and caring for others. In order to be what we were originally designed to be, it is we, not God, who must be transformed - a transformation that only God can provide. Once this occurs we still need clear instruction on how to live out that transformation. Through God's Word and his work in our lives he disciplines us in order to make us all we need to be.

If we have a misinformed perception of God's character, we could easily misinterpret God's discipline. Many seem to not understand that true discipline is an act of love. Confusing love with permissiveness, which is another common misconception in our day, leads to the kind of warped view of God that I was referring to earlier. While a right relationship with God must include his forgiveness and acceptance, it also includes his correction and confrontation. Just look at how Yeshua related to his disciples in the Gospels to see this in action. Just look at how he relates to us today.

TorahBytes: Chosen To Fail (Devarim)

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. (Isaiah 1:4; ESV)

The Bible is primarily the story of God. We learn the story of God through the life experiences of a particular people group: the nation of Israel. While the purpose of the Bible is to make the true God known to all peoples, he is revealed for the most part through this one people. This is summed up in the first book of the Torah, where God says to Abram, "...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Bereshit / Genesis 12:3; ESV).

As the story of the Scriptures unfolds, there are many wonderful accounts of God's magnificence demonstrated through ancient Israel: Moses standing before the world power of his day to lead his people out of slavery; Joshua leading the nation in conquest of the Promised Land; David defeating the giant; Elijah calling down fire from heaven. But these and other shining moments are actually the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, Israel failed in its mission to be God's light to the nations. Isaiah's words that I began with don't only apply to the time in which he spoke. They are rather a reflection of much of Israel's experience right through the Scriptures.

This doesn't mean that Israel did not fulfill its purpose to which it was called. Even though Israel did fail to live up to the standards God set for them, God revealed through them one of the most important truths that we as human beings must learn in order to know God - that on our own we cannot live up to his standards. Hundreds of years after Isaiah indicted Israel for its failure to follow God, another member of the nation of Israel wrote, "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God (Romans 3:19; ESV).

Israel was indeed chosen to reveal God to the world, but a component of that was to make it clear that all people, whatever our background, cannot, on our own, be what we were intended to be. Israel's failure to live up to God's standards is no reason for other nations to point their finger at Israel as if they could have done better. Israel was chosen to demonstrate what we all really are - sinners in need of God's forgiveness and grace.

God's purpose in choosing Israel is only truly fulfilled as we recognize this need. It is when we stop pretending that we are better than we are and accept our dismal human state that we will be in a position to know God. Later in this week's Haftarah, Isaiah says, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD: 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool'" (Isaiah 1:18; ESV). God desires to change us, but unless we recognize our sinful condition, we will never avail ourselves of his offer to do so.

In a day when self focus is expected, self fulfillment is encouraged, self improvement is assumed possible, and personal autonomy is viewed as a right, it is difficult to see ourselves reflected in the failure of ancient Israel. But our refusal to do so doesn't change reality. Until we humble ourselves to accept that we, like Israel of old are "laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly", then that is exactly what we will be.

TorahBytes: True Value (Mattot & Masei)

Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?" (Jeremiah 2:5; ESV)

I recently had a discussion with someone about product price setting. I had thought that at least to some extent prices were set based on the inherent value of a thing, which would include the cost of production and a reasonable profit margin. My friend explained that, at least in an economy such as ours, the only factor that should be used in setting price is what the market would bear. Therefore in order to set a price for something I want to produce, I should ask the question, “What is the highest price that people would pay for it?”

This doesn't mean that just because people are willing to pay a high price for something, then it is a good and beneficial thing. It only means that it is valuable to those who purchase it.

How we value something determines the time, energy, and money we invest in it. There was a time when our society valued the household far more than today. While we may claim that we value family and home, how we spend out time contradicts what we say. The pursuit of career, the accumulation of things, and the love of self have taken over the importance of building strong and healthy families. Just as I don't understand why people would trade so much of their hard earned money on harmful substances such as cigarettes, I don't know why we have chosen to give ourselves over to the busy-ness of business and accumulation of things over and against investing in family life.

Our misconstrued perceptions over what in life is of true value stems from how we perceive God. In this week's Haftarah, God asks the question, "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? (Jeremiah 2:5; ESV). The people of Israel knew the reality of God, yet they went after other things that they perceived as valuable, but were actually worthless. The picture here is of someone examining something and discovering a flaw, thus rendering the thing worthless as far as they were concerned. But what could that flaw be that God's people would turn from him? Of course, there is no such flaw. It is incomprehensible that anyone who truly knows God would turn from him. But that is exactly what the people did. Not only did they turn away from the Master of the Universe, they went after things of no real value.

I wonder how many people turn from God because of a wrong they perceive in him. This may be due to the way God is misrepresented by others. Other times we may draw wrong conclusions about God based on a misinterpretation of life events. Perhaps who God is offends us, because he doesn't meet our expectations or fulfill our preferences.

Whatever the reason, our inaccurate perceptions of God's value will result in our valuing worthless things. But notice that it doesn't stop there. When we value what is worthless, we ourselves become worthless. Made in God's image, we are of great value. God intended that we would live our lives in service to him and that we would be the reflection of all he is. But if we fail to rightly value he who is of greatest value, we ourselves become worthless, no longer able to fulfill the purpose to which we were made.

Thankfully through what the Messiah Yeshua has done for us, we can be restored to that purpose. It is not too late to realize the worthlessness of the worthless things we value and begin to value those things that are of true value, beginning with God himself.

TorahBytes: Confidence (Pinhas)

But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. (Jeremiah 1:17; ESV)

Jeremiah was called by God to speak messages that were most unpopular in his day. A terrible time in the history of the Jewish people, Jerusalem was on the verge of being destroyed and the people about to be exiled far away to Babylon. Calling the people back to God was something one would expect from a true prophet, but to tell them to submit to the conquest of the Babylonians is something else all together. It doesn't surprise me that the political leaders considered this message treasonous.

Jeremiah must have expected that being entrusted with such a message would put him in a most precarious situation with his people. Moreover, God himself told him that the people would "fight against him" (1:19; ESV). God's promise that they would not prevail against him must have helped, but it would not have necessarily made his job easy.

Regardless of how Jeremiah would have perceived what he was facing, God called him to a high level of confidence. That he was not naturally confident is evident by his initial response to God's call when he said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth" (1:6; ESV). In spite of Jeremiah's hesitancy, God insisted he conduct himself confidently. In fact unless Jeremiah resisted the temptation to be intimidated by the people, he would be undone by fear. In the way God put it to Jeremiah, he was not to be dismayed by the people; otherwise, God would cause him to be dismayed by them.

This is not the same as saying to someone, "Don't be scared, lest you be scared," which would sound so obvious to the point that it would hardly be necessary to say. Saying, "Don't be scared" would be enough. But there is more to this than that. God told Jeremiah that if he feared the people, God himself would cause him to fear them. Jeremiah's fear would not be due to the absence of confidence, but due to God's undermining any remaining confidence and security he may have had.

Perhaps God's dealing with Jeremiah in this way was due to his promises to him: "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" (1:8; ESV); "I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (1:10; ESV); "I am watching over my word to perform it" (1:12; ESV). The God who called Jeremiah to deliver the difficult message also committed himself to stand with him through it all. Therefore for Jeremiah not to conduct himself with confidence was to disbelieve God - the foundational wrong that led his people into the tragic situation before them.

If you are familiar with the rest of the story of Jeremiah, you would know that his confidence to faithfully deliver the messages given him didn't keep him from the expected difficulties. The leaders and people were violently against him. He suffered much at their hands. Yet he continued in confidence, never wavering from his God-given calling.

What we see in the life of Jeremiah is that God gives us no neutral ground. It is not as if our choosing to disregard his word allows us to live disconnected from him as if we are free to do our own thing, so to speak. Either we trust him and his promises, resting in the confidence of his being with us in and through everything or we disbelieve him, resulting in his undermining our lives. To not trust God doesn't cast him away, as if we can be free of his presence and influence. Turning our backs on him puts him at odds with us.

Jeremiah's call to confidence doesn't just differentiate believer from non-believer, but is also a warning to those who claim to believe in God. Those of us who say we know him yet refuse to take confidence in him should not be surprised at the intensity of our fear. It's not necessarily that we are weak in faith, but rather our refusal to trust him as we should may be what is resulting in God's causing us to unreasonably fear.

If this be the case, we should not despair. Jeremiah shows us that in spite of our natural inclination to fear, we can take confidence in God. And as we do, even though we must go through very troubling situations at times, God will prove faithful as he has promised.

TorahBytes: Taking Matters into Our Own Hands (Hukkat & Balak)

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy. (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:12,13; ESV)

One of the central messages of the whole Bible is the reconciliation of God and people. The Torah begins with proclaiming God as creator of the universe, intimately involved at every stage. The culmination of creation is God's special intervention in the making of man and woman in his image. No room for macro-evolutionary theory here.

It isn't long before our first parents take matters into their own hands and turn from God's clear directives, resulting in the predicament into which every human being has found themselves in. Our alienation from God is the primary cause behind sickness, death, suffering, our inability to get along with others, and our failure to properly care for the planet.

The Bible documents God's plan of restoration of his creation and in particular the re-establishment of our relationship with him. The purpose of writing this down is to extend an invitation of reconciliation to all and any who would put their trust in the Messiah.

Sadly, many who have been exposed to the Bible with its promise of God's reality, his love, his forgiveness, and his peace continue to feel far away from God. The claims of Scripture remain simply words. Praying prayers, singing songs, taking courses, and getting involved in various programs have failed to remove a continued sense of alienation.

While I am aware of countless stories of the dramatic internal change God has brought about in the lives of so many followers of Yeshua, is it possible that we have created an expectation that the genuineness of biblical faith is confirmed through our feelings rather than through God's truth? When I first heard about Yeshua I was told that if I believed in him I would be happy for the rest of my life. Thankfully there was so much more to the message I heard that day even though the offer of endless happiness intrigued me. That day I learned how Yeshua fulfilled messianic prophecy, of my need of forgiveness and how Yeshua met that need through his sacrificial death and his rising from the dead. I learned that through turning from my sins and trusting in Yeshua as Messiah, I would be made right with God. All this would become real to me no matter how I might feel emotionally. Still, since then I have had to fight my tendency to focus on my feelings rather than on God's reality.

I get the impression, however, that some people purporting to represent the Bible's teaching would rather I did focus on my feelings. The message of reconciliation with God has been transformed into one of self contentment as if God's goal in sending the Messiah was so that we could all learn to feel good about ourselves.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Over and over again the Bible calls us to turn from ourselves and to submit to the truth and reality of the God of Israel. While he has gone out of his way to restore us into right relationship with him, he doesn't cater to us. He indeed loves us, cares for us, helps us, even serves us, but always on his terms, not ours. When Moses momentarily took matters into his own hands, it disqualified him from entering the Promised Land. His and Aaron's failure to treat God as holy didn't break their relationship with him, but it did result in unnecessary disfavor.

This is a far cry from the "God's children can do no wrong" philosophy that appears to be sweeping the hearts and minds of so many today. I don't know why so many who claim faith in Yeshua struggle as they do, but this struggle will not be resolved by molding the God of the Bible into something more palatable, understandable, and predictable.

In our frustration and disappointments, let us be careful not to take matters into our own hands, but rather let God reveal himself on his own terms according to who he really is.

TorahBytes: Who Directs Your Life? (Shela Lekha)

When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, "Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned." (Bemidbar / Numbers 14:39,40; ESV)

If we didn't know this story, I wonder what we would think of what I just read. In response to Moses' words, the people had a great change of heart and sought to do what God had told them. What God had told them was to enter the Promised Land. Twelve scouts had spied out the land and brought back a mixed report. They all agreed that it was a wondrously fertile land, but only two of the twelve had any confidence that the people could conquer its residents. The ten others honestly thought Israel would be slaughtered. The influence of these ten won over the hearts of the people. The quote I read is the change of heart of at least some of them.

The problem with this supposed change of heart is that God had already pronounced judgment on their lack of faith. Go and read how they responded to the challenge facing them. They didn't simple struggle with the daunting task before them; they outright rejected God's direction and were preparing to choose a new leader and return to Egypt. It wasn't until after God pronounced judgment on them and the ten rebellious scouts died of a plague, that they expressed themselves as recorded in what I quoted.

That they felt bad and confessed their sin are good things, but taking matters into their own hands by trying to do what God had wanted them to do originally is just more of the same rebellious attitude that got them into trouble in the first place. When they attempted to enter the Land they were slaughtered, since God's protection was no longer with them.

When we read the whole story, the presumption of these people is obvious. Even though God had originally told them to enter the Promised Land, due to their rebellion against him, he pronounced judgment upon them, sending them back to the wilderness to wander for thirty-eight more years. When Moses told this to the people, some of them responded by attempting to fulfill God's original directive. By determining themselves what of God's word they would obey, they demonstrated that they had learned nothing from the sin they confessed. Their phony attempt at obedience was nothing other than the perpetuation of the same sin.

The real problem that these people were not willing to face was that no matter how much they talked about God, no matter how honestly they grieved over their sins, they were nonetheless directing their own lives. They didn't listen to God when he told them to enter the land. They didn't listen to him when he told them they had to return to the wilderness.

No matter how much we invoke God's name, directing our own lives is sin - the same sin our first parents committed in the Garden. True faithfulness to God is about relinquishing control over our lives and obeying his directions on his terms. So when we find ourselves in a predicament due to our own wrongdoing, let us not think we can fix the past by trying to do the right thing after it's too late. Instead let us be attentive to what God is saying to us at that point, letting him and him alone direct our lives.

TorahBytes: Getting Older (Be-Ha'alotkha)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties." (Bemidbar / Numbers 8:23-26; ESV)

To date, the most difficult birthday I have ever faced was when I turned fifty a couple of years ago. I always thought of myself as not caring about getting older. Others would bemoan "getting old" at their thirtieth or fortieth birthdays, while I took pride in how I couldn't care less about such superficial matters as age - that is until I approached fifty. There was something about that number that sounded very old to me. I think it is because I was the youngest in my family and always saw my parents, especially my father as old. Even though he was in his forties when I was born, I don't remember him as being any younger than fifty. Fifty to me has always put people in their senior years.

But what's wrong with getting older? I am aware of common fears such as failing health and death, but for me I struggle with a sense of running out of time in the fulfillment of whatever my life is about. My guess is that some of you completely understand what I am talking about, while the rest of you think I am being silly. I thought when people felt this way at twenty, thirty, or forty that they were being silly. It wasn't until I reached fifty that I understood. Maybe you will never feel this way, but don't be surprised if you do one day.

I am encouraged (and corrected) by the Bible's view of aging. Apart from how it clearly honors the elderly (a group that I still don't see myself as a part of regardless of how old I think fifty is), the Scriptures never see people as done with their lives until they are dead - and even then we are not truly done. More than one key Bible character didn't begin to fulfill their calling until well past their fiftieth birthday.

This week's Torah portion illustrates this. The age of fifty was when the Levites were to "withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more." It isn't clear as to why fifty was the age for this, but it was. Yet note that this was not a regulation regarding retirement, but rather a necessary shift in their duties. At fifty they were no longer to perform the other duties of a Levite, but instead they were to "minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard." After performing the other Levitical duties for twenty-five years they were to move into a protective role.

In an age such as ours where youth is so greatly valued, I have wondered what role older people are called to play. The common retirement model of "having worked for forty years, now I can sit back and enjoy life" is disappearing. What it is being replaced with is a pressure for older people to compete with younger folks in order to keep their jobs. Our failure to recognize the special call of God on older people is a recipe for disaster.

As the Levites did, so older people need to move into protective roles. Becoming a supervisor in a company or an elder in a congregation, to name a couple of examples, are not simply rewards for working hard for a number of years. They are special roles given to those who through years of life experience should be best equipped to help guide the younger and less experienced members of our communities. As we get older, we should be growing in wisdom so that we can effectively stand on guard on behalf of those whom we serve.

TorahBytes: Is God Stirring You? (Naso)

And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Shoftim / Judges 13:25; ESV)

This week's Haftarah tells the story of the birth of Samson. Samson is a most difficult Bible character, due to the fact that his behavior doesn't seem to always be in line with the divine inspiration under which he apparently operated. His life is an example of a biblical interpretive principle referred to as "descriptive, not prescriptive", meaning that just because something is mentioned in the Scriptures doesn't mean that it is to be taken as an example for us to follow. Samson's foibles are confusing to the reader, but at the same time it reminds us that the reality of God in a person's life doesn't justify their bad behavior. I am mentioning this because I wanted to discuss an aspect of God's reality in Samson's life without justifying everything he did.

God had definite plans for Samson and his role among his people for deliverance from their enemies. God gifted Samson with extraordinary strength and the courage to take on the enemy in great numbers. This week's portion concludes with the statement that at a certain time God's Spirit began to "stir him."

Samson was born with a calling, but there was a point in his life where God began to prod him to begin to do that for which he was called. At times in the Bible we read of people to whom God spoke, giving them specific direction as to a certain course of action. But this is not always the case, as we see here with Samson. Something was going on in his heart that urged him to do something about the dire circumstances of his day. This perhaps is similar to David when he heard Goliath's challenge to Israel and saw the fear prevalent among his own people. Without a specific directive from God, as far as we know, something happened inside of David that motivated him to take on the challenge.

Have you ever been stirred? You were living your normal life and something began to brew inside you? It might have been an all-of-a-sudden thing or it grew over a period of time. But the sense of stirring got to the point that you could in no way ignore it. You knew you had to do something - exactly what it was may not have been clear - but you had to do something. Whatever it was most likely had to do with change - changing the way things were to the way things should be. The thought of things continuing as they were was unbearable.

Of course not all stirrings we experience are of God. We can be stirred by anything from human pity to evil passions. Advertising, for example, depends on our being stirred to action, usually by making a purchase.

How then do we know when it is God who is stirring us? That's a question not always easy to answer. In Samson's case, he was called by God to "save Israel from the hand of the Philistines" (Shoftim / Judges 13:5; ESV). So when God began to prod him to fight against the Philistines, he knew it was in keeping with God's plan. You and I may not have received such a clear blueprint for our lives as did Samson, but the Scriptures are a general blueprint for our lives. As God prods us to confront the sub-standard situations in which we find ourselves, in order to subject them to his rule, we would be well-advised to heed that prodding. As to the exact course of action, we should seek God for wisdom and direction before doing anything. But as God gives that wisdom, we need to begin to act upon his stirrings.

TorahBytes: Depth (Shavuot 2)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19; ESV)

When I first came to know the reality of God through the Messiah over thirty years ago, it was pretty much me-centered. I was told that if I believed in Yeshua then I would be happy for the rest of my life. There was much more to it at the time. Yet while the person who shared this with me also explained my need of forgiveness before God and how the Hebrew Scriptures pointed to Yeshua as the Messiah, the motive for accepting what was presented to me was for the most part how it would make me happy.

Thankfully, God made himself known to me in spite of this inaccurate information. Don't get me wrong, it is not as if knowing God has no personal benefit. It's that knowing him is not primarily about me, my personal needs and my happiness. I would eventually learn that I would not be happy all the time, even though through Yeshua I have indeed experienced a depth of happiness that I never dreamed possible, but I also have experienced a type of peace and security in the midst of difficulties I never thought possible.

The depth of reality that comes from truly knowing the God of Israel is well-expressed through the words I read from this week's Haftarah. It is striking that this portion is a special reading for the festival of Shavuot (English: Pentecost or Weeks). Shavuot is a harvest festival, a time to rejoice over God's provision. But Habakkuk says that he will rejoice in God even when the harvest produces nothing. This is a difficult concept if we think, as I originally did, that following God is all about what we get out of it.

Habakkuk's words remind me of the Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who, in exile in Babylon, faced excruciating death due to their unwillingness to commit idolatry. Just before being thrown into the fiery furnace, they said to the king of Bablyon, "...our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Daniel 3:17,18; ESV).

This understanding of God and life went far beyond their own selves, their personal welfare, comfort, and prosperity. They knew that there is a reality of life through knowing God that is far deeper than what many of us normally experience.

Habukkuk could rejoice in God even in the face of starvation. His strength and ability to face dire circumstances was not based on normal material prosperity but in God himself. This is no abstract spirituality detached from the realities of life, but a strength that enables us to live this life in the midst of enormous challenges.

In order to begin to grasp the depths of this reality we need to first turn away from our obsession with self and our desire to please self. It is as we submit ourselves to God and his will for our lives, whatever that may be, that we can find a joy and a strength beyond our wildest dreams.

TorahBytes: Guard the Truth (Bemidbar)

But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony. (Bemidbar / Numbers 1:53; ESV)

The tribe of Levi was set apart by God for the work of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle) and later in Israel's history, the Temple. The cohanim (English: "priests") were a subset of the tribe of Levi as they were the sons of Aaron, Moses' brother, both of whom themselves were Levites. The cohanim were responsible for the sacrifices, while the rest of the Levites looked after all sorts of other things regarding the Mishkan. One of the Levites' responsibilities was to guard the Mishkan. According to the verse above, the reason for this was "...so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel." The protection of true religion with its priesthood and rituals was for the welfare of the people.

Religious leaders need to stand guard on behalf of the things of God. The preservation of true religion is necessary to ensure that people relate to God according to his reality. Otherwise it is not really God they are encountering. And if it is not really God whom people encounter, they will suffer harm through delusion, demonic influence, and immorality.

In order to effectively stand guard for God's Truth, we must first understand that God isn't the one who needs protecting. God is God and his truth is eternal. He will show himself to be who he is and his truth will prevail. We are the ones who suffer when God's Truth is perverted. We protect God's Truth, not because God needs us to, but rather because people need us to.

Second, religious leaders don't stand guard for God's Truth to protect themselves. Too often religious leaders are threatened by perceived attacks on the things they espouse. But if their motive is to protect self and position, they will not be able to discern the difference between an attack on the Truth or a necessary correction to their own errors,

What does need to be protected is the Truth of God as given to us in the Scriptures. Too many people who otherwise claim to uphold the revelation of God through the Bible have become careless in preserving an accurate understanding of God's Truth. In most cases this carelessness is due to one of three things. The first one is a commitment to one's tradition over and against the Truth of Scripture. In this case what is being protected is something other than the Truth itself. As a result the Truth of God is neglected and/or made inaccessible to others.

The second cause of carelessness stems from an outright denial of God's Truth. These are leaders who remain part of traditions that at one time carefully guarded the things of God, but now have turned their backs on the Truth, purposely redefining it due to their denial of Scripture.

The third cause comes from a desire to make God's reality accessible to as many people as possible. These leaders tend to think of the notion of guarding God's Truth as harmfully restrictive. They fail to see that preserving an accurate revelation of God is necessary for people to truly know the God they are anxious to make known. By not insisting that the God they claim to offer people is in strict accordance to the truth of Scripture, they are actually doing people far more harm than good.

When leaders are careful to stand guard for God's Truth, insisting that he is accurately represented to the world around us, then people will have the opportunity to really know him and be effectively equipped to live life the way God designed us to.

TorahBytes: Are You Well Rooted? (Be-Har & Be-Hukkotai)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7,8; ESV)

Most of the time you can't tell how people are doing just by looking at them. While some people are better at hiding their struggles than others, it seems that most people are pretty good at it. I continue to be surprised at some of the horrific things people go through in life and the amount of unresolved trauma that haunts them. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me due to my own hardships, but like many others, I have tended to think that my negative experiences have been unique to me rather than seeing them as the common plight of human beings. I know that not everyone goes through extreme traumatic experiences, but they are far more common than we may admit.

While trouble and trauma are common human experiences, God did not design us to face such things on our own. Rather he has availed himself to us by providing sustenance for those times when our own resources are completely depleted. The picture painted through the prophet Jeremiah is that of a tree whose roots are driven down deep into a fresh water source. Whatever might be going on above ground, the tree's nourishment is derived from that rich underground source. That which determines the health and strength of the tree is hidden from view, yet it is the tree's secure connection to this life source that enables it to withstand the harsh realities above the surface.

So it is for those who trust in God. Trusting in God is not simply fulfilling religious rituals or spouting a creed. It isn't based on your parents' supposed faith or some decision or experience you have had in the past. Trusting in God is a continuous giving of one's life to God in such a way that you accept his forgiveness and salvation through his provision of the Messiah, and allow him to determine the course of your life by following his directives. Trusting in God is not a passive state of non-engagement with the realities of life. On the contrary, it is a cooperation with God as he desires to drive your roots deep down into himself so that you will be able to withstand all that he is leading you to face in life.

The picture of the healthy tree flourishing in the midst of harsh circumstances is contrasted to those who trust in people, whether themselves or others (see 17:5,6). With no connection to a nourishing life source, like a shrub in the desert, this person is blown away when hardships come.

Though we often try, we cannot control our circumstances. Harsh circumstance are common to the human experience. Yet, we were not designed to face these things alone, left to our own meager resources. God intends that we should live our lives dependent on him. Moreover, the person who trusts in God is called "blessed." This is not about mere survival in hard times, it is about flourishing - even being a resource to others - when everything around us seeks to suck us dry.

Access to God's nourishing resources is available to anyone who puts their trust in him through Yeshua the Messiah. But perhaps this is something that you have done, yet you seem to be more like the dry shrub than the flourishing tree. Your willingness to admit it is your first step to effectively connecting with God's life-giving resources. Perhaps you have been trusting in yourself and others more than in him. Ask God to drive your roots down deep until you know his refreshing, life-giving nourishment.