Embracing Death

Exodus 18:1-20:23, Yitro, “Jethro”

As always, I tend to try to see how the title of the parsha may be a theme that runs its way through the reading.  This week, I came to a kind of interesting concept.  It may be a little far reaching, but maybe not.  I will let you be the judge.  In any event, I think the end message has value.  I pray it is a blessing.

As I entered into the reading, the first thing that hit me was what Jethro was doing.  He was taking Moses’ wife and children to meet him so that they could enter the promised land together.  The first thought that came to me was Moses having his bride brought to him as he made his decent upon the land.  This immediately gave me an image of Revelation 19 where Yeshua is descending down from heaven, through the clouds, on his white horse, with the trumpet call, and the bride is carried away to the marriage supper.

The question hit me, could this section of scripture be a foreshadowing of what will ultimately take place when Yeshua returns to set up the millennial kingdom?  Throughout history, the sages have seen Moses as a messiah of likeness.  As such, making this connection is very in tune and in harmony with rabbinic imagery. 

As I pressed forward, I kept in mind that there are other characters to this story.  More importantly, I remained open to asking the Holy Spirt to reveal what can we take from all this that provides something that is real and tangible in our pursuit of God and a deeper relationship with Him? As I contemplated the other characters, I was led to Isaiah 49:22 where we read: “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.” (NASB).

So, there you have it.  From what I am seeing, the two children are the individual sides of the one new man making up the whole house of Israel.  In this image, the “whole house of Israel” is made up of those who are the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob together with those believers who have allowed themselves to be “grafted” to His people.  In this, Jethro represents the nations that will have their eyes opened to the truth of who He is.  In this, they will fulfill these prophecies as they facilitate the delivery of the “nation”, this time in the fullness of her maturity (as the bride), to the real Messiah (Yeshua), when He descends upon Israel to set up His kingdom.

This gets a little more fun when we start looking at the names of the two children.  Moses’ first son was named Gershom meaning “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”, and the other son was named Eliezer meaning “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”  From how I am seeing this, the first child represents the natural relatives.  Since the time of Yeshua, we have been sojourners in a foreign land.  His name represents the very words that the natural children of Israel will speak as we are gathered into Him.  From there, I am seeing the second child as representing those believers who have grafted themselves into the “nation”.  Historically, when a person, other than that of the natural blood line of the patriarchs, wanted to join themselves to the “nation” they would go through a formal “re-birth”.  In this re-birth, they would go through a mikvah (basically what we know of as baptism).  In this, they would go under the water as children of their earthly family.  As they passed through the waters, they joined themselves to the “nation” and took on a new identity.  When they emerged from the water, for all intents and purposes, they had from all perspectives, been fully adopted into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This is an image of those Egyptians who left Egypt, passed through the waters of the red sea with the children of Israel, and who moved out into the desert with them as they began this journey with Him. 

In this context, the second child’s name makes perfect sense. They no longer see their father as their natural father, but Abraham.  In grafting themselves to the “nation” they escaped Egypt along with those that were natural descendants just as if they were one in the same.  Together, they were all set free from the sword of Pharaoh through the help from the God of “their” father Abraham.  Again, I realize I am taking some creative license with all this, but this is what I love about Hebraic thought.  This kind of thought is commonplace within midrash and Hebraic life.

So, now that we have the stage set, let’s get into the meat of what I think is really important.  In what I am seeing, the two sons and the wife in this story are separate and distinct at this point in time.  However, by the time of the second coming of Yeshua and the establishment of the messianic kingdom, they will become one and the same.  The “nation” will no longer be two distinct children, but one bride.  What keeps the children “separated” is our heart condition toward Torah.

Even within the messianic community the debates and arguments still exist between what is and is not “required” of the gentile believers.  From here I am going to take us to Acts 15 and move into a really important concept.  Instead of interpreting this from the angel of traditional debate, I am going to move in from the other side.  The angle I am going to approach this from is relative to people like me.

I am fully Jewish.  Both my mother and father are blood relatives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I am Levitical on my mother’s side.  So, according to Acts 15, what is my “obligation” to Torah observance?  If we take the argument that Acts 15 is about establishing that natural descendants have a different obligation than those grafted in sheerly based on our blood line, I think we are missing a really big point.  Obligation is a legal term that implies guilt when not honored.  Guilt is connected with knowledge and understanding.  Yeshua hits this point in John 15:22 where He says ““If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have guilt, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (NASB).  This ties back to Leviticus 4:13-14 where we read “Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known” (NASB)

This concept is further clarified in Numbers 15:30-31 where we are told “‘But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.  ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’” (NASB)

According to some, their interoperation of Acts 15 would have me fully yoked and obligated to Torah simply because I am a blood relative of the patriarchs.  The reality is, I grew up very secular with only limited exposure to Torah.  According to Leviticus, Numbers, and what Yeshua says in John 15, I am only obligate to what I am aware of.  In this case, when I came to faith, I was only marginally more aware than the average gentile.  It simply isn’t biblical to impose a higher “obligation” onto me than anyone else just entering the faith.  At the same time, if Torah is life and our wisdom, why wouldn’t God want gentiles to move into Torah to the same depth as me?  I believe this is an approach that leads to the fulness of the bride in all of her maturity as the image of the one new man with both the natural and grafted children coming together as one for the testimony to the nations.

I believe this is the heart of Acts 15 where in verses 19-21 James makes this statement “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles…….. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

For me, what James is stating is fairly obvious.  Here is how I would paraphrase it.  “Hey guys, these gentiles are currently involved in some really unholy living, they worship other gods, and they are involved in occult practices.  There is no way that God is expecting them to step out of that life and into full Torah compliance overnight.  We are saved by faith and so are they.  Ultimately, these four restrictions are adequate to break the spiritual strongholds and move them into a position of being able to receive Torah into their hearts. I believe with those strong holds broken, sitting under Torah weekly is all they need.  The Holy Spirit will talk to them, reveal what is their next step in Torah compliance, and grow them into strong disciples and followers of Him.”  Now that we are 2,000 years into the disbursement, I believe this mentality is as applicable to natural descendants as much so as any gentile.

The interesting thing is that, according to Torah (Leviticus 4 and Numbers 10) this is really the heart of the covenant from the very beginning.  So, with all that said, let’s circle back to this week’s reading.  But first, we need to look at one scripture form Romans.  In Romans 8:12 Paul discusses how we must allow our flesh driven lives to be re-conformed through the interaction of the Spirit.  He shares that a mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God because it does not subject itself to the Law of God.  Ultimately, in verse 12-15 he states that “we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again”. (NASB)

As soon as I read that section of Romans my mind immediately went back to this week’s parsha and the moment that came after God had shared the tenth of the commandments that He was speaking out to the people.  In Exodus 20:19 we read, “Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” (NASB)

I believe that Paul was specifically referring to this moment in time when he wrote the words of Romans 8:12-15. These verses connect the “fear” to “death” whereas the true spiritual path is to embrace the death as he points out “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die” (NASB).  You see, the children of Israel knew something about accountability, and it goes right back to Numbers 15:30-31.  They understood that if God talked to them directly, they would be fully accountable.  In that place of accountability, they would have to bend their knees to what God spoke, and in so doing, allow Him to remold their lives in a way that their flesh simply did not want to be changed.  This remolding is what Paul speaks of as death in Romans 8.

Going back to the prophetic implications I put forth at the beginning of this blog, here is what I propose. Fear of change comes from a spirit of slavery to sin.  This is the image of a spiritual child.  The bride on the other hand is a representation of Yeshua’s priesthood during the messianic area.   During this time, His priesthood will have fully embraced Torah with the heart felt understanding represented by a fully matured wife.  This maturity only comes when we allow ourselves to move beyond a fear of death and into a place of actually embracing it.  When we move into a place of embracing death, we set the stage for a deeper relationship with Him as was intended with the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Sadly, the majority of us continue to lean on our religious teachers instead of truly seeking dialogue with Him.  I believe at the bottom of this is the same fear that the children of Israel suffered and that same spirit that Paul speaks of.  Ultimately, God will give us new hearts and make us into the bride that He chose us to be, we will join Him when He sets up His kingdom, and we will rule with Him from Israel.  At the same time, we have a choice to become those kinds of disciples today. 

I pray that as we allow these concepts to work their way deep into our souls, that we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we too are walking in the fear of death, still being held hostage to the desires of the flesh, and pulled away from a deeper relationship with God through the sin natures we were born into.  I pray that as He reveals these things to us that we step up in courage, become expectant of what is possible, and chase after the life that is available on the other side of death.  In and through this, I pray that we become a testimony and a blessing to the world as we demonstrate the freedom of embracing Torah, dying to the flesh, and being His bride NOW.  Amen Amen

Battling Fear

Exodus 13:17-17:16, Beshalach, “When (he) Let Go”

 I am currently in a place of seeking God in a way that is much deeper than my traditional daily walk.  It is amazing that what God is calling me to is taking place at this very intersection of our parsha readings.  About two weeks ago I felt called to cut down an old dead tree on my property, set up my tent, make a fire, and tabernacle with Him for 14 days regarding a specific relationship.  In my mind, the fire represented the relationship between this person and myself.  As such, I committed myself to keeping it burning the entire 14 days because my “goal” in this was for God to “keep the relationship going” in the way I wanted it to be.  Keeping the fire going the entire time was particularly difficult because we had major storms one night, it got very cold and windy, and I had long days where I had to be traveling for business.  Ultimately, through a series of smaller revelations, God led me to the following two major realizations. 

The first is, when life gets difficult, I can tend to repeat patterns that bring me a perceived comfort but only lead me into deeper bondage.  This might include eating patterns, thoughts of sexuality, or not being true to myself within the context of a relationship.  Through this He was showing me my tendency to “return to Egypt” and not trust Him through the desert experiences of life and the struggles of relationships.  I came to understand that “Egypt” isn’t the person, place, or thing that we return to, but it is a state of mind.  It is a place of comfort that we believe is found in and through those people, places, or things that we tend to go to when life gets hard.

The second is really the biggest and just came to me this morning.  I came to realize that in the context of relationship, when things get tough, I tend to push toward resolution.  He showed me that I do this for a few reasons.  None of them are good, and all of them prevent me from being a qualified spiritual head and/or spiritual cover for those that God has entrusted me with. 

Here is what I am seeing.  In the case of a misunderstanding, I take on the burden of the other person.  I feel bad that they are experiencing grief as the result of information that is less than accurate.  This sense of burden leads me toward pressuring them to talk and work toward resolution.  I do this because I don’t like the feeling of being burdened with someone else’s pain, and I don’t like that the other person is experiencing pain based on a misunderstanding with me.  The problem is, I am not their savior.  It is not my responsibility to take on their burdens, and it is not my responsibility to “save” them from the bondage they are experiencing.

The next thing I saw is that I am operating in fear. The truth is, when tension comes into the relationship, I become fearful that the other person, based on their impression of things, is going to do something drastic that will have lasting impacts on the relationship.  If this happens, both of us will suffer loss as the result of a misunderstanding.  I don’t like the idea of this, and it is scary to me.  I don’t like when Satan wins!!

But the reality is, it is when we operate in fear that Satan takes control and wins.  You see, people need processing time and we need to trust God.  When I am capable of slowing down and falling into a place of peace in spite of the storms going on around me, I demonstrate leadership.  In this place of peace, I can extend grace to the other person as they move through their processing.  In this I demonstrate that I am one with Yeshua and safe.  These two things allow the other person the time to process at their own pace without feeling rushed or pressured.  This gives them an appreciation for me and a desire to come back together and talk.  This also gives the Holy Spirit the time to give both of us the opportunity to see things from new perspectives and work out the misunderstandings before we even come together.  In any case, we need to trust that if the relationship is meant to grow, God will be at the center and lead us back together in His time where He knows when that time is best.  If the relationship is not meant to grow, there is nothing we can do to change it, and no matter how much effort we put in, we simply can’t.  This takes us back to a place of peace knowing that God is going to make sure that whatever happens is “best” and in the end, He get’s the glory.

When I think about Moses and the children of Israel in this context, I come to see Moses in a way that I had not seen him before. Throughout the last several readings we have seen the children of Israel holding Moses responsible for how God was interacting in their lives.  In previous readings we didn’t see Moses attempting to correct the people.  We simply see Him going to God and talking to God about it.  In this week’s reading we see a few dynamics.

In Exodus 14:11-13 we read “Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?  “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. (NASB).

 In this part of the story, we see Moses taking on real spiritual leadership.  In spite of the very real threat of danger, Moses stands firm in his faith.  He makes no attempt to defend himself or to even correct their stinkin thinkin.  He simply tells them “Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD”.  This is the kind of person I find God leading me into becoming.

On the other hand, let’s look at the thought process of the people. They not only attack Moses, but, in the face of fear, their first instinct is to return to the security of the only thing that they have ever known.  In this case it is to “serve the Egyptians”.  This is a clear statement of believing that bondage would be better than the current situation.  They don’t really want to go back to being slaves of course. But they fear death, and, in their minds, slavery is better than death, so they chose to rebel against Moses and long for the implied security of Egypt.  This is what we do when we return to those people, places, and things that we know are not “best”. We do this because those things provide us an opportunity to return to what we have managed to endure in the past so we can avoid the potential suffering that may lay ahead.  This is the kind of person that God is leading me away from being.

This pattern repeats itself in Exodus 16:2-8.  In the earlier verses we see the children of Israel grumbling against Moses and Aaron over not having food to eat.  As we get to the later verses, we see Moses telling the people that God is going to come through, He is going to provide meat, and that their issue is not with him or Aaron.  He goes on to tell them that God is the one that is hearing them and it is He who will get the glory when things work out.

This takes me back to my story and how important it is that we allow God to be God and that we don’t try to resolve the burdens other people are experiencing.  When we take on their burdens and work in our own strength to resolve their problems, we become their God.  Moses knew better.  He did not take on the burden of the people and simply told them that they needed to turn to Him for their answers.  In doing this he let their fear and discomfort pass from him to God where God could properly deal with it.  Then when God did deal with it, God got the glory as their “savior” and not Moses.  Here again, I see where this is a demonstration of who God is calling me to be.

The pattern repeats itself a third time in this week’s readings.  As we get down to chapter 17, we find the people grumbling at Moses over not having water to drink.  In this case they approach Moses and demand that he produces water for them (Exodus 17:2).  Moses immediately responded by saying “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” (NASB).

Again, we find Moses deflecting their attack, not allowing himself to take on their burden, going to God for his answers, and pointing the children of Israel to Him.   Again, God shows up, takes care of the people’s needs and gets the glory for Himself.

From all of this, I gathered a new perspective on what it is to be a “spiritual head”.  What I discovered, is that being a spiritual head is to lead by example and not attempt to be the holy spirit in somebody else's life.  It is not our role to be the one that provide all the answers, facilitates the peace, or gets the glory.

Moses was able to walk in this kind of leadership because he was humble.  He knew that he wasn’t capable of leading these people without God.  He knew that only God could protect them.  And He knew that only God could provide for them.  He knew that they would fall into fear, that they would not understand what God was doing, and that often he would get the blame.  In and through all this, Moses kept his faith in the Lord.  He knew that any attempt to satisfy the people would fail.  He knew that God either would or would not provide.  And he knew that either way, God would ultimately get the glory.  This was enough for Moses.  He didn’t need to have all the answers or know how the story would end.  He simply knew how to point the people to God, look to God for his own answers, and trust that God knew what He was doing.

I pray that each of us grow a little more in this kind of faith each and every day.  I pray that as this faith grows, we discover a greater sense of peace in our lives.  I pray that as we grow in these things, we become better followers who look toward God when things get tough, we resist going back to the things that put us in bondage, and that we support the leaders who God puts over us.  At the same time, I pray that we become better leaders for those that we have been entrusted with, that we resist the temptation to defend ourselves, that we put our faith in Him, and that we emanate peace and grace in our example of how to walk with Him.  All in all, I pray that each and every day we all move a little further out from under the control of fear.  As we allow Him to set us free from fear, we naturally gravitate to a deeper faith that trusts God in all things.  I pray that this is our common journey.  Amen, Amen.

A Sign For You

 

Exodus 10:1-13:16, Bo “Come”

As is usually the case, there are just so many points that I could run with in this week’s reading.  In this section of scripture, we find the final three plagues.  We are introduced to the Passover.  We see God killing the first born of all the Egyptian children.  We can make the connections to Yeshua on the cross as the “unblemished” lamb of God.  We could enter into a debate as to whether or not these events pointed toward Him, or if He and His work on the cross are pointing back to these events.  We could use this debate to discuss what it is to have “faith” in Him, to be His, to trust in Him, and to walk in accordance with His ways.  All of this could lead us into a discussion of what walking in “faith” prior to Yeshua looked like and how this walk of “faith” relates to our current “faith” walk.  We could talk about how the children of Israel had “light” in their homes when everything else was so dark that it had an oppressive “feel” about it.  We could talk about God hardening Pharoah’s heart, and the list of potential topics just keeps going.

In the end, as I approach what I am about to share, from what I believe to be the epicenter of this section of scripture, maybe some of these things will naturally flow into the discussion.  For me, the thing that is jumping out the most is found in Exodus 12:13.  Here is how it reads in the NASB:

“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

As I read this, my mind immediately went back to Exodus 3:13 when Moses saw God in the burning bush.  It was then that Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13 NASB)

What I am seeing is something that I believe to be very important.  You see, here, in these later chapters, after God has revealed Himself to these people in a way that He had not revealed Himself to the earlier generations, He is telling them something very important.  Something that is like a string that is laced through this entire section of scripture.  What He is saying is, “it isn’t just about me”.  What I hear God saying is, “I want you to know who you are just as much as I want you to know who I AM”.

In last week’s readings we were introduced to the “name” that God wanted the children of Israel to know Him by.  But it really isn’t about the “name”, it is really all about the character.  I do understand that in the Hebraic, names are VERY important and if we understand the name, we understand the character behind the name.  For me, this is the most important part of last week’s parsha.  This is what I was attempting to capture in what I shared.  The point is, God was about to reveal Himself to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a new way.  Last week’s blog was all about what aspect of His character He intended to reveal, and how those aspects of His character manifest within the dynamic of the relationship between Him and His people.  Moving into this week, I am seeing another really important aspect of what God was attempting to reveal about His character, what it is to be His, and what it looks like to walk in the confidence and freedom that He desires “His children” to walk in.

In Exodus 12:13 we find God telling Moses to tell the people “The blood shall be a sign for you”.  On the other side of the coin, we find several verses where God, through Moses, is saying just the opposite to Pharaoh.

In Exodus 8:23 we hear him saying that when He puts the plague of flies on the land that He would put a division between “My people and your people” (Exodus 8:23 NASB).  This theme continues into Exodus 9:4 where we see Him saying He will “make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt” (NASB).  Finally, in Exodus 11:7 when speaking of the death of the first born, He says so “that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (NASB)  In all of this, I hear God basically saying, “Pharaoh, all these signs are intended to show you that you are not mine, Israel is, you are not.”

What really hit me hard is what Moses is relaying from God regarding who would be impacted by this last and final plague.  In verse 11:7 He says, “all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (NASB)

What is really important to note is that the distinction is not between what we would tend to see as good and evil, or even between what we would consider innocent or guilty.  The distinction line is, who is His and who is not; He sets His distinction between the Children of Israel and those that are not.  This is what is really hitting me in this week’s reading that God is revealing to this generation that I do not believe that He had revealed to any other. 

For this generation, He is saying, I am going to make a distinction between you and all the other people of the world.  It doesn’t matter if they are good or if they are innocent.  It doesn’t matter if they are the slave girl or even the child.  Either they are of the children of Israel, or they are not.  It is that simple.

Later in this week’s readings we hear God telling Moses to relay to the people how they are to wear the “sign” upon their forehead and upon their arms.  He also tells them that the celebration of the Passover is to be a perpetual festival that will forever remind them of their relationship to Him and what He did for them in setting them free from Egyptian bondage.  All of this reminds me of the tsit-tsit (the tassels) that are worn at the corners of the garments.  These are worn to remind us of the Torah and the way of life that God has given us that set us apart from the rest of the people of this world.

But with all of this said, why was God providing them with a “sign” for themselves?  For me, when I contemplate this, I can’t help but hearing Psalms 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (NASB).

I think this is what it is really all about.  God was about to visit the entire nation, Moses told the children of Israel that God was going to be visiting every house, and any house that did not have the sign, He would kill the first-born children.  The children of Israel knew that something really terrible was going to happen that night, and they needed a sign to know that they would not be impacted.  I believe this is what God was revealing.  I believe that He was preparing them for a new life, a new way, and a new journey.  I believe that what He was saying is that “When you are mine, I will protect you, but make no mistake, I will ask you to walk through the valley of death, but fear no evil, I will be with you”.

What I am seeing is that when we do what God tells us to do, and we chose to live lives that are in harmony with Him and His ways, we should come into a very important realization.  Just like the children of Israel were reminded of something when they saw the blood on their doorposts, so should we when we look at how we are living, how we are trusting Him, and how we are different from the world around us.  All of these things should remind us that He is with us, that He will be with us, that He will see the “sign”, and His “death” will pass over us.

Knowing who we are does not always protect us from hardship, pain, struggle, or even death.  The children of Israel had to endure several of the plagues that God sent upon Egypt.  The entire nation of Israel was taken into captivity several times.  In leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, He led them into the desert.  Daniel and his friends trusted in God when they were about to get thrown into the fiery furnace.  They knew that one of two things was going to happen. Either they were going to live, or they were going to die. Either way, they knew they were going to be safe because they were stepping into the fire with Him. 

Knowing who we are is all about knowing that we are in a relationship with Him.  And a huge part of knowing what it is to be in a relationship with Him is to know how He distinguishes between those that are His and those that are not.  Just like the children of Israel had to do it His way and not attempt to prove that they were His in any other way that they felt “should” convey the message, we too must learn who He is and what it looks like to live in such a way that He sees the same signs we do that say “I am His”.  Those that chose to follow Him and accept doing life in the ways that He says are set apart will know who they are and in the same way will be recognizable to Him.  We look different, we think different, and we interact with the world around us in ways that are uniquely Him.  In so doing, we join Him in a story that is much bigger than life itself. 

In John 3:5 Yeshua said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (NASB)

When we accept Yeshua as the perfect, unblemished, lamb of God, put to death for our sins, we accept that what He did for us was done so that we may remain in a right standing with God.  As we remember the truth of this while also walking, to the best of our ability, in harmony with what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us as supported by the Word itself, we are reminded of who we are in Him.  We can visualize His blood on the door posts of our homes, and rest assured that we too are safe, that we have been adopted into the family of the children of Israel, and that when He looks upon us, He sees us as one of His.

In this, we too can walk in the confidence of knowing that although death is just on the other side of the door, He is with us.  Just like Daniel and his friends had to acknowledge, either we will live, or we will die, either way, He is with us, so must we.  This is the peace that we have when we are reminded of who we are in Him.  Ultimately, our confidence remains in Him, not in the things of this world, not in health, not in prosperity, not in His giving us the things that we want.  But that no matter what happens, He will not take us before it is our time, He will not withhold from us unless it is for a greater purpose, and as He uses His rod and His staff to guide us, it is done in the fulness of His love.  This is what it is to be His and to understand His character.  And sometimes, when the fires get hot, and the journey becomes difficult, when death is just outside the door, having a sign is just the thing we need.

As we partake in communion, celebrate His holidays & festivals, or simply walk in His ways, we are reminded of our unique relationship with Him.  In these “signs” that He has given us, we are reminded of who He is, of His faithfulness, and of His love.  As we gaze, meditate, or focus our attention on these “signs” we are reminded of who we are, that He loves us, and that He died for us.  As we walk in a way of life that is distinct from the rest of the world, He uses us to give them a sign that reveals to them what they are capable of being a part of.  I pray that as each of us allow these things to be a “sign” of remembrance to these things, that we each remember how important it is to allow His light to shine through us so that we become an attractive beacon of His light so that those who see the “signs”, recognize the distinction, and comprehend what they are capable of becoming a part of, that they are actually attracted to it.  I pray that as He reveals these things to us and to the world, for each of us on the side for which we stand, that we all comprehend what it is to be His and long to be in deeper relationship with Him, not for what He offers, but simply for who He is.

I pray that his has been a blessing to you and that in and through what I have shared you have come to a place of new understanding, new growth, greater peace, and most of all, a greater desire to know Him in all of who He is.  Amen Amen 

Slavery and Freedom, A Beautiful Dance

Exodus 6:2-9:35, Va’era, “And I Appeared”

As we move into this week’s reading, I am a bit overwhelmed with the imagery of a few interconnected concepts:

• True freedom and being set free from slavery and bondage,
• God’s willingness to use others to impose hardships that lead us deeper into the bondages of this world,
• God’s divine interaction and miracles that ultimately set us free,
• Our struggles with feeling unworthy, incapable, and inadequate,
• Our deep need of approval as demonstrated through intimacy,
• The concept of “idolizing” self or others as it relates to these things,
• Our total dependency on Him,
• The concept of a cord of three strands, and ultimately,
• The Gospel message.

All of this is coming into mind because this is the very place that God has me right now in my personal journey with Him.  When looking at the concepts of “freedom”, “slavery”, and “bondage”, it is interesting to see that we can become a “slave” or fall into “bondage” in a few different ways.  Some of those include becoming a slave to what has been imposed upon us, becoming a slave to the things we self-impose upon ourselves, and even becoming a slave to our own emotions as we respond to the circumstances that are really not “enslaving” us.  There is a dance between these three that is very difficult to understand and comprehend when we are emotionally involved and in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life.

In the first situation, there are times when things are completely out of our control, and we really have not done anything to put ourselves into the position of being enslaved.  Some people are simply born into situations that they have no control over.  Someone might be born into a third world country where there is terrible persecution, born into and brought up in an immoral environment, or abused in their innocents before they have any idea that what is happening is even wrong.  These are just a few examples.

Sometimes we put ourselves into the slave position as the result of deep wounds associated with the situations noted above.  It is somewhat “normal” for a child who is brought up in an abusive home to put themselves into abusive relationships.  Although there are reasons for this kind of behavior, at the end of the day, the bondage is, to a certain extent, self-imposed.  Most co-dependent relationships would fall into this category as would the “bondage” of bad health linked to poor diet and/or a lack of exercise, debt associated with poor financial decisions, excessive work hours connected to an unhealthy pursuit of materialism, and the list goes on and on.

Finally, there is the concept of being enslaved to our own emotions when the circumstances of what we are emotional about are really not putting us into any bondage at all.  This final category would be summarized by the concept of “stinkin thinkin” and is summarized by those times when we become too self-focused to see where God is inviting us into a place of growth, dying to self, and/or sacrificial service.

The dance between these is what results in co-dependency and/or a self-destructive lifestyle.  This usually happens when someone was brought up in a situation where the bondage was imposed, they then move into a situation where they are put into bondage voluntarily, and then they stay in that bondage as they make excuses rationalizing that what they are doing is selfless and for the benefit of the other person or somehow justifiable.  This is the destructive side of the dance.  As we go through this week’s reading, and the subsequent discussion, we are going to discover the growth side of the dance. 

We pick up in Exodus 6:6-8.  Here we find God making four promises to the sons of Israel and connecting all four of these promises to “His being LORD, and that He, by this name, will bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and He will deliver them from their bondage.  He continues in noting that He will do this with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” 

Earlier, in Exodus 6:3, we came to see that God was going to reveal Himself, as defined by the name “Lord”, in a new way to this generation, a way that He had not made Himself know to the previous generations.  As God makes these promises, in Exodus 6:6-8, we specifically see Him referencing Himself as “Lord” in connection to what He will do and as the one who will fulfill all the promises.  It is interesting to consider what aspects of His nature He did not reveal to the prior generations who knew Him as “God almighty” that this and the future generations would come to know as “I AM” and “Lord”.

As I ponder these things, I go back to the other thoughts that came to me as I considered where the Holy Spirit was leading me with this week’s summary.  What is it to know Him as LORD, to know Him as I AM, to know Him as the one who will deliver us from bondage, and redeem us?  What is it to know Him as the one who executes judgements, and who honors promises?  And how can we apply these concepts to our own lives as we attempt to move beyond the bondages of life and truly become free?

As we move through chapter seven, we find “Lord” telling us that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, multiply His signs and wonders, and lay His hand on Egypt by great judgements.  He then tells Moses that, in and through this, the people of Egypt shall know Him as “LORD”. 

In Exodus 7:14 we are told that Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn.  According to a true Hebraic understanding of the word used for God “hardening” Pharaoh’s heart we see that the word “hardening” is actually meant as “increasing or strengthening the attitude that already existed there”.  In other words, God simply added strength to Pharaoh’s existing stubbornness.  In so doing, God insured that Pharaoh would not relent the battle against Him out of fear or a sense of defeat.  In so doing, the only thing that would end the battle between God and Pharaoh would be true repentance or victory.  As it was, God pushed through to victory as Pharoah never came to repentance.  Ultimately, Pharaoh was the victim of his own self-imposed bondage as his stubbornness led him into an ultimate showdown with God.

Coming to verse 8:22 we see something very interesting being revealed. Up to this point in the story, God has imposed 3 previous plagues.  First the water of the Nile turning to blood, then frogs, and then gnats.  In verse 8:22 we see that with this plague, God is going to send swarms of insects, but this time, He will not send them into the land of Goshen (where the sons of Israel lived). It is difficult to tell which of the plagues God protected the Children of Israel from, but it definitely appears as though they had to suffer through some of the same plagues that the Egyptians had to suffer through.  Here God makes the point that how He shows a distinction between Egypt and Israel, with this plague, will stand as a testimony as to His “Lordship”.

As we continue reading, we come to verse 9:20 where we see that some of the servants of Pharoah began to see God as “LORD” and as such headed the warnings of God (through Moses) and did what they needed to do to protect their livestock.  As such, their livestock was protected.  I would bet that when the sons of Israel ultimately leave Egypt, these are the Egyptians that go with them.  These people would then represent the first community of people “grafted into” the nation of “God’s people”.

Just like last week, I am going to go two extra verses for context and read through verses 10:1-2.  Here God makes a really interesting point to Moses that takes us full circle back to what God said about His names, and how this generation and all future generations would come to know Him in a way that the previous generations had not.  These verses read (NASB)

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you (Moses’ future generations) may know that I am the LORD.”

Moving backwards from the concept of the Gospel message I will develop my point.  A major aspect of walking this journey out with Yeshua is understanding that we are weak, and He is strong.  It is in our humility and acceptance of the fact that we are helplessly weak, utterly underqualified, exceedingly inadequate, and far too prideful to protect ourselves from falling into bondage or subjecting others to some form of bondage that we impose upon them, that keeps us in a right standing with Him.  It is only in the power of Yeshua that we are able to:

• Have prosperous relationships,
• Have successful careers,
• Remain alive and healthy within the dynamic of the dangers of this world, and
• Enjoy peace and a general sense of well-being.

We must acknowledge that we are only successful in these things because it is Him who is operating in and through us.  This supernatural power to defeat the temptations of sin, to walk in wisdom, to have discernment, to walk in obedience, to exemplify love, to put the needs of others before our own, and even to know what precautions to take, are all aspects of God’s grace acting in and through us.

Focusing in on relationships, this is why a cord of three strands is so strong. The reality is, we must allow Yeshua to come into the middle of our relationships for them to have any chance of success.  The question is, what does it look like for Yeshua to be at the center of our relationships?

In essence, it is allowing Him to hold up a mirror and reveal to us where we are still living in the bondages of this world and our own “stinkin thinkin” so that we can be honest with ourselves and look to Him for the power to change.  As we walk this out, He sanctifies us into His own likeness, and in so doing we become capable of interacting with others in a way that is representative of the Fruit of the Spirit.  At the same time, there will be times that He allows us to act in our own strength, our own knowledge, or to fall back on that “stinkin thinkin” that is rooted in pride, old wounds, or old patterns.  In these cases, He acts through the other person as He uses them to extend His grace into the midst of the relationship as His presence overwhelms their “stinkin thinkin” rooted in the same garbage ours is.  When we are truly putting Him at the center, we are capable of seeing and expressing our own needs while at the same time being free from selfish ambitions and leaning on others to provide the emotional stability that only He can provide.  At the same time, we are free to hear and respond to the needs of others while not allowing them to lean on us for the emotional stability that only God can provide to them.

If we allow ourselves to move into a place of believing that we should be, or are capable of having successful relationships without Him, we have just made idols of ourselves.  This is the pressure we tend to put upon ourselves when we are in a place of low self-esteem.  Low self-esteem is different than humility.  Humility accepts one’s own imperfections and utter dependency upon God.  Low self-esteem sees the flaws of our own humanity and moves the mind into a place of condemnation based on the belief that one “should” be able to be strong enough, qualified enough, adequate enough, humble enough, disciplined enough, and thorough enough to ensure that every aspect of life will remain in perfect harmony without any dependency on God.  This leads us into believing that we are capable of providing for the emotional needs of others as we become their "savior".  The bottom line is, there is only one "savior" and I'm not Him!!

Low self-esteem, like pride, ultimately leads us into a place of seeking false intimacies, self-soothing, burdening things and others with the demands of what we need from them to make us feel whole, or taking on the burdens of others as we attempt to make them feel whole.  Low self-esteem and pride are like two sides of a bad coin that ultimately lead a person into a God complex mind set.  Pride simply elevates one above God right there in the open.  Low self-esteem is more subtle as it takes a back door approach by simply implying that we “should” be just like God living free from the need to have to rely on Him or that we can somehow give to others what only He is capable of providing.

Ultimately both lead us into the same progression toward sin and death as we burry ourselves and those we love in the pursuit of perfection.  In closing this out, this is why I believe it is so important for God to reveal Himself as Lord through the supernatural manifestation of miracles and to demonstrate that He is “I AM” and “Lord”. 

I believe that if He interacted in and through us in such a powerful way that we actually became strong enough, qualified enough, adequate enough, humble enough, disciplined enough, and thorough enough to ensure that life would be nothing but 100% successful, it would be really easy to fall back into an “I AM God” mindset.  It is in and through the delicate balance of how much He protects us in these ways, and how much He lets slide that sets up the progression of our remaining in relationship with Him.  This allows Him the opportunity to reveal to the world that He is “Lord” when He steps in and makes the impossible possible.

If all He ever did was save us through supernatural miracles, we simply wouldn’t learn anything, and we wouldn’t grow.  At the same time, if He just changed us and made us perfect, we would be led astray into believing that we too could be just like “Lord”. 

I believe this is what it is to see Him and accept Him as “Lord” and the great “I AM”.  As we walk out this journey of life, we learn to lean on His strength to become stronger, more qualified, adequate, disciplined, thorough, and humbler.  At the same time, He never brings these manifestations into 100% fullness. This limitation forces us to depend upon Him to, through His sovereignty, turn the messes we make in our imperfections into blessings that bring Him glory.  

As we lean on His grace and trust Him as "Lord" we let His love set us free from the pitfall of low self-esteem.  In and through this process, He forces us to remain dependent upon His interactions in the lives of others as they extend us His grace as He brings transformation into their lives.  These interactions remind us that it is okay to express our own needs while not expecting things or others to provide for our emotional well-being or allowing others to lean on us for theirs.  Ultimately, in the end, He steps in and makes the impossible possible so that we, our future generations, and the world around us will come to know Him as “Lord our God”.  It is only in and through this process and this delicate balance that He keeps us in a place of true freedom, saved from bondage, reveals us to the world as a people set apart, uses us to lead others to Himself, and ultimately, through the fires of life, delivers into the promises of all that He offers.

I pray that each of us continue to allow Him to be “Lord” of our lives, that we seek to let Him reveal to us our pride as well as our low self-esteem issues.  I pray that as we allow Him to show us these things about ourselves that we allow His love to surround us, hold us, nurture us, and ultimately provide the only form of intimacy that is truly 100% pure.  I pray that as we lean into the intimacy of His great love that we allow Him to set us free from the false intimacies that destroy our lives and the lives of those around us.  I pray that as this continues that we stop burdening others with the demands that they are somehow capable of making us feel complete and adequate.  Following this progression, that in and through this, we stop competing with Him for the control and the outcomes of our lives shedding the belief that somehow, we can perform well enough to make ourselves feel complete and adequate.  I pray that we let Him reveal to us that with Him we are fully capable because even when we are not, His divine presence will bring things into the perfect harmony that will be best.  I pray that in and through these understandings, and the faith to believe, our minds are set free to remain in a perfect peace that surpasses all understandings as we stay fully rooted in the faith that He truly is “Lord”.  Amen Amen.

What's In A Name?

Exodus 1:1-6:1, Shemot, “Names”

Again, this week, I am going to key off the name of the reading as the theme for what I am going to share.  Things start off for us when, during his conversation with God at the burning bush, Moses asks God the simple question, what shall I say to the sons of Israel when they ask me your name?  To that, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM; and He said, “This you shall say to the sons of Israel I AM has sent me to you”.  In this, I AM is derived from the root word HAYAH which means “to be”.  One of my favorite questions when talking to people about God’s sovereignty is, “what part of “I AM” isn’t?  In other words, “I AM” is all inclusive.  There just isn’t anything that is separate from what God is.  When overlaying this with the root word of HAYAH, we can understand that not only is He everything, He also tells us that He will be what He chooses to be.

The concept of this is all over the entire story of everything we have read up to this point through Genesis and into Exodus.  We see this in God’s relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  We see it in how He uses Joseph’s brothers’ hatred to put Joseph into Egypt where He can preserve life, and we see it in how they all stay in Egypt well beyond what they needed to preserve life so that God could create a nation in them.  Looking back, this is the story of Jacob and his relationship with Laban that led to Jacob wrestling with an Angel of the Lord and “becoming” Israel.

As we approach the last few verses of this week’s readings, we see another example of God just being who He says He is and not acting like we, in our flesh, would like Him, or expect Him, to act.  By the time we reach the end of chapter 4, Moses has met up with his brother Aaron.  They met with the elders of the sons of Israel, and the people believed, bowed low, and worshiped.  In chapter 5 we find Moses and Aaron approaching Pharaoh, challenging him to let the people go into the wilderness to worship God, and Pharaoh not only being resistant, but increasing the workload on the people.  This led the people to meeting with Moses and Aaron again.

This time, the people said to them “May the LORD look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”  Then, Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?  “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.” (Exodus 5:21-23 NASB)

Our final verse of the reading is God’s response: “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion, he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.” (Exodus 6:1 NASB)

But I’m not going to end there because I think we need to connect something from next week’s reading into this week’s to really get the point.  In verse 6:3 God says to Moses “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:3 NASB)

In other words, God’s response to Moses asking “why have You brought harm to this people?  Why did you ever send me?” is “because I am going to make Myself known to you and this people in an entirely new way, a way that none of your ancestors have ever known me.  They knew me by one name.  You and these people are going to come to know me by another name.” 

And form this, we go full circle back to the title of this reading; “Names”.  You see, the God we serve is not a simple one name God.  He is so much vaster, so much more all-encompassing, so much more…..  well, He just is…. I AM.

Going back to God’s answer, quite honestly, this is not the kind of answer most of us would like to hear.  This is not the kind of answer we would expect.  And, sadly, this is not the kind of answer we are given when we ask similar questions in a multitude of the churches across this country relative to the challenges and complexities of life.

The point is, how well do we want to know Him?  How much of all that He is are we willing to accept?  And, how much of all of who He is are we willing to be in relationship with so that we too can “know” Him in a way that can only be discovered through the trials and tribulations of what it takes to transform us from who we have been into what He is giving us the opportunity to become.  And even more so, how many of our perspectives are we willing to let go of?  Perspectives on those moments when we felt like someone was out to harm us but in reality, it was Him using the circumstances of life to make us, mold us, transform us, or simply to bring glory to Himself.

When I read about how Yeshua connected our forgiveness to our ability to forgive others, I can’t help thinking about the complexity of God’s interaction in the journey of the Hebrew people.  If I allow myself to truly embrace His sovereignty and the concept that He is “I AM”, I have no choice but seeing life in a similar way as Joseph did when he told is brothers to not be angry with themselves because what they had intended for evil, God had intended for good.  This has led me to a very simply, yet maybe hard to embrace, understanding of things.  I have come to see that actions themselves are neither inherently “good” or “evil”, but that the heart behind those actions is.  In the case of Joseph’s brothers, they intended murder, but God saw well into the future and set the stage for the preservation of life and the character transformation of each of those involved.  For the brothers the action was evil.  For God, the same action was good.  In the case of Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s intention was murder, but God’s was to set the stage for the redemption of the Hebrew people.  Again, when looking at the same event, Pharaoh’s actions were evil, God’s were good.    Later when we see God killing the first born of all the Egyptian children we are faced with the same comparison.  When Pharaoh was killing all the innocent children of Israel it was evil because of his heart.  When God killed all the innocent children of the Egyptians, it was Good because God had good intentions.  Taking this one step further, only God knows what those children experienced, where they ended up, and if that experience was horrific or blissful for them.  We simply do not know.  When we look at the relationship between Jacob and Laban the same kind of understandings can be drawn.  Laban was cheating Jacob.  This was an evil way of dealing with a fellow human being.  God was using Laban to reveal something to Jacob about his own character that would later set the stage for the wrestling match and Jacob being given a new name (no longer to be known as supplanter (to cheat), but Israel (the father of a nation)).

Ultimately, one of our biggest challenges in life is to not make the same mistake as Adam and Eve.  “Eating” from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will not make us just like God.  God has a view of life, death, struggle, affliction, blessings, and curses that we simply do not have.  When we attempt to judge God based on our view of good and evil, we take the bait of Satan just like Adam and Eve and are led away from seeing God in a way that we have never known Him before.  When we refuse to allow Him to reveal himself to us in these ways, we miss the opportunity to know Him by some of His other names.  And, in so doing, we miss the opportunity to be in a deeper relationship with Him.  Ultimately, if we hold onto unforgiveness, is there an underlying unforgiveness toward God?  If He truly is sovereign, and He is using people in our lives just like He used Joseph’s brothers, Pharaoh, and Laban, then isn’t forgiving others a pathway to seeing God’s use of what they intended for evil to still be good?

I think this comes back to the people challenging Moses when they said, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”  The reality is, Moses did exactly what God asked him to do, and Pharaoh responded exactly how God knew he would.  This really is the dynamic of life.  God knows the people He has surrounded us with, the people He has put into our sphere of influence, and the people who are influencing us as they go about their own lives.  He truly is in control and when we judge others, we are ultimately judging Him.

Ultimately, unforgiveness is rooted in pride because at the end of it all, we are basically saying “that person does not deserve to be forgiven because their sin is worse than mine”.  The truth is, if Yeshua took on my sin, He is there to take on there’s too.  Taking this one step further, He didn’t take on my sin because I deserve it.  He took on my sin because I don’t deserve it.  The same holds true for every human being on this planet.  That is what grace is about.  And, if we allow ourselves to realize that God uses our sin to mold and transform others, then ultimately, we need to give Him the latitude to use the sin of others to mold and transform us.  Maybe this is why Yeshua is so strong on forgiveness being such an important part of being His.

As I consider these things I wonder where Jacob would have been if all he could have done was to hold onto unforgiveness toward Laban?  Where would Joseph and the entire nation of Israel ended up if Joseph would have held onto unforgiveness toward his brothers?  And where would the nation of Israel ended up if they would have held onto unforgiveness toward Moses and Aaron?

I pray that as you reflect back on some of the challenges you are going through, or the challenges that maybe you have experienced, that this blog has helped open your heart to see things in a new way.  I pray that it has led you to thinking about some areas in life that could change for the better if you could see things in a different light.  I pray that as you ponder what I have shared, that you come to know God by a new name, and that in and through this, He gives you peace surrounding all that has been, and all that is.  Amen.