Thought for Today: Monday August 22:

YHVH is all around you like a cocoon of Light. His Presence with you is a promise, independent of your awareness of Him. Many things can block this awareness, but the major culprit is worry. His children accept worry as an inescapable fact of life. However, worry is a form of unbelief; it is anathema to Him. Who is in charge of your life? If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But if it is Elohim, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive. When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Him. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Him. He will either take care of the problem Himself or show you how to handle it. In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Him.

Recording in progress. :) #music

This week’s Torah portion (R’eh -see!) is now available on our app or website! Give it a read!

FAITHFUL IN TRIALS – PART 2

2 – The Choices We Can Make:

As far as I can tell there are four basic choices we can make when we face trials. The first three are all wrong choices:

A -- Take our lives:
That is what Job's wife wanted him to do when disaster struck their family. His wife said to him: Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse YHVH, and die. -- Job 2:9. Thank YHVH Job did not do what his wife wanted; instead, he walked with YHVH through his trial and learned to deal with it YHVH's way instead of according to the flesh. But you will remember Judas, his solution to his trial was not to turn back to the YHVH he had been a traitor to, but to commit suicide. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. -- Matthew 27:5. This choice is perhaps; the worst one we can make.

B -- Try to ignore it:
This is what mental health people call denial. It is when your problem or trial is staring you right in the face but you act as if it is not real. This is a very unhealthy way to deal with your trials.

C -- Blame YHVH for it:
That is what Jeremiah did in the first 20 verses of Lamentations 3. That is what Moses did in Numbers 11 when under great stress. That is what Naomi did when her husband and sons died. That is what Job's wife did when disaster struck their home. That is what many people do today when they are faced with trials and they do not know what do to about it they shake their fist at YHVH and cry: Why did You do this to me? But YHVH has not done anything to us; if we choose this way of response to our trials, we are peddling backwards.

D. Trust YHVH in it:
Recognize that YHVH is going through the trial with you every step of the way. In 2 Chronicles 15:2, the Ruach of YHVH came upon Azariah and he said: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; Adonai is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. This great YHVH, Elohiym of the universe is with us, He can be found and He will walk through the trials with us. He does not promise to take them away, but He promises to be with us through the experience. Let us spend some time on the following:

3 – The Comforts YHVH Offers:
If we go back to Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 we see after blaming YHVH he realized he was going about this the wrong way. He lists the ways that YHVH has comforted him in his trials.

A -- Hope in remembrance:
This I recall to my mind; therefore, have I hope. -- Lamentations 3:21. Jeremiah called to mind the YHVH that He worshiped. He could remember his past experiences that YHVH had seen him through. He could draw hope from the fact that the YHVH who had been there for him in the past would be there for him in the here and the now and in the days to come.

B -- Love that sustains us:
Becky met up with her boyfriend Dave and asked him: Do you love me with all your heart and soul? Dave answered, Uh-huh. Becky: Do you think I am the most beautiful girl in the world? Dave: Uh-huh. Becky: Do you think my lips are like rose petals? Dave: Uh-huh. Becky: Oh, you say the most wonderful things! Jeremiah remembered a real love, the love he had from Adonai: It is of Adonai’s mercies that we are not consumed… -- Lamentations 3:22a. Jeremiah's trial did not consume or overwhelm him, because he knew he had a YHVH who loved him as a friend. I believe we can face anything if we know we are loved.

C -- Compassion that never leaves us:
Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. -- Lamentations 3:22b-23. Knowing that YHVH really cares somehow makes our burden lighter.

D -- Patience in waiting:
Adonai is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, will I hope in Him. Adonai is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Adonai. -- Lamentations 3:24-26. Knowing that YHVH is there helps us to wait for Him in those times that we do not sense His presence. Jeremiah said: It is good to wait quietly for the salvation and deliverance of Adonai. What he is saying is: I know Adonai is on His way, He will deliver me!

E -- Ability to help others:
Blessed be YHVH, even the Father of our Adonai Yeshua Moshiach, the Father of mercies, and Elohiym of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of YHVH. -- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. You see part of the comfort we receive from YHVH is the satisfaction of knowing He will use us to help others when they face trials in their lives. YHVH does not just help us in our situation, He expects us to use our experience in ministry to the world. Allen Redpath wrote that you never lighten the load unless first you have felt the pressure in your own soul. You are never used of YHVH to bring blessing until YHVH has opened your eyes & made you see things as they really are. You know it is going to be a bad day when: 1 -- You wake up face down on the pavement. 2 -- You call suicide prevention and they put you on hold. 3 -- You see a 60 Minutes news team waiting in your office. 4 -- Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles. 5 -- You turn on the news and they are showing emergency routes out of the city. 6 -- Your twin sister forgets your birthday. 7 -- You wake up to discover that your waterbed broke and then realized you do not have a waterbed. 8 -- Your horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of notorious bikers on the freeway. All of us will face trials, but it is good to know that YHVH is faithful and He will always be our Father.

FAITHFUL IN TRIALS – PART 1

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath He made old: He hath broken my bones. He hath buildeth against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He hath made my chain heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: He hath made me desolate. He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins. I was derision to all my people; and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness; He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; He hath covered me with ashes. And Thou Hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgot prosperity. And I said, my strength and my hope are perished from Adonai: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have, I hope. It is of Adonai’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. Adonai is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, will I hope in Him. Adonai is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Adonai. -- Lamentations 3:1-26.

When Helen Keller was only 18 months old, she lost her sight and hearing because of a severe illness. Until the age of six, she was the selfish centre of the Keller household and everything sympathetically revolved around her. Then Anne Sullivan, a 21-year-old graduate of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, arrived in Tuscumbia. Anne was there to open up Helen's world. But the trials Helen put her teacher through are legendary, the wrestling matches over the utensils Helen refused to use; the tug-of-war battles between Anne and the Keller family over Helen's welfare and the sneaking attacks from the fighting, biting and unmanageable Helen. But Anne's patience and faithfulness to Helen paid off. Not only did Anne give Helen the gift of language, but she accompanied Helen throughout her entire education, including an exemplary college program in which Anne would read books [into Helen's hand] on many late nights so Helen's course work would not be hindered. Helen Keller became an ambassador for the blind, the deaf and a monument to the heights a human can reach. In her second autobiography Helen wrote that Anne [was a delightful companion, entering into all my discoveries with the joy of a fellow explorer. Above all she loved me; by the vitalizing power of her friendship, she has stirred and enlarged my faculties. The book's dedication reads simply: [To Anne Sullivan, whose love is the story of my life.] Anne Sullivan was faithful to Helen Keller through trials, around obstacles and over mountains that would have stopped Helen's successful pilgrimage through life. YHVH, in an even much greater way than Anne Sullivan, wants to be our faithful Father through all of our trials. In fact, the Bible plainly shows how YHVH, the Faithful One, is always there for His children, even in the midst of great trials and suffering. By examining the causes of our trials and the choices we can make regarding them, we need to to learn how YHVH will remain our Faithful Elohiym, even in the worst of times.

1 – The Causes of our Trials:

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers’ temptations. -- James 1:2. James rightly assumes that all of us will experience trials in our lives. But what kind of things would constitute a trial for us?

A -- Grief:
A young minister went to call on the widow of an eccentric man who had just died. Standing before the open casket and trying to console the widow, he said: I know this must be a very hard blow, Mrs. Vernon. But we must remember that what we see here is the husk only, the shell; the nut has gone to heaven. The truth of the matter is that when we lose a loved one, we find ourselves facing a trial of grief. Naomi had lost her husband and both of her sons in a very short period of time. The Bible quotes her as saying, Do not call me Naomi: she told them. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but Adonai has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? Adonai has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me. Naomi = pleasant; Mara = bitter. She was suffering through the very real trial of grief. Many of you have known that trial through the loss of a husband, wife or a child.

B -- Stress:
In Numbers 11 we read about Moses; he is stressed out from trying to lead the nation of Israel, he did not know where to find food for them, how to take care of their needs. He was so stressed out that He said to YHVH: If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now, if I have found favour in your eyes and do not let me face my own ruin. Some of us face that same trial of stress at work or perhaps in our own homes. It is a very real problem that has come into our lives and we are not sure how to deal with it.

C -- Disaster:
Remember Job? He had everything taken away from him, he and his family were totally destroyed and he faced a very real trial. Some of our fellow believers have faced the disaster of floods, tornados and hurricanes in the recent past and they know the trial that this can bring into a life.

D -- Fear:
In 2 Corinthians 1:8 Paul was telling the Corinthians about the suffering they had endured and he tells them: For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. There was a very real fear present. Most of our fears are fears of the future, of something we will have to face in the coming days and we find ourselves in the midst of a trial.

E -- Frustration:
Are you ever frustrated? Sometimes our frustrations are no big deal, but sometimes they are very serious. Paul was telling the Corinthians about his thorn in the flesh and he shared that, three times I pleaded with Adonai to take it away from me. It was a frustration, not knowing or understanding why Adonai would continue to allow him to suffer.

G -- Oppression:
In Psalm 42:9 the psalmist asks YHVH the question: I will say unto YHVH my Rock, why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Sometimes we feel the same way; we have people in our jobs, homes, neighbourhoods or our schools oppressing us, opposing us and we do not know what to do about it.

H -- Sickness:
Someone once said: No one is sicker than a man who is sick on his day off or a child on a day when there is no school. When we talk about the trial of sickness, we are not talking about having a cold or the flu; we are talking about those who have to deal with prolonged health problems. In Isaiah, King Hezekiah writes of his illness and he asks: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. -- Isaiah 38:10. Many of you know the trial of sickness first-hand, you know how debilitating and depressing it can be. So those are some of the causes of our trials and as James says, we are all going to face one or more of these or perhaps some I have not mentioned. What we need to concentrate on now is:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions...
2 Timothy 4:3

Sometimes those passions are hedonistic. Sometimes they're legalistic. This can be a very uncomfortable truth: It is easier for a well-meaning teacher to fall into the trap of offering up an ear-tickling legalism that preaches against something that the culture condemns as immoral, but God does not. This is just as false, just as sinful as allowing what God has condemned. God's people will gleefully cheer him on because they believe they are tearing down "high places", but are actually persecuting the very body of Christ.

Elijah and Elisha "went down to Bethel" from Gilgal in 2 Kings 2:2, but Bethel is actually "up" from Gilgal. We usually think of "down" as either to the south or down hill, but the ancient Hebrews also used these terms with political and religious connotations. For example, one would go "up to Jerusalem" no matter where he started from or "down from Jerusalem" no matter where he was going, since that's where God chose to place his name in the Promised Land. Since the false temple of the northern kingdom of Israel was at Bethel, the writer of Kings might have been using "down" as an insult. If Jerusalem is up from everywhere, Bethel must be down from everywhere. The counter to this is that v23 says they went "up" to Bethel from Jericho. Maybe Jericho was even lower in the spiritual hierarchy?

Here are some #newtestament passages to study with #torah Parsha #reeh (#deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), along with commentary and videos: https://www.americantorah.com/....2021/03/24/parsha-re

On this date in history, 08/21/1831: Nat Turner leads a short-lived slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. #otd #tdih #virginiahistory