September 26, 2020/ Tishrei 2-8
Has God ever asked you to listen to Him and what is really being said? I mean REALLY listen to Him? It can happen when we recognize someone was unexpectedly sent to your home.
God is invisible
God is huge and powerful.
Yet God is the tiniest, quietest and most gentle, powerfully, moving flame within the borders of our hearts,
God can ignite a burning desire inside our hearts any time. In the deepest, inner most parts of our being, we really can hear God’s Word speak LIFE and TRUTH, that is… if we actually let Him speak... to us…
It is similar to when the smallest raindrop hits the top of our head or face. We look up to see clouds form in the atmosphere above us. But maybe we think, we want to finish a task,…like cutting the grass or picking up a few items at the store. So we shoot a quick prayer up and ask for God’s Delay to finish what we are doing before it rains. Well this week’s Hebrew portion is called: Ha’azinu, which means to Give Ear. The weekly Scriptures include: Deuteronomy 32; Hosea 14:2-9; Micah 7:18-20; John 6:26-35. But it begins with the Song of Moses.
Deu 32:1-47…“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He. Is not He your father, who created you, who made you and established you? (Remember last week’s lesson?)
Remember the days of old;
Consider the years of many generations;
Ask your father, and he will show you,...
Ask your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD's portion is His people, Jacob His allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
(God) made him (your name) ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he caused him to draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock.
We eat...curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat— and…
We drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape. “But Jeshurun (our name) grew fat, and kicked; (we, our name) grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. You (we, our name) were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you (we, our name) forgot the God who gave you (us, our name) birth. How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had surrendered them? For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries…”
And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this (Torah, teaching instruction). For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Hos 14:1-9…
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good,…
In you the orphan finds mercy.” I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
Mic 7:18-20…Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Joh 6:26-35…
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna (Torah, teaching instructions) in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘
He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
I was thankful to ponder Deuteronomy 32:19, Moses’s song when it says… “The LORD saw it…What did the Lord see in my life? The verse continued… it was because of (my) provocation (as) his daughter. They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. Two weeks ago, I discovered how I provoked the Lord after hosting “7 Days of Davidic Worship.” Because of my personal desire and my self-will, I encouraged others to watch and to listen to a preacher. The problem was, I had not considered a new person, who unexpectedly decided to come to my home. My tummy was full and grew fat, stout and sleek, just like Jeshurun. I got comfy,… a little too comfy.
So God used another person, who heard His Voice to ask a challenging question. Would you rather listen to a preacher man preaching a good message or watch ME answer… your prayers live… to touch this new individual who was sent to my home by God?
I realized I had placed the preacher man before and above God’s message for the new person. And God made it clear, His Desire was for the new individual who joined us. My selfishness had lured me into producing death with the others, instead of ministering LIFE to the unexpected person to receive GOD’s Love and Truth…
So I stopped and thanked GOD for being caught! God weighed my decision by convicting me of how important the unexpected person’s life is to Him. A new soul was waiting to receive LIFE from GOD and… I had failed to consider this. So it is my prayer that God transforms with a “new heart”, belief in the Eternal Bread of God, who comes down from heaven and gives LIFE!
Shalom always to you and yours, Catherine Schock
PS. My artist friend, Lisa, taught the children and me an art lesson. Any negative word spoken is written on the paper in black. It takes five positive words to restore one negative word! So the children dipped their hands in water. Their hands moved the water as a new layer on top of the negative word and began to erase it. Then five new words could be painted on top to cover and to restore! Try this in your family!
This activity compelled me to think of and to participate in Shabbat, a day set aside by God, each week. A prayer is spoken out loud and invites people to participate. It is Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who may ascend my holy hill? Those who have clean hands and a pure heart!” This promotes the holiness within our lives as the priest, leader we are called to become.