Hi and shalom!
Today is Wednesday January 26 and this date holds special significance for me.
Over a decade ago, my wife and I adopted our son and daughter who are now embarking on young adulthood having graduated from high school last Spring.
Today too is the birthday of my mom. She went to eternity late November after short-term illness but her memory lives on in her husband and 5 children.
This week the devotion I subscribe to, Praying the Names of God, is talking about Yeshua being the great physician. MD, psychiatrist, therapist, Rabbi all rolled into His character.
As I consider my journey today and possibly yours too, these words by the author may offer a nudge to both of us.
May the Kevod of Yehovah be with us today. (presence of God).
The next time you pray for healing, why not go out on a limb? Admit to yourself and to Christ just how desperate you are for him to touch you, body and soul. Then tell Jesus you believe in his power to heal you. Stop hedging your bets and qualifying your prayers. Ask him to glorify himself by making you a spectacle of his healing power and his great compassion. If in response you sense him asking you to do something to effect your healing, like asking others to pray for you, repenting of sin, changing your lifestyle, or seeking out the care of a specialist, do that as well. Don't limit the ways God can answer your prayer for healing grace.
-Your comments are always warmly welcomed!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Cool Clear Water - song from 1950s
Hi and shalom!
Today is Sunday January 23, or if you like, 01-23..
Temperatures are very wintery in my part of blog land, low teens but feels more like 0 or slightly below.
Before we get to our Hebraic roots nugget this time, I would like to ask those who have chosen to follow my blog to consider leaving a comment, or sending a short note.
I cannot communicate with you directly, but want you to know your choice to follow is truly appreciated and encouraging.
This year,as personal study, I am going through the chapter by chapter commentary from torah class.com on the books Genesis through Deuteronomy in the Bible.
Here is a nugget from the lesson discussing Exodus chapter 17, where the wilderness sojourners are complaining for lack of water. Reference is made to a similar complaint posed 2 chapters previously.
His presence (kevod Yehovah) accompany us today.
Back in chapter 15, we see Israel grumbling and in need of water. Moses brings them to a spring, an oasis that, in its natural state had water that was quite bitter to the taste. But, when some special, unnamed wood (obviously something that was available locally) is immersed into that bitter water at God’s command, the water is cleansed of its bad taste, and it became useful to save their lives.
This is such a beautiful picture of what Christ would do for us 1400 years into the future. Here we are, mankind, our corrupt natural state being full of bitterness. Bitterness, in our Western way of thinking, generally is an emotion or an attitude or a mental state; it means that we are hanging on to hurts and offenses; we have developed a sense that life has been unfair to us, and as a result, we view the world around us cynically and reject joy. But, that typically is NOT what the Bible means by bitterness. Rather, scripturally, bitterness means the opposite of sweet, both in a real and in a poetic sense. Bitter means unbearable pain usually at the hands of another, suffering with no hope of escape, oppression….the root word for bitter, mara, is even associated with poison. The Jews of Nazi Germany were bitter; they were in a hopeless state of oppression beyond their own control.
Bitter, as a negative state of existence, is often used to describe the Israelites condition in Egypt. And, bitter is also the natural condition of all mankind; unable to save ourselves, unable to change ourselves, unable to shuck off our bitter existence, even if we don’t recognize it as bitter.
And, now comes Christ, who is hung onto a piece of wood, His precious blood spilled all over it. But, what miraculous qualities that wood, that cross, has; for when that Divine wood, the Cross, is immersed into our lives and our bitterness, our oppression, is taken away. Often when something is immersed into a liquid that object takes on a different character. In point of fact the Greek word baptizmo, from which we get our English word baptize, means to immerse. And, the word baptizmo is a word that was borrowed from the cloth dying trade of the biblical era; that is, a natural cloth was baptizmo into a vat of dye, where the cloth took on the characteristics of that which it was immersed into. And so it is with those who are crucified with Yeshua; His wooden cross, immersed into our bitter lives, transforms our lives and makes them sweet and free from the oppression of the power of sin. This is the picture intended at the spring of Mara, out in the wilderness.
Well, lets return to Chapter 17 and Israel’s newest need for water.
Mellow Roc
Today is Sunday January 23, or if you like, 01-23..
Temperatures are very wintery in my part of blog land, low teens but feels more like 0 or slightly below.
Before we get to our Hebraic roots nugget this time, I would like to ask those who have chosen to follow my blog to consider leaving a comment, or sending a short note.
I cannot communicate with you directly, but want you to know your choice to follow is truly appreciated and encouraging.
This year,as personal study, I am going through the chapter by chapter commentary from torah class.com on the books Genesis through Deuteronomy in the Bible.
Here is a nugget from the lesson discussing Exodus chapter 17, where the wilderness sojourners are complaining for lack of water. Reference is made to a similar complaint posed 2 chapters previously.
His presence (kevod Yehovah) accompany us today.
Back in chapter 15, we see Israel grumbling and in need of water. Moses brings them to a spring, an oasis that, in its natural state had water that was quite bitter to the taste. But, when some special, unnamed wood (obviously something that was available locally) is immersed into that bitter water at God’s command, the water is cleansed of its bad taste, and it became useful to save their lives.
This is such a beautiful picture of what Christ would do for us 1400 years into the future. Here we are, mankind, our corrupt natural state being full of bitterness. Bitterness, in our Western way of thinking, generally is an emotion or an attitude or a mental state; it means that we are hanging on to hurts and offenses; we have developed a sense that life has been unfair to us, and as a result, we view the world around us cynically and reject joy. But, that typically is NOT what the Bible means by bitterness. Rather, scripturally, bitterness means the opposite of sweet, both in a real and in a poetic sense. Bitter means unbearable pain usually at the hands of another, suffering with no hope of escape, oppression….the root word for bitter, mara, is even associated with poison. The Jews of Nazi Germany were bitter; they were in a hopeless state of oppression beyond their own control.
Bitter, as a negative state of existence, is often used to describe the Israelites condition in Egypt. And, bitter is also the natural condition of all mankind; unable to save ourselves, unable to change ourselves, unable to shuck off our bitter existence, even if we don’t recognize it as bitter.
And, now comes Christ, who is hung onto a piece of wood, His precious blood spilled all over it. But, what miraculous qualities that wood, that cross, has; for when that Divine wood, the Cross, is immersed into our lives and our bitterness, our oppression, is taken away. Often when something is immersed into a liquid that object takes on a different character. In point of fact the Greek word baptizmo, from which we get our English word baptize, means to immerse. And, the word baptizmo is a word that was borrowed from the cloth dying trade of the biblical era; that is, a natural cloth was baptizmo into a vat of dye, where the cloth took on the characteristics of that which it was immersed into. And so it is with those who are crucified with Yeshua; His wooden cross, immersed into our bitter lives, transforms our lives and makes them sweet and free from the oppression of the power of sin. This is the picture intended at the spring of Mara, out in the wilderness.
Well, lets return to Chapter 17 and Israel’s newest need for water.
Mellow Roc
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