New Beginnings!

Today is the 8th and final day of the celebration of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. I recall the two times I was blessed to celebrate this feast in Israel. The gaily decorated sukkahs (temporary dwellings, or booths) around the city of Jerusalem gladdened my heart, and the festive atmosphere was contagious. No matter how dismal the real circumstances are around us, Sukkot is a time of joyful anticipation. This season is both a reminder and a prophecy. It causes us to look back and recall a time when our ancestors dwelt in tents in the wilderness and the LORD cared for them with manna for food, fire at night for warmth and protection, a cloud by day to shield them from the sun. What a loving Father He was over His children! And so He is today. In the midst of collapsing economies, threats of nuclear war and joblessness, the season of Sukkot sets our eyes on the Kingdom yet to come - the Bridegroom returning for His Bride, to take her into His sukkah (His Chamber) for the glorious Wedding Supper. Then He will dwell with us forever; His Kingdom shall have no end!

This morning I am pondering the blessing that on the 20th John and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage, as we celebrate the 8th day of Sukkot! The number 8 in Hebraic understanding means "new beginnings." How appropriate! We begin anew to read from the Torah in Genesis Chapter 1; and we sense many new beginnings in our young marriage as the LORD continues to teach us to keep on His path and follow His ways. We turned our back porch into a sukkah, covered in grape vines from my back yard, and decorated with banners and flowers. We put a mattress on the floor and slept there for a few nights until the rain moved in! Watching the moon cross the sky during the night was a beautiful reminder of His care over us, and the steadfastness of His cycles.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the great feast day known as Simchat Torah (joy of the Torah). I know many in the Church still do not yet understand why we take such joy in the cyclical reading of the Torah each year, from Genesis through Deuteronomy. Keren Hannah writes, "The conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle at this time and the immediate beginning of the cycle for the next year is the central reason and focus of the holiday of Simchat Torah. An old gate is closing and a new one is opening. We celebrate the new beginning and the opportunity to step forward into another year of relationship with our Father, the Giver and Source of Life, and into continuing growth in knowledge of His Word and thereby of Himself. We can lift our hearts and rejoice and sing with the Psalmist:
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in Your Torah.
Your testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors. …Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Torah and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.
The sum of Your Word is truth; and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures for ever… my heart stands in awe of Your words.I rejoice at Your Word, like one who finds great treasure.” (Psalm 119:18, 24, 34-35,160-162)

Whatever your circumstance today, find joy in the blessings of God's Word, and His never-failing love and care over you!

A Burden of Grief

I awoke suddenly. The digital alarm clock read 11:38. Was I having a dream? No, I could not recall anything from a dream. Then, what was this aching grief in my heart? My heart felt so heavy that I desperately cried out in the night, "Father, what is it?" Silence. A deepening of the grief. Then tears - a cascade of tears - silently falling across my face and melting on my shoulders. By now John was awakened. "Has something happened?" I asked in a barely audible voice. He told me nothing had happened. Yet I knew there was a foreboding in my spirit and the tears would not stop.

When morning came, sunlight blissfully streaming through my window, I could hear the school busses passing by and I knew it was just another day with children going to school, parents going to work, and birds chirping gaily in my back yard. But the ache was still there. So I began to pray, "Lord, I take authority over this feeling of deep grief and pain." In the quiet of my kitchen the Lord answered me, "You do not need to take authority over it. It is a burden of grief that I am asking you to bear for My people in the days ahead. Stand in the gap for them."

Instantly I understood. The last time the Lord asked me to bear a burden of grief and intercession for His people was five years ago. I did not understand the burden, even as I do not fully understand it now; but it came into full view the day I arrived in Jerusalem and the Jews were expelled from their own homes in the Gaza. As in the days of the Holocaust, they were being dragged from their homes and left to fend for themselves and their children on the streets. My grief was in full force that day, and through tears and prayer I tried to help carry theirs.

What is just ahead, that I should be bearing a burden again? Perhaps it is related to the season we are in - a time when the Jewish people have suffered wars, persecution and much devastaion. It is a time so holy that Satan's rage is always stirred up against God's people. Yom Kippur -the holiest day of God's calendar - will descend upon us when the sun goes down this Friday evening. As Aaron, the High Priest of ancient Israel, entered the Holy of Holies with a sacrifice to make atonement for himself, his family, the tabernacle, and all Israel - so Yeshua, our High Priest, presented His blood to Yahweh to make atonement for all His children.

It is good for us to take some time before Yom Kippur to ask the Lord to examine our hearts and minds, exposing the dark places. Yes, it is true that Yeshua made an atonement by His blood offering once and for all - but should we not continue to offer Him our sacrifices of repentance, turning from the ways we have disobeyed and ignored Him and His commands? Yes, I believe we should. As individuals, as spouses, as families, and as a nation, I believe we should. Our tears of repentance, our willingness to intercede for our Jewish brothers and sisters, and our teshuva (return) to the LORD, our Great High Priest, will produce lasting fruit in the Kingdom.

"How much more then will the blood of Messiah, who through the Ruach L'Olam (Eternal Spirit) offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the Living Elohim!" (Hebrews 9:14)