Genesis 26:17-22:
So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovred a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek {quarrel} because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah {opposition}. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying "Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.
As I studied these passages, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me and giving me very profound revelation of the parallel Isaac experienced with these wells, and what we have gone through in the past eight years trying to found a fellowship that could operate in love and unity. First, Isaac went back to RE-OPEN the wells of his father. That was a good thing! Abraham was a tower of faith, a righteous man, and a man through whom God would choose to bring the seed of the Messiah. In other words, he himself was a "well," producing living water. Isaac understood it was time to go back and re-open those wells, in order for his line to produce fruit and flourish. However, he first encountered people who chose to quarrel with him and oppose him, rather than embrace his vision. Obviously they were a selfish people, not willing to compromise, or as the teachers used to say when we were in elementary school, "does not play well with others"! They insisted "the water is ours" and refused to work with Isaac in the spirit of community. So, those first two wells were named Quarrel and Opposition. That could easily be referring to a majority of Messianic communities and/or church fellowships couldn't it?
Yet, Isaac persevered. He did not give up! I believe he was moved by the Spirit of God and the solid counsel and inheritance of his father, to keep digging! By the time he dug the third well we are told that no one quarreled with him and Isaac interpreted that to mean that God had given him room, or space, in the land; a space where they could plant and the water could freely flow and where the people could be in a peaceful, loving community, sharing the living water with one another.
This is exactly what has happened to us in our own local experience. It appears that the time of all the quarreling and division is coming to an end, and as we have established this new fellowship, the Door of Hope, the Lord has given us room (in the form of a beautiful old church building), where we might truly become such a unified family in Messiah. It has been thrilling to watch what is happening in this Rehoboth well we have dug here in our small town! People are not only coming into unity, but returning to the important principles of giving, outreach to the poor and the orphans, and evangelism of the Gospel. And what happens when a community is in that kind of loving accord?
Genesis 26:23-25
From there he went up to Beersheba. That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham. Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of YEHOVAH. There he pitched a tent, and there his servants dug a well.
That's what happens! The LORD shows up! When He finds a people who are no longer quarreling selfishly and opposing one another, but rather coming together to worship at the well of Living Water (Yeshua), He shows up and He blesses! He lets us know that He is with us to bless us, and to increase our numbers. And our response must be to "build Him an altar" of worship - and then keep digging as Isaac did! Water represents life - mayim chaim in Hebrew - and everything we do together as a community should be producing life.
Isaac moved from the wells of Quarreling and Opposition and Room, all the way to the well at Beersheba, which means Well of Seven. In Hebrew the number seven represents perfection, or completion. Have we arrived at perfection and the Well of Seven? No...but the important thing is that we are no longer a people divided; we are people who have come together to re-open the wells of our father Abraham by learning to keep God's Torah, His loving teaching and instruction, and keep digging into His Word as we journey on to the Well of Seven!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
Are You Ready to Do My Will?
In the shalom of this morning's soft rainfall I am reflecting on the past two years of Shabbats, which John and I were (for the most part) able to observe as a true day of REST. We would get up when we felt like it, but not get dressed! Heading straight for a cup of coffee or tea, we would grab our Bibles and find a comfy, sunny corner where we could get into the Word of God and spend the whole morning with Him, delighting in the revelation the Spirit would bring as we read and talked together.
I had many seasons like that before I was married also; quiet seasons with my Lord and Husband, when He would spend hours teaching me and writing His Torah upon my heart. I am grateful for those seasons now, for I perceive that everything has shifted, and we are in a time of mighty acceleration, urgency and testing. For me, it has been a tough year indeed, a roller coaster ride of profound and life-changing events. John's very serious heart attack in January left us reeling with concerns about his health, but did not deter us from the plans God had to send us to Israel in March and Kenya in June! He used those amazing journeys to produce far more fruit than we could have imagined. We grasped the whole, enormous vision of Yehovah's restoration of all Israel, re-gathering His family and restoring His Land. It became so real and personal as we met the people in Israel who work tirelessly toward this Godly goal, guided and empowered by His Spirit. And we could not have imagined that as we made the challenging treks through the mountains and valleys of northern Kenya, teaching in the schools and bringing greatly needed financial aid to the orphans, it would spawn a whole new effort to establish a foundation there that would equip and facilitate the work of Jesus in this area, begun by our very dear friend, Rev. Samuel. Indeed, even a medical clinic was established to visit the sixty-plus children on top of that mountain and many urgent life-needs never before met are now being provided. All glory to God!
After Kenya we felt we had surely come home to a time of rest and refreshment, but instead I entered into a stressful, but holy time of seeing my parents through their last days. As you know, they passed away together in late August, right in the midst of the amazing time when God was leading us to found a whole new fellowship here in Eaton. There wasn't much time to grieve my loss! We have thrown ourselves mind, body and spirit into transforming this old, abandoned church building into a sparkling, newly-painted and carpeted tabernacle for the Living God! Last Shabbat we had exactly 80 people come into the Sanctuary (including 25 children) and this old 1908-built church was filled with worship, prayer, the flowing of the Ruach and the teaching of the Word.
We can know for sure that this is all the plan and the work of Yehovah, because the enemy has persisted in trying to take out my husband! He was taken to the hospital by ambulance from our home on October 20th and spent that whole week there being treated for a serious G.I. bleed, losing about half the blood in his body! Scripture tells us that "the life is in the blood," and this was all so clearly demonstrated for me as John once again battled for life! Ultimately it took a blood transfusion and two endoscopies to bring him back to health and today he is on the mend once again. We are calling John "Lazarus," now -- he has defied life-threatening situations three times in our short 3-1/2 year marriage and by God's grace he is still with me.
It is indeed a season of testing, and in last week's Torah portion I gleaned more understanding of what this is all about. In Genesis 12:1 the LORD says to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." The Hebrew for this Torah portion is Lech Lecha, which means "go forth" or more accurately, "go for yourself" or "go by yourself." It is a call to radical obedience; a call to live a life separate from all that you knew, and all that was comfortable. It also implies, as our friend Rabbi Jay Howard, pointed out: "a question God asked Abram: 'ARE YOU READY TO DO MY WILL?'
The season of quiet shalom in God's Word was of great value. We needed to have it written on our hearts so that now, in these days of great testing and trial, we could walk it out, doing HIS will (not ours), and being equipped with the faith Abram had to overcome the attacks of all the enemies in the land, and prevail with God's grace and great love.
It is not because of anything that we have done that there is a powerful move of God on the mountains of Ephraim in Israel, and the mountains in northern Kenya! It is not because of anything we have done that John continues to conquer the enemy's attempts to take his life. It is only because we believe in YESHUA (Jesus), our Mighty Redeemer, and have faith that whatever HE causes us to do and wherever HE leads us is the right way. Undoubtedly it will no be the easy way or the way we have gone before, but it WILL be the right way. Yeshua was the Promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 - and He is the Promise given to us. And so I do not fear. My life and my husband's life are in His hands. And I know that I know that when we lech lecha (go forth believing) God has the power to do what He has promised.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him. He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. (Romans 4:18, 20-21).
Visit our new website for Door of Hope!
I had many seasons like that before I was married also; quiet seasons with my Lord and Husband, when He would spend hours teaching me and writing His Torah upon my heart. I am grateful for those seasons now, for I perceive that everything has shifted, and we are in a time of mighty acceleration, urgency and testing. For me, it has been a tough year indeed, a roller coaster ride of profound and life-changing events. John's very serious heart attack in January left us reeling with concerns about his health, but did not deter us from the plans God had to send us to Israel in March and Kenya in June! He used those amazing journeys to produce far more fruit than we could have imagined. We grasped the whole, enormous vision of Yehovah's restoration of all Israel, re-gathering His family and restoring His Land. It became so real and personal as we met the people in Israel who work tirelessly toward this Godly goal, guided and empowered by His Spirit. And we could not have imagined that as we made the challenging treks through the mountains and valleys of northern Kenya, teaching in the schools and bringing greatly needed financial aid to the orphans, it would spawn a whole new effort to establish a foundation there that would equip and facilitate the work of Jesus in this area, begun by our very dear friend, Rev. Samuel. Indeed, even a medical clinic was established to visit the sixty-plus children on top of that mountain and many urgent life-needs never before met are now being provided. All glory to God!
After Kenya we felt we had surely come home to a time of rest and refreshment, but instead I entered into a stressful, but holy time of seeing my parents through their last days. As you know, they passed away together in late August, right in the midst of the amazing time when God was leading us to found a whole new fellowship here in Eaton. There wasn't much time to grieve my loss! We have thrown ourselves mind, body and spirit into transforming this old, abandoned church building into a sparkling, newly-painted and carpeted tabernacle for the Living God! Last Shabbat we had exactly 80 people come into the Sanctuary (including 25 children) and this old 1908-built church was filled with worship, prayer, the flowing of the Ruach and the teaching of the Word.
We can know for sure that this is all the plan and the work of Yehovah, because the enemy has persisted in trying to take out my husband! He was taken to the hospital by ambulance from our home on October 20th and spent that whole week there being treated for a serious G.I. bleed, losing about half the blood in his body! Scripture tells us that "the life is in the blood," and this was all so clearly demonstrated for me as John once again battled for life! Ultimately it took a blood transfusion and two endoscopies to bring him back to health and today he is on the mend once again. We are calling John "Lazarus," now -- he has defied life-threatening situations three times in our short 3-1/2 year marriage and by God's grace he is still with me.
It is indeed a season of testing, and in last week's Torah portion I gleaned more understanding of what this is all about. In Genesis 12:1 the LORD says to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." The Hebrew for this Torah portion is Lech Lecha, which means "go forth" or more accurately, "go for yourself" or "go by yourself." It is a call to radical obedience; a call to live a life separate from all that you knew, and all that was comfortable. It also implies, as our friend Rabbi Jay Howard, pointed out: "a question God asked Abram: 'ARE YOU READY TO DO MY WILL?'
The season of quiet shalom in God's Word was of great value. We needed to have it written on our hearts so that now, in these days of great testing and trial, we could walk it out, doing HIS will (not ours), and being equipped with the faith Abram had to overcome the attacks of all the enemies in the land, and prevail with God's grace and great love.
It is not because of anything that we have done that there is a powerful move of God on the mountains of Ephraim in Israel, and the mountains in northern Kenya! It is not because of anything we have done that John continues to conquer the enemy's attempts to take his life. It is only because we believe in YESHUA (Jesus), our Mighty Redeemer, and have faith that whatever HE causes us to do and wherever HE leads us is the right way. Undoubtedly it will no be the easy way or the way we have gone before, but it WILL be the right way. Yeshua was the Promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 - and He is the Promise given to us. And so I do not fear. My life and my husband's life are in His hands. And I know that I know that when we lech lecha (go forth believing) God has the power to do what He has promised.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him. He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. (Romans 4:18, 20-21).
Visit our new website for Door of Hope!
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