November 14, 2023

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” isa 55:6-7 nkjv

Through all the ages, the story of Yahweh's people, hand picked by Him as a “people to be His very own,” have continually failed to be faithful to His Torah. Everything in the Torah is for the good of the people… then and now. The writer in Hebrews writes:

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” heb 3:7-15 nkjv

I think, at least it seems to me, that the people then failed to seek Yahweh… even with the miracles and provisions manifested unto them during their Exodus from Egypt and 40 years wilderness journey. The writer of Hebrews notes a concern for the continuation of unbelief and rebellion… and warns the New Testament believers that unless they hold steadfast to Christ, the same sin and rebellion will cause them to go astray in their own hearts… Consider their disobedience to the Torah that Yahweh gave them at Mt Sinai by His spoken word, which Moses recorded; and then became flesh when Yeshua came as the manifested Word of God [jn 1:1-14] in the days of his “son of man” ministry… which (Who) was also forsaken and rejected, just as was the spoken [recorded] Torah… and always leads to sin and destruction.

Today, as the darkness of sin and rebellion against Yahweh’s Word increases, we must heed the writer of Hebrews caution, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

What causes the falling away from the fellowship of the Word, which Yeshua said would come, along with the love of many growing cold… ? I expect, mostly, it may be that too many are caught up with things to do and places to go. The “sounds of Babylon” are profoundly impacting upon one who is not “seeking the Lord while he may be found…” you think?

I encourage all of us to re-evaluate our connection with the only way [Word of God] that we can have true peace and hope for deliverance from the power of sin that presses upon our minds and lives daily.

What is the eternal Helmet of Salvation that stabilizes our thinking and will to overcome the wicked world we live in? Is it not the faith that the Word brings to us as we feed on it daily… as “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” rom 10:17 nkjv It seems, then, that not “hearing the Word of God,” would equate to faith waning, and fading away… a dangerous reality.

It is said that the Torah [Word of God] is a sanctuary into which one can run and find solace, even in the most difficult of life’s storms. After all, it is not the storm that threatens us, it is our looking at the storm instead of looking at the shelter that keeps us. To me, Psalms 91 and Psalms 119 are a couple of storm shelters for refreshing the spirit of my mind. What are your “shelter scriptures” that keep you connected to the presence of Yeshua as He leads you through the “valley of the shadow of death…” and to the peace on the other side?

Shalom, John