Rabbi’s Reflections – Sunday, January 19, 2025
Shavuah Tov,
Psalms
Psalm 23:3 – Part 4
Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.
Let’s pick up where we left off on Friday. Psalm 23:3b He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. What’s this, God promises to lead you and me? And where would He lead us, but along paths of righteousness. Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will give counsel—My eye is on you. How do you like that, God has his eye on you!
We want to ask God, “Are you doing Your part (to instruct me and protect me),” when we should be asking ourselves, “Are we doing our part to acknowledge the Lord as our Shepherd, Who will guide and direct us into all righteousness.” Our thinking needs correcting.
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart. Examine me, and know my anxious thoughts, 24 and see if there be any offensive way within me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The Hebrew phrase translated “for His Name’s sake” is “L’ma’an Shemo.” “Shemo” means “His name,” while “L’ma’an” is a preposition means “so that.” So, let’s recap this to get it straight. God, the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth (along with everything in it) wants to shepherd us into all righteousness, so that He will have a name. Why, that’s amazing!
Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they do not know. in paths they have not known, I will guide them. I will turn darkness before them to light and the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.
BTW, it is easier for God to lead those who are blind. May we all be dependent on God in that way. Paul put it this way when speaking to those who have died to self. 2Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Messiah compels us, since we have concluded that One died for all; as a result all died. 15 And He died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.
True love is always sacrificial. Yeshua gave His all to show His love for us. How can we ever adequately return to Him in thanksgiving without doing the same? Thank you, Lord, for such blessing and honor. May our lives always bring glory and honor to Your name. Amen and shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun 19-Jan-2025 19th of Tevet, 5785
Ex 6:2-13 2 Sa 23 Ps 97-98 Lk 15 (Gal 5)