Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Shalom,
Psalms
Psalm 26:2 – Part 5
Psalm 26:2 Probe me, Adonai, and test me, refine my mind (literally kidneys) and my heart.
The invitation to God is “B’chan’nay’ni” (in transliterated Hebrew) from “Bachan,” meaning to test, try or investigate. We are inviting God to check our motivations…
Rabbi Trail: … literally, by inspecting our kidneys, “Kilyah” in Hebrew. In real life, every organ in the body uses the kidneys as a filter. The Bible is written spiritually, indicating that the kidneys represent the spiritual filter of our “emotions, affections and motivations,” (quoting Strong’s Concordance) in other words, our minds are where our affection and moral character are filtered. End RT.
This idea to invite God to check our motivations is risky if we’re not sure. It comes up again in another Psalm of David… 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. And before that, still another Psalm of David… Psalm 51:12 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Left to ourselves, we are helpless. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable—who can know it? We are promised what we deserve. Jeremiah 17:10 I Adonai search the heart, I try the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
Only by the grace offered through Messiah Yeshua can we expect to overcome the evil inclination. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. When we read the context of this verse, we see that the “good” is actually acts of kindness toward our enemies. Romans 12:20 Rather, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For by doing so you will heap coals of fire upon his head.” It seems counterintuitive, but so do many of the principles of the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” It is a declaration of Adonai. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Only as Yeshua is our Lord can we hope to have victory in our thought life. Hear Yeshua’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Being God’s child makes all the difference. You’re still going to get “shined on” sometimes and “get rained on,” sometimes, but when you’re a child of God, your destiny is completely changed. We rejoice in God’s goodness.
Psalm 139:14 I praise You, for I am awesomely, wonderfully made! Wonderful are Your works—and my soul knows that very well.
Psalm 136:1 Praise Adonai, for He is good, for His lovingkindness (grace) endures forever.
Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Wed 19-Mar-2025 19th of Adar, 5785
Ex 36:8-19 Isa 10 Pr 8 Ac 7:30-60 (Rev 1)