Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, May 16, 2024
Shalom,
We should all be very proud of our elected legislature in Tennessee. They passed this joint resolution. Let’s be in agreement… now and in the month of July.
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 803 By Fritts HJR0803 012438 – 1 – A
RESOLUTION to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.
WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens; and
WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens; and
WHEREAS, acts of violent crime in our schools are unacceptable; and
WHEREAS, human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our State, enslaving lives and violating the core values of our Creator-endowed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and
WHEREAS, drug addiction overwhelms our families, our government finances, our workforce productivity, as well as our healthcare and our law enforcement resources; and
WHEREAS, deadly fentanyl flows uncontrollably across our southern U.S. border resulting in the deaths of Tennesseans; and
WHEREAS, Driving Under the Influence, drunk driving, results in great pain and injury for Tennessee families; and
WHEREAS, we have approximately 9,000 children in need of foster care, indicating a brokenness in many Tennessee homes; and
WHEREAS, evidence of corruption in our federal government stands to impact every Tennessean; and
WHEREAS, our National and State Founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of Providence to guide and bless our land; and
WHEREAS, over decades, these leaders called our people to seek out the Creator’s favor by issuing proclamations like the one from John Adams on April 15, 1799:
[This day] be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain, as far as may be, from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to his righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind; that He would make us deeply sensible that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” [Proverbs 14:34]; and
WHEREAS, we hold that our Founders correctly acknowledged Truth in their words; and
WHEREAS, we hold that “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalm 127:1);
now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, that the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize that God, as Creator and King of all Glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states. – 3 – 012438
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God’s Mercy upon our land and beseech Him to not withdraw His Hand of blessing from us.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His Forgiveness.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land and remove the violence, human-trafficking, addiction, and corruption.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call upon all those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a thirty-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting as we begin a new fiscal year as a means of seeking God’s blessing and humbling ourselves to receive His Grace and Mercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our State, and our Nation.
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Day 19 of counting the Omer
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav, Vitzivanu Al Sefirat Ha-Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about the counting of the Omer. Today is two weeks and five days of the counting of the Omer.
Follow up that prayer by remembering a blessing from the Lord and give Him thanks. Colossians 3:15 Let the shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts—to this shalom you were surely called in one body. Also be thankful.
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The Psalms
Psalm 7:15-17(14-16) – Part 11
Psalm 7:15 Look! The one pregnant with trouble conceives mischief and brings forth deceit. 16 He digs a pit, scrapes it out, and then falls into the hole he has made. 17 His mischief will turn on his own head. His violence will boomerang on his crown.
King David has a way with words as he writes poetry. Here, near the end of the Psalm, David says the same thing three times, in three different ways. The same “one” (you and me from time to time) is in trouble (verse 15), falls into his own hole (verse 16) and brings his own mischief and violence on his own head (verse 17). This kind of trouble will not be resolved until we read the last verse of Psalm 7 tomorrow.
First, Verse 15 describes one who both conceives and then delivers (like a baby) “deception.” The Hebrew word “Sheqer” is also used in the 9th commandment… Exodus 20:16 Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. The whole verse describes in detail one who connives, cheats and steals. We used to refer to people who lived by such rules as those who “finagle the bagel” (just because it rhymes). Yeshua addressed this in His Sermon on the Mount… Matthew 5:37 “But let your word ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’—anything more than this is from the evil one.”
The next verse, Verse 16, seems to describe someone who digs his own grave and can’t wait to get in it. Proverbs 26:27 seems similar… Proverbs 26:27 Whoever digs a pit will fall in it, and whoever rolls a stone—it will come back upon him. American street slang puts it like this… “What goes around comes around.” Like, Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived—God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also shall reap. 8 For the one who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But the one who sows in the Ruach will reap from the Ruach eternal life.
Is this really a choice? The Bible lays out these “choices” in such a way that even a cave man could make the right choice. No offense intended to any of you real came men out there. In our final verse, the boomerang effect we were just discussing, is brought up again. Worthy of note in Verse 17, our final verse for today, is the use of the Hebrew word translated “violence,” which is “Chamas” (Chet-Mem-Samech). It is followed by the last word of the verse, “Yarad” which means fallen down. So the last two words are “Chamas Yarad,” meaning trouble will fall. Please join me in prayer that “Chamas will fall.” Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
8 Iyar Thursday 16-May-24 19th day of the Omer
Leviticus 23:23-32 Isaiah 61-62 Job 7 Matthew 22:23-46 Romans 6