Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Shalom,
Counting the Omer – Day 46
Here is the proper blessing to be said each day. This is how Jewish people fulfill the command to count.
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 six weeks and four days of the counting of the Omer.
Day 46! Who knew? Counting today, we have 4 days left, but that’s not how we count. We’re counting our blessings by appreciating the attributes of God. What a mighty God we serve… Psalm 150:2 Praise Him for His acts of power. Praise Him for His enormous greatness.
Meditate on the following verse, then thoughtfully answer this question… “Is this really true?”
Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Now that you’ve been responsible and carefully considered your answer, let me guess… you think it’s true. God is so powerful that all things are possible (nothing is impossible) to the Almighty God. Hear the words of Yeshua, Himself, Matthew 19:26 And looking, Yeshua said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The answer to the age-old question, “Can God create a boulder so heavy that even He can’t lift it?,” is “No.” No matter how heavy the boulder God creates, Our God is stronger still.
Yet, there is much more for us to consider before we offer our final answer. There are several related things that are impossible for God. First, God cannot sin, nor does He accept and bless sin. God is holy. In Hebrew, the word for holy is “Kadosh.” Holy means separate, but separate from what? Separate from sin.
Also, God cannot lie. Telling a lie is sin. God likes to use the Hebrew word “Betach,” meaning “you can count or rely on it.” This is the first Hebrew word of Proverbs 3:5 translated “trust.” When God speaks, He speaks the truth. To the contrary, when Satan speaks, he tells lies.
Concerning the original question above, the Bible is true (all of it). We can’t take Luke 1:37 out of context. The angel (messenger) of the Lord is assuring the Virgin Mary that she will have a baby even though she has not been intimate with a man. Even the virgin birth is not impossible to God. And God didn’t lie, now did He? What a mighty God we serve.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Wed 19 May-2021 8th of Sivan, 5781
Nu 4:38-49 Jer 18 Job 38 (Mk 6:1-29) 1 Co 2
Jeremiah follows the instruction of Adonai and goes down to the potter’s house where he hears these words… Jeremiah 18:6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares Adonai. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
While this word is to the house if Israel, it also applies to us today. He is the potter and we are the clay. We have to stay moist (full of the Holy Spirit) so God can mold us and shape us. If we get stiff and rigid, all He can do is break us.
Isaiah 64:7(8) But now, Adonai, You are our Father. We are the clay and You are our potter, We are all the work of Your hand.
We have to stay coachable. We will always be disciples (who are subject to discipline).
Romans 9:20b Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21a Does the potter have no right over the clay?
Let’s pray… Lord, continue to pour out Your Spirit upon Your people. Make us new in You and form us as You desire. We put our lives into Your hands, and trust You to do a work pleasing to Yourself. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen.
Week 21
Memory Verse: Psalm 63:1 A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 2 O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
101 5/20 Monday: 1 Kings 16:29-34; 17
102 5/21 Tuesday: 1 Kings 18-19
* 103 5/22 Wednesday: 1 Kings 21-22
104 5/23 Thursday: 2 Kings 2
105 5/24 Friday: 2 Kings 5; 6:1-23
Question of the day: What killed Ahab?
Answer: Ahab knew that Micaiah was a true prophet. At the same time, because Micaiah judged Ahab’s sin, Ahab didn’t like him. After Micaiah spoke against Ahab, the king had him put in prison. 1 Kings 22:26 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and take him back to Amon the city governor and to Joash the king’s son, 27 and say, “Thus says the king: ‘Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’” 28 Micaiah then said, “If you ever return safely, then Adonai has not spoken through me.” And he added, “Did you hear, all you people?”
Ahab led a contentious life. He was both active and passive toward sin. While he, himself, sinned often, he was an enabler of much sin by his foreign wife, Jezebel. Although Ahab tried to trick the warriors by disguising himself, he could not change the prophesy of God.
1 Kings 22:34 But a man drew his bow aimlessly and struck the king of Israel between the lower armor and the breastplate.
So Ahab died. He couldn’t hide from God’s judgment. But the troubles of rebellious Israel continued. My take-away, “Repent, repent, repent.” It’s not a very popular message today. The hyper-grace movement wants to do away with it. The hyper-grace movement says there is no such thing as law, so there is no need to repent.
Let’s give Yeshua the last word today, from the sermon on the mount… Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”