Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, May 21, 2020
Shalom,
Counting the Omer – Day 40
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 five weeks and five days of the counting of the Omer.
We may not see many zeros to the left of the decimal in our bank account. Don’t sucker for the “bank balance” as a measure of success. There is another account with more zeros than we can count. My notes say this, “The Lord has crowned us with honor and glory. It is the gift of God. As His Bride we have married into unimaginable wealth, honor and power for all eternity.” That makes the decision to follow Him, the best decision we ever did or ever will make.
1 Corinthians 1:5 For in Him you were made rich in every way—in all speaking and all knowledge— 6 just as the evidence of Messiah was confirmed among you. 7 So you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Did you catch that? “In Him you were made rich in every way!” When we receive the gift of salvation through faith, we are grafted into the family of God….
Rabbi Trail: If you have not yet made that decision (some RR readers have not yet done so), then this “greatest experience of a lifetime” awaits you. “Today, if you will hear His voice… do not harden your hearts.”
Psalm 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before Adonai our Maker. 7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your heart as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested Me, they challenged Me, even though they had seen My work. End RT.
We are created with an undeniable drive to be great and successful that is only satisfied in Yeshua. 2 Corinthians 9:11 You will be enriched in everything for all generosity, which through us brings about thanksgiving to God.
Did you ever wonder what drives someone who is already a billionaire to continue to accumulate wealth? It’s because material wealth is never satisfied. Side note: the Bible does not say that money is the root of all evil. It says the “love of money” is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Let’s purpose to remain focused on what satisfies… Psalm 8:5 what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You care for him? 6 Yet You made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and majesty!
Yes, we are “crowned… with glory and majesty!” Take that to the bank.
Week 21
Memory Verse: Psalm 17:15 I in righteousness will behold Your face! When I awake, I will be satisfied with Your likeness.
101 5/18 Monday: 1 Kings 16:29-34; 17
102 5/19 Tuesday: 1 Kings 18-19
103 5/20 Wednesday: 1 Kings 21-22
* 104 5/21 Thursday: 2 Kings 2
105 5/22 Friday: 2 Kings 5; 6:1-23
Question of the day: How did Elisha answer Elijah, when Elijah asked him, “Ask what I will do for you before I am taken from you.” (2 Kings 2:9b)
Answer: The answer is found in the rest of the same verse…. 2 Kings 2:9c “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”
Every lesson in the Bible is established by God to strengthen our walk with Him. How does this lesson strengthen us? We need to learn something about asking God… Jacob(James) 4:2b You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives so you may spend it on your passions.
God is love! (1 John 4:8b) and He is always love motivated. We also, made in His image, must be love motivated to inquire of God with a right motivation.
Ahhh! And the double portion. Let’s look at the places in this chapter. Beth El is the house of God. The story starts and ends at the house of God. Too bad for the 42 mocking boys. (I hope they learned their lesson.)
This was a “round trip.” Both Elijah and Elisha went down from Beth El to Jericho and on to Jordan, but only Elisha returned. In each of these places, on the way home, Elisha deals with issues and problems that were present earlier, but were not dealt with when both Elijah and Elisha were together.
On the way back, Jericho, the place of sweet aroma (that’s what “Jericho” means) the waters were bitter, but Elisha added salt and prayed and the waters became sweet. God turns bitter into sweet with salt, and in doing so turns death into life. That’s the power of the double portion.
Elisha does receive that blessing. And that blessing is available to us if we ask with a love motivation. The double portion is first promised to the first born (Deuteronomy 21:17). We are a “first fruit” people. The Lord is going to receive a worldwide harvest through revival, but we are believers now as a “first fruit” unto the Lord. The first born receives a double portion.
Israel also receives the promise of a double portion. Isaiah 61:7 Instead of your shame, double portion. instead of disgrace they will sing for joy. Therefore in their land they will inherit a double portion; they will have everlasting joy.
Even Job, after his trial, receives a double portion of what he had before. Job 42:10 So Adonai restored what Job had lost, after he prayed for his friends and Adonai doubled everything that Job had before.
There is also a “double portion” that we don’t want… Revelation 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and receive her plagues! 5 For her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Pay her back just as she has paid out, and give her back double for her deeds! In the cup she has mixed— mix a double dose for her!
What’s all this talk about the double portion? Yeshua intimates that we should forget the double portion. He’ll up that to 100 times more…. Matthew 19:28 And Yeshua said to them, “Amen, I tell you, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne in the new world, you who have followed Me shall also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
Now that’s livin’! Shalom and love, R. Michael.