Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, August 8, 2024
Shalom,
Please take a moment to notice the calendars above. In particular Bob Mendelsohn with be with us on August 17th, and David Harwood the following week. Also, please notice the last Shabbat of August is a 5th Shabbat, so we will be gathering on Friday night for dinner and prayer. There will be no service on August 31st.
Psalms
Psalm 16:4 – Part 4
Psalm 16:4 As for those who run after another god, may their sorrows multiply. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor lift up their names with my lips.
So close… the difference in Hebrew between “Acher” (Aleph-Chet-Resh) meaning “another” and “Echad” (Aleph-Chet-Dalet) meaning “one.” The Hebrew Resh and the Hebrew Dalet are look alike letters. They’re like twins, but not identical twins. The Resh is rounded where the Dalet has a “shelf.” That little shelf on the Dalet makes all the difference in the world. Are you running after the One God or after another god?
The Hebrew may be confusing to some, but the principles involved are actually quite simple. One who runs after the One (true and living) God is received while the one who runs after the other god is rejected. Would you like to hear the Creator of the Universe speak your name because He knows you? Run after Him! Would you rather have “multiplied sorrows,” then “run after another god.
Yeshua described this in great detail in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:23 “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’” We “run after God” when we do His commandments. We only need to back up two verses to see this. 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.”
We’re all in a race. (Maybe that’s why we are called the human race.) We have to run our race by faith. Paul details all our faithful biblical heroes in the “Faith Chapter” (Hebrews, chapter 11). Then he begins chapter 12 with this… Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, 2a focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith.
Run with, for, and to the One True and Living God to receive the prize… 1Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you know that in a stadium the runners all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win! What a great day, when we will hear our name on His lips. Let me paraphrase this… Matthew 25:23b “‘Well done, (your name goes here) good and faithful servant!” Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
4 Av Thursday 8-Aug-24
Deuteronomy 2:2-30 Ezekiel 28 1 Chronicles 2 Luke 22:39-71 1 Thessalonians 3