We need a Pinchas

B’midbar (Numbers) 25:6-9

Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Isra’el, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Isra’el came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midyan. (Maftir) When Pinchas the son of El’azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand, and pursued the man from Isra’el right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them—the man from Isra’el and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Isra’el stopped; nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.

We live in such a time when so many hold what is holy in contempt. Some say that Pinchas in his righteous anger chased the couple into the tabernacle, and that is one of the ways the word pursued רָדַף (raw-daf’) is translated from Hebrew, but it also means to follow, to hunt. Moshe also records that Pinchas speared both in one thrust in the inner sanctuary before the ark of the covenant. The problem wasn’t that she was a foreigner, the camp was a mixed camp of believers Jew and Gentile alike that had come to trust in God. The problem was that instead of her assimilating into a holy culture, she convinced the Jewish man to assimilate into her contemptuous culture of self service and depravity. Her and others from her tribe desire to make sex into a religious rite before the alter and treat the dwelling of God here on earth with contempt is what brought the plague on the Israelites and what was stopped by Pinchas’s zealousness. For years we have turned away from God to our own limited understandings and now have suffered two years of a plague that we created out of our own contempt. Who will be the Pinchas in our lives to have the zeal to turn us back to God? Lord turn us back to You and let us know only You can give us the good we need to succeed in Your eyes. Lord look over our friends in the Ukraine and place a hedge of protection around them that gives no doubt that You protect those who love You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

God doesn’t give “get out of jail free” cards

Numbers 22:34-35

Bil’am said to the angel of ADONAI, “I have sinned. I didn’t know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back.” But the angel of ADONAI said to Bil’am, “No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say.” So Bil’am went along with the princes of Balak.

This is the way of sin, Bil’am was caught in his selfishness and wanted an easy way out of the situation. Yet his selfishness, his sin, had already let him accept the gifts of the princes and he was on the road to meet the king. So he had to face the results of his bad choices before coming to confession before ADONAI. All of us have to face the results of the bad choices we make under sin. It is the grace that God gives us if we cling to our trust in Him that lets us face those results with a witness and testimony that can be shared with others. Lord let me stand firmly on Your love as I admit my own failings and face the consequences for them. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Trust God in the Chaos

Mark 5:35-36

While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house came, saying, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the rabbi any longer?” Ignoring what they had said, Yeshua told the synagogue official, “Don’t be afraid, just keep trusting.”

Poor Ya’ir was in the middle of it. His daughter was on the brink of death, He had found the man who was doing miraculous healings, but he had stopped to attend to a woman in the crowd and speak to his talmidim and now people from his household are telling Ya’ir his daughter has died during the delay. It can be the same for us as believers, having something that we are so focused on that everything seems like an impediment to what we understand as the will of God in our lives only to have it come crashing down on us. It is in that moment that we must stop and truly listen to the voice of Yeshua speaking to us like He did Ya’ir “Don’t be afraid, just keep trusting.” It is when it all seeming to fall apart that Ruach HaKadesh can intervene and bring back to life what all those around us say is dead. For me I have seen the hand of God move and I trust that it is mighty, but like the father of the mute boy everyday I ask “I trust, Lord help me to trust.” Lord there is nothing I can do of my own, I lay all my trust in Your power, keep me in Your will even when everything circling around me seems to be coming apart. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Seek Him Continually

Mark 4:37-41

A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

How much are we like the Talmidim, seeing the very power of ADONAI with our own eyes, felling the effect of the Ruach HaKodesh with our own hearts and not understanding this is God’s power being displayed to us so that we might trust in Him fully? Yeshua tells us we are to seek Him continually, never ceasing in our pursuit of Him. Lord help me to set my fears aside so that I may more clearly see You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Just heartbroken

B’midbar (Numbers) 15:30-31

“‘But an individual who does something wrong intentionally, whether a citizen or a foreigner, is blaspheming ADONAI. That person will be cut off from his people. Because he has had contempt for the word of ADONAI and has disobeyed his command, that person will be cut off completely; his offense will remain with him.'”

I don’t have any great insight into these verses and God knows I have read them over and over this morning. I just feel an ache in my heart in knowing there are people all around me who don’t understand what it means to be cut off from ADONAI because there are so wrapped upped in holding onto the sin that keeps them from truly knowing Him. Yeshua says all sin can be forgiven save one, denying the power of Ruach HaKodesh in one’s life. To deny God is to invite death, forever. Lord let everyone I know have life spoken to them so that they do not fail into the trap of denying You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Power of shame

B’midbar (Numbers) 12:14-15

ADONAI answered Moshe, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she hide herself in shame for seven days? So let her be shut out of the camp for seven days; after that, she can be brought back in.” Miryam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not travel until she was brought back in.

There are many things that can shame us in this life. Things we and others do can embarrass ourselves to the point that we don’t want to be seen in public. Yet we can tolerate sin like it is just who we are. If my mother is disappointed in me, let alone if any of my close friends are disappointed in me it crushes me, and I have to make amends. But if I disappoint God, sometimes it takes a word from someone else just to get me to recognize that I sinned in the first place let alone that I have to repent. I can only attribute this that my relationship with God needs to grow so that it is like my relationship with my mother. Lord wash me clean so I can be close to You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Keep focused on the narrow path

B’midbar (Numbers) 11:4

Next, the mixed crowd that was with them grew greedy for an easier life; while the people of Isra’el, for their part, also renewed their weeping and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

Adonai has commanded us to be set apart from this world for this very reason, when we get distracted with worldly things, we forget all that God has done for us. The Nation of Israel has been liberated from Egypt by 11 great miracles, so great that people from other nations joined them. Yet these people having little to no knowledge of Adonai are the first to complain and lead the children of Israel into rebellion. When Yeshua summed up the Torah it was first love God with everything we have and then love our neighbors as ourselves, believers in Adonai, so they might come to know Him as we do. Lord let my trust in You be a mantle over me so that others may come to know You and keep me from getting distracted with worldly things. I ask this in Yeshua’s name Amen.

Keep what is Holy, Holy

B’midbar (Numbers) 8:18-19

But I have taken the L’vi’im in place of all the firstborn among the people of Isra’el, and I have given the L’vi’im to Aharon and his sons from among the people of Isra’el to do the service of the people of Isra’el in the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Isra’el, so that no plague will fall on the people of Isra’el in consequence of their coming too close to the sanctuary.”

ADONAI called Aharon and his sons to minister before Him. He called the L’vi’im to help and support Aharon and his sons and maintain the sanctity of the Mishkan. If they failed in this and the rest of the people treated what was holy as common, then plague would fall on the people as punishment. It seems we are in the same place today. So many people treat what should be holy as common ignoring the call that God has placed on their hearts and striving after a Horatio Alger story that has really always been fiction. Real success comes from serving ADONAI because when we are right with God then the blessings flow from His unending cup. Lord let me keep to Your Word and Your leadership in my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The focus matters

Tehillim (Psalms) 23:5

You prepare a table for me,
even as my enemies watch;
you anoint my head with oil
from an overflowing cup.

King David writes that no matter what is going on around him ADONAI gives him all that he needs and more. There is abundance even when those who would see David fail and work against him. Also, with Dr. Stern’s translation the cup is not in our possession but God’s showing that there are no bounds to the gifts HaShem wishes to give us, changing the focus of this verse from the individual in King James and other translations to ADONAI the source of everything good in our lives. I believe in this day and age we focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the good that God gives us. Lord forgive me for being so self-centered that I don’t see the table You have set before me. Let me be like David and understand all the good that You pour over me day after day. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Speak life to all

Acts 26:28-32

Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “In this short time, you’re trying to convince me to become Messianic?” Sha’ul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!”
Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others sitting with them. After they had left, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “If he hadn’t appealed to the Emperor, he could have been released.”

Sha’ul was living out Yeshua’s words in Mark 13:9-11 “But you, watch yourselves! They will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins, you will be beaten up in synagogues, and on my account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. Indeed, the Good News has to be proclaimed first to all the Goyim. Now when they arrest you and bring you to trial, don’t worry beforehand about what to say. Rather, say whatever is given you when the time comes; for it will not be just you speaking, but the Ruach HaKodesh.”
This is our example to not hold back but let the Ruach flow through us so all may come to know ADONAI. Lord forgive me when I have been too selfish to follow through with Your Word but let me be the witness You would have me to be all the time. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.