Day 45: Moving Forward in Faithfulness, Increasing the Yield

BLESSING FOR COUNTING THE OMER:

Baruch ata Adonai, ELOHEYNU melech ha-olam, asher kiddeshanu bidvarecha v’tzi-va-noo al sifeerat ha-omer.

Blessed are you, O Adonai our GOD, King of the universe Who has sanctified us by your Word and commanded us concerning the Counting of the Omer.

Today is forty-five days, which is six weeks and three days of the Omer.

We are getting closer to our destination – Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel had complained and endured HaShem’s anger and the animals who, having a sense of humor, by overwhelming them with more quail than was humanly possible to consume. And manna appeared on top of the carcasses of the quail in HaShem’s outrageous provision for His whiney and unthankful children; slaves who had so much collective history and memory to fade and be replaced with the wonderful things He had in store for His ‘Am Segullah’ – His precious people. Chosen to teach His Torah to the nations and draw all mankind to Him, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Quite the job description. Beyond food, their other necessity to survive, water, was miraculously gushing from a rock (use your imagination to decide what/who that rock represents) that would sustain them throughout their journey to the promised land. Amalek chose to hate in the most despicable of ways. He and his minions attacked the most vulnerable of the Children of Israel; the infants, new mothers, toddlers, the elderly, and the infirm who could not keep up the pace and were separated from the larger mass moving forward. There was not a large enough details of protectors to shield them from an ambush by pure evil whose spirit continues to be the children of Israel's nemesis today. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, has heard about the miraculous parting of the Red Sea and their escape into the wilderness, and has come, as many believe, to throw his allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to repent of his pagan ways. With all of that said, I am not sure if the children of Israel understood why they were at Mt. Sinai. You and I are lucky; we know why, and we love to recreate that scene of the most profound wedding service ever held. The G-d of the universe wished to take the children of His covenant with Abraham, made hundreds of years earlier, into the wedding chuppah, where the canopy covering them was the mountain being lifted up and hanging suspended above them. They had been told to prepare by cleansing themselves and their garments, not knowing they were about to meet their Creator and Redeemer and betroth themselves to Him. Promising to obey by doing mitzvot even before understanding, they knew it would require faithfulness, thankfulness, and humility on their parts. Not most humans’ best qualities, but they said yes to this marriage covenant and needed to acquire those qualities that develop over time, with much practice and repetition.

Let us learn from day 45 as we consider the attributes of KINGSHIP, SOVEREIGNTY, NOBILITY, and LEADERSHIP. These concepts are states of being rather than activity. It is a passive expression of human dignity which has nothing of its own except that which it receives from the other six sefirot. A true leader needs a heart of selflessness, which is a fabulous definition for love. Love is selflessness, while its opposite is not hate, but rather selfishness. One is a giver while the other is a taker, which are polar opposite character traits. Kingship demands one who has a sense of belonging, of knowing that they matter and will make a difference. They know they have been prepared for their mission and can walk in confidence and independence. A good leader is able to get his or her subjects to change in areas that are not in accordance with HaShem’s Torah. At the same time, letting each of their subjects know how wanted and needed they are in this world, and that they will be safe and with no fear under His care, which of course culminates ultimately with The King, Yeshua Our Messiah.

Our Brit Chadashah portion today from Matthew 24 tells the famous midrash of the ‘fig tree’ – where Yeshua Himself prophesied to the people that the day was coming when ‘He would be near,’ when the ‘branch of the fig tree became tender and put forth its leaves’. The fig tree is a metaphor for the Children of Israel, and while Yeshua had not been given the timing of this event by His Father, He was able to give the people a ‘sign’ which many would say was fulfilled in 1948 when, in less than a day, the nation of Israel was reborn inside the boundaries promised to Father Abraham 4 millennia earlier. He (Yeshua) said that once this occurred, He would be right at the door and that many alive at that time would see Him in His glory.

As we approach Mt. Sinai, getting ready to enter into a marriage contract with HaShem, we have spent much time acknowledging His scrupulous character, learning truths about Him. We have internalized them into our minds, will, and emotions. We are now equipped with the knowledge to walk out our love for Him and, by proxy, for the Messiah who will come and betroth not just the Children of Israel in the future, but the entire remnant that the history of mankind has produced. Yeshua and the Father are One. His Kingdom of Heaven, His earthly reign with His bride, is our next destiny. The compassion that strengthens Yeshua’s positions of nobility, sovereignty, leadership and immanent Kingship will give us who remain throughout the End of Ages the courage to remain faithful, with joy and resolve to drag as many ‘souls’ with us into the Messianic Era as possible; as Abram did the years before he entered into Canaan – he brought with him many ‘souls’ (Genesis 12:5) who would otherwise have perished in their sin without G-d and without hope (Ephesians 2:12). Our job today is to increase the yield for the Kingdom of Heaven and we will not stop until He calls us into our wedding feast with Him.

We are about to have a life-changing encounter with the King of the Universe who wishes to enter into a new covenant with us (Jeremiah 31:33), just like HaShem had with the nascent nation of rag -tag slaves fresh out of Egypt, about to reclaim their almost forgotten status as children of Abraham in covenant with The One and Only Creator and Savior of All.

Maranatha and Bo, Yeshua, Bo!