September 27, 2022

How many people today are looking for Yahweh to “show them His ways?” My observations of modern man, and the daily news reports of calamity in people’s lives, causes me to think that the majority of people today consider that either the government and/or their own self-sufficient thinking and pursuits are all they need… similar to Israel of old after their deliverer, Gideon, had died:

“So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. 34 Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 35 nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.” Judges 8:33-35 nkjv

The failure of men, all down through time, has been to self-inflict themselves with their own thinking, and thereby, fail from such foolishness, from which they always succumb to. It is always a loss of their spiritual direction, freely given to them by Yahweh, that leads to their demise. In contrast, the Psalmist, who understood the important role of Yahweh and His instructions [Word], expresses his understanding like this:

“Blessed be the Lord, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications! 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.” ps 28:6-7 nkjv

Consider how these words of David reveal the importance of Yahweh's influence in our circumstances:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” ps 27:13-14 nkjv

To be honest, I confess it is not always easy to employ the patience and long-suffering that may be necessary to carry us through some of life’s difficult times. I think we need to consider the reality that the end of of days ahead will press our faith and patience so that “losing heart” could be certain if Yeshua were not holding up our faith. When the children of Israel backslid into apostasy, after Gideon died, and woke up in their mess (self-inflicted by departing from Yahweh’s ways), Yahweh allowed wicked rulers to arise and suppress the people. Seems to me, many of the Biblical narratives concerning the children of Israel’s sins and their downfalls, on so many occasions, were not unlike the mess we find ourselves in today. Our crumbling spiritual, social and civil conditions are resembling the time Yeshua spoke of in Mat 24:37… “… as it was in the days of Noah...” It is time for us to make certain our spiritual house is in order and that our lifestyles are molded after the ways of Yahweh’s Word.

To me, for us to experience the fellowship of our Heavenly Father’s love and provision for our every need, we need to absorb the confidence that the Psalmist expresses in these scriptures. We can anchor our hope in the words of Peter as spoken here [emphasis mine]:

“as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 pet 1:3-4 nkjv

It has always been the “corruption that is in the world through lust," [namely, man’s corrupt nature, desiring and craving for what is forbidden.] This lust, left uncontrolled, will extinguish the spiritual life in our being… we must resist it and do as the Psalmist says: “call upon Yahweh to show us His ways.”

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” prov 14:12, 16:25 nkjv

Shalom… John