We feel blessed that the El ʿElyon promised our people a magical land where there will be no worries, no problems to face and even no pain to bear any more. We just do have to be patient. We do have to believe everything shall come alright according to the time of God.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Moreover, He has set eternity in their heart—yet without the possibility that humankind can ever discover the work that God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy themselves in their lifetime.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11–12 TLV)
Chosen (from יָדַע, lit., “to know”) of all the families of the earth we may look at others and see how they go against the rules of Hashem. But that may not lure us in their habits and should not kill the hope we cherish.
We are aware that we have
“a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to discard;
a time to tear apart and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:2–8 TLV)
Everything we do is in our time. How does it fit in with the Time of God?
Love and hate, and the most hostile expression of the latter, war, and its opposite, peace are part of this present world, where more and more disagreement and fighting are finding their way.
““It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control”
(Acts 1:7 TLV)
So, we have to do with the times like they present themselves. No way to escape the times we are living in. How we behave and act is something we ourselves can decide. But what happens around us lies far beyond us in many cases. Like the apostles needed to wait (because the Holy Spirit was to come only after Jesus went away) we too need to wait until the command to receive the Spirit in Jerusalem. The disciples received the power, we do have to see the ‘sign’ or signs.
At present, to be sure, rebellion against God is active, we can see and feel it. We have to go against it and make sure that we show others the right way to that promised world to come. The lawless ones shall want to govern the world. We should make others aware of that situation and should make sure those lawless people find enough lovers of God to resist them.
In the past, many people also strayed away from God. Some truths are so important, and human memories are so weak, that they need to be stated over and over again, and that is why God reminds us at regular times of the necessity to keep to His commandments.
Moses went over the ground previously travelled, reminding his listeners of God’s past goodness and calling them to reciprocal loyalty and love. God described with new detail the character of the land to which His People were going. With all these blessings, they would still be in danger of forgetting God, and that is what we also notice today. Like in Moshe’s time people give themselves credit for their newfound prosperity.
National achievement and success have their dangers. In times of prosperity, it is easy to forget the true source of blessing and even assume that life’s good things are the result of our own effort and the reward of our merit. However we may not forget that such ingratitude would not go unpunished (Deuteronomy 8:19–20).
Always in our lives, we should keep in mind how we were created for a reason, and be grateful to God for this, also because He gives us the opportunity to become partakers of the restored (predestined) paradise, the land of our dreams.
“Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the heavens, from there ADONAI your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ADONAI your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers.”
(Deuteronomy 30:4–5 TLV)
Though we may be not fooled, we shall always to make sure not to be of the world, but being worthy people of God, keeping to His ordinances. We have received the possibility of the opportunity given us to make an act of commitment, whereby each in turn must make its own terms with the Elohim, for no one can do this for another. In the end, nobody shall have an excuse or shall escape the consequences, even if he transgresses God’s laws.
Let us consciously look at what God requires of us. And let us be honest, Would God’s expectations require too much of us? Does His desire exceed our capabilities?
““For this mitzvah that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.
It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to the heavens and get it for us, and have us hear it so we may do it?’ Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross over for us to the other side of the sea and get it for us, and have us hear it so we may do it?’
No, the word is very near to you—in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil.
What I am commanding you today is to love ADONAI your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes and ordinances.
Then you will live and multiply, and ADONAI your God will bless you in the land you are going in to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish! You will not prolong your days on the land, where you are about to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess.“I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live,”
(Deuteronomy 30:11–19 TLV)
Great, then, may the blessing be for those who manage to persevere in keeping God’s precepts, for they can look forward to Adonai their God bringing them into a good land. We may look forward to such a good land, a land of brooks, springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and hills, where there will be enough to eat, being a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, of olive trees and honey. At present, there may be still many people hungry, but then there shall be a land where everybody shall be able to eat food in plenty and find no lack of anything.
With all these blessings, we should have our heart by the God above all gods, Who is willing to be with us on all days.
כִּ֚י ה’ אֱ-לֹקֶ֔יךָ מְבִֽיאֲךָ֖ אֶל־אֶ֣רֶץ טוֹבָ֑ה אֶ֚רֶץ נַ֣חֲלֵי מָ֔יִם עֲיָנֹת֙ וּתְהֹמֹ֔ת יֹצְאִ֥ים בַּבִּקְעָ֖ה וּבָהָֽר׃ אֶ֤רֶץ חִטָּה֙ וּשְׂעֹרָ֔ה וְגֶ֥פֶן וּתְאֵנָ֖ה וְרִמּ֑וֹן אֶֽרֶץ־זֵ֥ית שֶׁ֖מֶן וּדְבָֽשׁ׃ (ט) אֶ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹ֤א בְמִסְכֵּנֻת֙ תֹּֽאכַל־בָּ֣הּ לֶ֔חֶם לֹֽא־תֶחְסַ֥ר כֹּ֖ל בָּ֑הּ אֶ֚רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲבָנֶ֣יהָ בַרְזֶ֔ל וּמֵהֲרָרֶ֖יהָ תַּחְצֹ֥ב נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה’ אֱ-לֹקֶ֔יךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃
(7) For YHWH your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; (8) a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; (9) a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. (10) When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to YHWH your God for the good land which God has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)
Let us not even wait for the moment, but let us show our gratitude now for what God has in store for us.
Let us continue to pass on our knowledge of the Most High to the upcoming generations so that they will also feel that love of God in their hearts and continue to pass it on. So that they too may be warned concerning the terms of God who will faithfully fulfil His promises.
“Rather you are to remember ADONAI your God, for it is He who gives you power to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your fathers—as it is this day.
“Now if you do forget ADONAI your God, and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you will certainly perish.”
(Deuteronomy 8:18–19 TLV)
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Preceding
In times of flooding and other miseries
God letting us having a look into His Mind
The Land Flowing with Wine and Honey?
Looking at or dreaming of that land of honey and milk
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Additional reading
- The Almighty Lord, God above all gods
- Divine Plan and an Imperfect creation
- “Let My People Go, that they may serve me!”: The Passover & The Exodus.
- Shabbat Pesach service reading 2/2
- Uncovering the Foundations of Faith
- Today’s thought “Everyone whom the Lord calls to himself” (April 26)
- Today’s thought “The Land promised and fear of man” (April 18)
- Today’s thought “Being made prosperous and numerous on conditions” (May 13)
- Today’s thought “What does the LORD your God require …?” (April 25)
- The Way of God or the way of the world?
- The Covenants – Summary12 Verses: Where Is the Promised Land? and 4 Other QuestionsTo turn the world into a “vessel” receptive of God
- In a world which knows no peace sharing blessed hope
- Paradise restored
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Related
- A Contagion of Hope – Tazria/Metzora 5783
- לאן הולכים מכאן / Where Do We Go From Here? – Eqev 5783
- The Power of Ten
- The Ten Commandments
- The Ten (or Eleven) Commandments
- The Ten Commandments Are Still In Effect
- The Role of the Ten Commandments (wrongly says Jesus would have given the commandments to Moses, but it was Jehovah God Who did.)
- Keep the Commandments
- Be Serious With God!
- Promised Land
- Sunday: Inheritance of Abraham
- Finding Your Way
- Moses’s Final Song
- The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, from the baptism to becoming the son of God
- Not running from Egypt but running to the Promised Land..
- Just As He Promised
- Promised Land – The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise
- The Promised Land was the land long dreamed of and hoped for
- The true meaning of the promised land
- Children of the Promise
- God’s Delight in Us? Gratitude is the Whole Way
- Get To Your Promised Land @inspirationsbygod
Immanuel Verbondskind - עמנואל קאָווענאַנט קינד 