I'm afraid there's no other way to see it. At least this is the way I see it.
We as individuals cannot say "My life is mine...all mine. All I want, all I apply myself to and any reason or intention or motivation for it...well that is for me to decide. The only approval I need... is my own."
Now we live in a land governed by legislated laws whose intent is to provide justice when wrong has been done and to keep the peace. So we know we can't do anything we want. But most, I used to think anyway, order their lives within the framework of those man made laws and rulings.
Those laws can get twisted. What justice and keeping the peace means at one point, can be redefined somewhere down the road allowing for new laws that can be used to subject people and control every aspect of their lives...against their wills. Everything can change from generation to generation and with one authority or another.
So we delude ourselves into thinking we are our own masters in the secular sense.
In the religious sense, and I mean in the sense that we believe there is God and we say He and His Word are the authority in our lives, in the religious sense we still think to live our lives as if we are the masters of them. We haven't come to an acceptance that it is He who made and owns everything and everyone.We become the gate keepers of our lives. We determine what part and how much of our lives we will allow Him to be a part of and what rules we accept or not. By our actions we say God is one with us, not we are one with Him.
And here again, we delude ourselves into thinking we are our own masters.
But in Yahweh's world He is the authority. He hasn't changed. His laws and rulings remain constant in their intent, their underlying principles applicable to all ages and all people whose nature will never change unless they surrender to Him.
He is just. He is merciful. He is benevolent and His laws and rulings, His authority work to the good of all His creation.
He is constant and trust worthy.
And this is possible for all, who so ever will, when we surrender our will to His.
It's just the reality of things that He rules, whether we accept that or not.
And it is by allowing Him authority over every aspect of our lives that we become sons and daughters.
We have a problem to overcome.
We have to come to the realization that our lives and this life exist because He brought it into being. It was never meant that we should be our own entities, developing into whatever we want.
We were created for His pleasure, to love Him and be loved by Him.
We can never be better than Him,
We can never rule over Him.
We of ourselves will never have the heart or create a system, that is forever good for everyone.
There is in us an ego that strains constantly against that reality.
Father as we near the end of this special "tabernacle-ing" with You we thank You for this command to rejoice.
It is a time to enjoy the fruits of our labors, recognize and give thanks that those fruits are, because You bless.
It is a time to give You honor.
It is a high point in our walk with You that is part of our continuous walk with You that connects each day to each day and each high point You have ordained in between.
We thank You Father in Yeshua's name,
Amen.
Elder
