God is the God, a God of order and balance.
It’s one of the things that has become clearer to me over the last few weeks from Feast of Trumpets to Yom Kippur and now into Tabernacles.
The wisdom and kindness of Jehovah God through His servant Solomon declares that:
“…To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1 AKJV.
We live out our lives not only weeping but also laughing, not always being silent but also speaking, not always losing but also getting, not always dancing but also mourning…and so on… we experience the extremes and struggle and battle between them.
It’s not reality or real to expect anything different and Solomon’s observation is that since things don’t always make sense to us what we can reasonably do is:
“…a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion…” Ecclesiastes 3:22 AKJV.
…but also:
“…if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity…” Ecclesiastes 11:8 AKJV
…and do so according to the advice to:
“…Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man…” Ecclesiastes 12:15 AKJV.
The shout of the shofar is a call to remembrance, to recall, examine and judge;
what we were, who we are now, who we belonged to in the past and Who we belong to now, what we did we shouldn’t have and what we should have we didn’t.
It’s a call to remember our God is forgiving and loving, a God of blessing but also a God who judges and punishes, a God who can curse, a God who can be found now but at some point will not be found.
We continue in all our remembering to a place of affliction… at the memory of all the times and places, all the words and thoughts and actions where we fell short, reminders that we are still prone to wander and do damage…we remember a price was “paid” and bow before our Father… stricken, smitten, and afflicted…convicted, confessing, repenting… and giving thanks for The redeeming blood and His forgiveness.
“…Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions… For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me…
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
…The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise… Psalm 51:1,3,10-12,17 AKJV.
…solemn joy, loving reverence and humble thanksgiving… on the Day of Atonement… for what has been done…once and for all in this world and will be brought to perfection in the next.
Tabernacles is the dancing our mourning has been transformed into.
In our temporary bodies in a temporary world we engage in celebration before God for a few days, rehearsing, in obedience to and in harmony with the command:
“…rejoice before the Lord your God seven days…” (Leviticus 23:40 AKJV.),
in happy anticipation of the final ingathering… where and when the constant struggling and battling between opposing extremes is no more.
“…In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11 AKJV.
Father…our Father…
You know us so well.
As imperceptibly as sleep overtakes us in the night… so we can find ourselves apart from You as days go by.
In Your wisdom and because You love us, You have created for us and directed us, to and on a path of Your creating… a path of life.
Along this path with its directions there are stopping points to rest and spend intimate time with You, be refreshed and on the strength of these times be able to proceed to the next one…without losing our way.
We thank You for Your set apart times and the instructions You give to properly observe them and so reap from them all the blessing You intend for us.
As we enter into one… cause Your Holy Spirit within us, please to stir, remind us, teach us and make us sensitive to Your nearness and Your desires.
As we depart from that special time may we be looking ahead to and be in anticipation of the next pausing point along the path… all our days and years and life times until we finally make it to the final and permanent dwelling prepared for us… dwelling in uninterrupted and eternal fellowship with You and one another.
We are born anew from above Father, clean, implanted within us Your love and Spirit, nourished by Your Word, yoked with You and one another.
We depend on You Abba Father…keep us so we pray,
In Yeshua’s name,
Amen.
May God’s love be in us all.
Elder
