CHESHVAN 4
Am I Included?
“And now, Yisra’ĕl …” (Deu 10:12 ISR)
The first name that appears on my birth
certificate, my driver’s license, and my passport is “Merete”, a name given to
me by my Danish parents. It is one of
the Danish equivalents of the English name “Margaret”, a name that is fairly
common. However, should someone yell out
MAR-GA-RET in a crowded room, I would very likely not respond, as that is not who I am.
Our opening verse section of three words reveals
to us who is being addressed. Yisra’el was not only a man – originally named Jacob (see Gen
32:28) – not only the land of
Yisra’el (see Eze 20:38), but it is also the people, the nation, the natural-born first, and the adopted as well
(see Ex 2:25; Ex 12:49). It is to the people of Yisra’el that this passage of
Scripture is being addressed.
Does this include me, not a natural-born, but one
who strives to walk according to the instructions of Torah? Will I always be considered a “stranger”
within Yisra’el (Lev 19:34)? The Word of
my Elohim says different:
“Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Master
יהושע Messiah, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Messiah, even as He chose us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be set-apart and
blameless before Him in love, having previously ORDAINED US TO ADOPTION AS SONS
through יהושע Messiah to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His desire, to the praise of the esteem of
His favour with which He favoured us in the Beloved …” (Eph 1:3-6 ISR, emphasis mine.
See also Rom 11::17)
I, too, am therefore part of Yisra’el. And because I am part of Yisra’el, it is my responsibility to pay attention when
my Creator is speaking with me, as He is in our opening verse.
‘Nuf said.
©2018
No comments:
Post a Comment