Crystal Writes A Blog

You Raise Me Up

My first car was an old Toyota Crown Deluxe; 1966 I think. I wasn’t into old cars, so I probably didn’t think of it with the value it actually had. Instead, I was just frustrated with things like the manual transmission (I kept getting hiccups in the middle of intersections) and the pull-out choke that liked to get stuck. But it did get me from point A to point B until one fateful night when it got stuck on some train tracks and, yes, hit by a locomotive.

When it became clear that the car was staying put and the train was not going to stop, I went running into the desert, screaming at the top of my lungs. I plugged my ears and screamed as loudly as I could, so I wouldn’t hear the explosion, and I kept screaming until someone tapped me on the shoulder to ask what was wrong. I looked up, saw the flames, pointed to what was once my car, and said, “What do you think is wrong?” I wish I could apologize to the guy. He was just trying to help, and he didn’t deserve my anger.

Anyway, he walked me toward the scene where an ambulance, some firetrucks, and a number of police cars parked with lights flashing on the other side of the now-stopped train. Workers beckoned me to come to them, and it required my crawling between the flat rail car and the raised semi-truck trailer it was holding. By the time I reached the other side, I saw arms reaching out for me, so I just collapsed into them. The comfort of being caught and supported until the stress left my legs where I could feel strong again was worth a thank-you note to all the rescue workers, and I put it in a letter to the editor of the local paper. Having someone to raise you up when you are weak, and help you until you are strong again, is an indescribably wonderful blessing.

In today’s reading from Deuteronomy 26:16 through Deuteronomy 26:19, we will read about that kind of offering from God to Israel. The passage is another four short verses, so I’m going to paste them from the Complete Jewish Bible to here…

Today Adonai your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being. You are agreeing today that Adonai is your God and that you will follow his ways; observe his laws, mitzvot and rulings; and do what he says. In turn Adonai is agreeing today that you are his own unique treasure, as he promised you; that you are to observe all his mitzvot; and that he will raise you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, reputation and glory; and that, as he said, you will be a holy people for Adonai your God.

I love that Moses confirms to Israel that if they will observe God’s ways, He will raise them up. Moses begins with an order from God, and then he tells them why they should follow it with all their hearts and souls. He tells them that following God is a confirmation that Yahveh IS their God, and that He is worthy of their obedience–not only of His laws, but of His mitzvot (divine commandments with reason), and His rulings.

We who serve God today can also claim this as our promise. If we respect and honor God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we will follow and obey Him. We don’t follow Him in the legalistic pursuit of perfect lawfulness, but we obey His divine commandments because we trust that He gave them with logic and reason. The laws separate us from the unlawful; the mitzvot (which include good deeds toward others) are our walk of faith and our trust in God; and the rulings are those commands we do just because God is worthy–like the command to praise Him.

As a result of following God with everything in us, we can trust that God Himself will raise us up to (as the song says) more than we can be: More than we can be on our own, more than nations who live without Him, more than those who serve false gods, more than those who serve only themselves. Like the natural seed of Abraham, we who are born of the water and The Spirit, who are the seed of Abraham by way of a circumcised heart, are His unique treasure. We are holy and loved by Our Creator, and He will raise us up in praise, reputation, and glory both now and forever. HalleluYah!!!

P.S. See yourself being uplifted by Our Messiah as you watch the above video with clips from The Passion of The Christ and the song, You Raise Me Up as performed by Selah.

September 1, 2014 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Bible Commentary, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Deuteronomy, God's commands, God's law, God's rulings, Israel, mitzvot, Moses, Scripture, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, treasure, You Raise Me Up