Look and See How Good it Can Be
When I worshipped in a Messianic congregation, one of my favorite songs to learn was called Hineh Ma Tov. It was built on words from this verse in Psalm 133:1.
Psalms 133:1 WEBUS
[1] See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
https://bible.com/bible/206/psa.133.1.WEBUS
So what happens when people do not live together in unity? My suggested emoji after that sentence was a sad, crying emoji like this 😭. But my last word was unity, and I didn’t say anything in the sentence that could lead my keyboard to think I was talking about something sad. Right? Or is even a keyboard smarter than many humans to know the end result of refusing to look for unity?
But I digress; I was only going to talk about the not-so-pleasant and not-so-wonderful effects of division. Chaos, anger, and jealousy, are just a few of the effects that go with not being on the same page. But THAT is really the problem. No ONE page that everyone can stand on together to allow the unity. Unity without a foundation is simply an illusion.
When the psalmist speaks in this chapter, the pleasant things he describes include the oil dripping from Aaron’s beard. That is pleasant to him because that oil is from a time of anointing to do priestly works for God Almighty. The priesthood was originally created and ordained by Yahveh as part of His mercy and grace to cover the sins of mankind. And if the priest was being ordained, it meant the law was being followed.
Law is a blessing! Think of this: When you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, and you have a green light, the law that makes cross traffic stop and let you through will benefit you more than chaos at the intersection. But all it takes is one person who spurns the law and wants to do things their own way to mess up everyone’s day.
God put law in our hearts, and all it took was one evil tempter challenging God’s way of doing things to create chaos for every human for the rest of time. At least until time stops counting because we move into eternity. So what would happen if all of mankind decided to look and see how good it would be to follow God’s way? We would be in unity, and behold how wonderful and pleasant it would be.
And here’s a video and lyrics with Paul Wilbur singing Hineh Ma Tov…
Share this post on:
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.
Share this post on:
My Latest Flickr Photos
Others’ Posts I’ve Liked
Crystal Writes A Blog 
No Skipping Stones
Skipping Stones by Flickr User iamNigelMorris, CC License = Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works
Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr.
Even if I find the perfect flat rock for stone-skipping, chances are, there will be more splat than skip. I guess it’s all in the wrist, and I don’t have enough of whatever it is. One time, as a teenager, I recall getting one to skip a bunch of times, but that was a rare and wonderful thing.
In today’s reading from Deuteronomy 27:1 through Deuteronomy 27:10, we will read of God’s laws regarding skipping stones. I’ll bet you didn’t know it was in the Bible, but God told Israel not to do it. Really. He told them not to skip setting up standing stones on which He wanted them to record the words of His Torah. (I’ll bet you were wondering just where I was going with that, huh?)
So, Moses and all the leaders of Israel stand before the crowd and tell them to observe every law they were being given that day. To help with the observation, they tell them that, after they cross the Jordan into the land that God is giving them, they are to set up standing stones, put plaster on them, and write the words of Torah on them.
After they set up stones, God wants them to build an altar out of stones and without the use of any tools. His command is that they build the altar of uncut stones and offer burnt offerings on it. They should also offer peace offerings there, and they should eat and be joyful in the presence of The Lord. The next verse restates that they are to write the words of Torah on the stones very clearly.
Next, it is Moses and the high priests that speak to Israel. The first thing they say to them is, “Be quiet and listen, Israel!” They continue with a reminder that today is the day Israel becomes the people of The Lord. Because of that, they should listen to God and obey all the laws and commands Moses gives them on that day.
I wonder how people would react if Scripture actually said we could not skip stones. I mean, it’s not like God would be asking something that difficult, but could we just obey even though it doesn’t seem to make any sense? For me, the hardest thing to do is follow commands that don’t seem to have logic or reasoning behind them. For the sake of obedience, I have done so before, and sometimes it has turned out to be just a man’s interpretation or idea. But, I still believe God rewards an obedient heart and spirit.
God is merciful and He knows our form, so our task is to do our best to honor Him in everything we do and think. He sees when that includes obeying some man-made law because we are told it is required of us. For example, there is at least one church I know of that teaches it is a sin to wear the color red. (I know some Louisville Cardinals fans that would be very upset with that one. 🙂 ) Those who attend there likely follow the rule with their whole hearts because they want to please God, so God will recognize their lawfulness.
Have you given in to things you later found out through spiritual maturity were not necessary? If so, did it make you decide you would never listen again to commands of men? I hope not. I hope you see that God blesses your obedient heart and spirit. I hope, instead, that you use your experiences to gain perspective, and that you seek God’s wisdom to gain discernment. If we do our best, I believe God will lead us in His path as we learn here a little, there a little by seeking Him and studying His word. And if some blogger comes along telling you not to skip stones, pray about it–and then read the rest of the post.
Share this post on:
September 2, 2014 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Bible Commentary, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Deuteronomy, discernment, God's law, honoring God, Israel, Moses, obedience, Scripture, skipping stones, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, wisdom | Leave a comment