God is compassionate; God is loving; God is not just willing to forgive, but He really wants to forgive.
But God’s love is tough love, and no matter how badly He wants to forgive us, we will suffer when we reject His guidance and commandments.
You won’t ever hear God ever saying, “Oh no- not my baby! My baby is a good boy.” as they drag the mass murderer to prison.
This title is a little misleading- it’s not really the problem people have with God, it’s the problem people have accepting the truth about God.
That truth is simply that He is in charge, wants to do the best for us, but also will make the rules and enforce them.
And God will do what He wants to do, when He wants to do it, and how He wants it to be done, despite what, when or how we want Him to!
Moses goes back before Pharaoh to ask for the children of Israel to be freed to go into the desert and worship their God. Pharaoh continues to refuse, calling down on himself and all of Egypt the terrible plagues from God. This parasha describes the first 7 of these plagues, showing how they got more and more destructive as Pharaoh continued to pit himself against God.
And God tells Moses His name, but then again…what’s in a name?
As a child I was constantly reminded that “You Jews killed Jesus” by my Christian friends and acquaintances.
Back then I didn’t know and (frankly) didn’t care about God or the Messiah, but I knew enough to say that Jesus came to die for their sins, so all we did was help Him.
Now I know better- it wasn’t the Jews who killed Jesus, nor was it the Romans: it was ME.
They say evil succeeds when good people do nothing about it. But what if the good people don’t even know there is evil being done?
Have you ever really watched and thought about some of the TV commercials we are saturated with?
We are being conditioned to accept as good that which is evil.
This is the first chapter of the second book of the Torah.
Joseph and that generation are gone, a new Pharaoh enslaves the children of Israel, Moses is born and called by God to free the people.
This is where we first hear God tell us His name, but He also tells us by what name He wants us to use.
In Luke 4 we read of Yeshua teaching at a synagogue and reading from Isaiah. He reads a few passages from the scroll, folds it up and tells the people that He is the one talked about in that scroll.
But He didn’t read the entire scroll- in fact, He left out the part about salvation and resurrection of Israel and the Jewish people.
Why?
A new year, a new beginning for most everyone in the world. But how do we start it?
Many make resolutions to do something that they know they need to: a diet, give up smoking, be more helpful to the needy….whatever.
As for me, I think the best way to start anew is to get past the past, and the only way to do that is to learn forgiveness.
And that’s not just a good idea- it is a commandment!
This week we come to the end of the book of Genesis.
Jacob blesses Joseph’s children, and adopts them. He later blesses each of the 12 Tribes, then acob dies. The book ends with Joseph’s death and his request to make sure his bones are brought back to the Land when the children of Israel return.
When Jacob blesses Judah, we have a messianic prophecy of the coming of Yeshua…or do we? Where as Christianity sees this as a messianic prophecy, Judaism rejects it as such,,,but why?
My cat was next to me in bed last night, and as I was stroking his head he rolled over and exposed his belly to me, obviously wanting a belly-rub.
When I complied to his request, his purring got so much louder that I knew he was happy, and his joy became my joy, as well.
When we “roll over” to God and expose our “belly” by praying to Him from our heart and coming before Him with a contrite, humble and appreciative spirit, which is an act symbolic of complete trust and love, He finds great pleasure in providing blessings for us.
