CANDLEGLOW LESSON: NITZAVIM (You are standing)
(Deuteronomy 29:10-30:20) Week 51
In this week’s Parashah, the Lord speaks through Moses with words that are a sword! These words make it utterly clear; there are only two kingdoms dear seeker; the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. There is only one true God and His name is El Elyon; God Most High; the Holy One of Isra’el. However, there is a deceiver. There is a destroyer. There is a thief. There is a liar and a murderer; a prince who rules over the Kingdom of Darkness. We must be spiritually aware of the war in the unseen! “Things which are hidden belong to ADONAI our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.” (Deuteronomy 29:28-29 CJB)
This is the Lesson of the Law of Chayim. Chayim is a Hebrew word meaning, Life. The Law of Life flows abundantly from Adonai’s instructions to the Nation of Israel. From the promises and blessings by obediently following Adonai’s Torah, an abundant life will result! Adonai expressed His desire to see His people flourish under Torah instruction, so all would go well with them. It is from the giving of Torah to His chosen people that the entire world has been blessed. Torah, and the life flowing from obedience to it, brings light, life, love and unity.
The abundance of all that is good and virtuous and of the Kingdom of God flows like a mighty river through each life lived in honor of His holy name. “Then ADONAI your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)
This is the Lesson of the Law of Chayim. We can venture all the way back to the Garden of Eden for this life lesson. There was a Tree of Life and a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was a choice put before Adam and Eve to obey the Lord by refraining from partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God, in His sovereignty, offered the choice of abundant life which comes with obedience to the Lord’s instructions, or death, by turning away from the light of His truth, as it pours forth from the lips of the Father. This same lesson is played out, verse by verse, throughout biblical history. This is the blessed lesson for all generations! Choose LIFE by honoring the Creator of Life!
This is the Lesson of the Law of Chayim. All of creation is bursting with examples of life every second of every day. We need only look at our gardens, or at rows of wheat fields in springtime, or at the faces of our children and their children, to see there is life all around us as a promise that we CAN choose right and choose well. The Creator has not set us up to fail! We have the fullness of His word. We have all we need to choose life moment by moment, using the powerful living stones of His instruction! In last week’s lesson, we read how the Lord commanded His words be etched not only on scrolls, on boulders, and on stones, but on our very hearts.
“Pay attention!” (Says Yeshua) “I am coming soon, and my rewards are with me to give to each person according to what he has done. I am the Alef and the Tav, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. How blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they have the right to eat from the Tree of Life and go through the gates into the city!” (Revelation 22:12-14 CJB)
CANDLEGLOW LESSON FOR SHABBAT
On this day as we approach Shabbat, or the Sabbath, we seek to find our rest in the Lord, leaving earthly cares at His feet, and curling up under His prayer shawl where His Shalom rests. There is a verse in this Torah portion that ushers in such a powerful peace. ADONAI brings the full circle of His character, which is the heart of the Torah of love, out into the blinding light of His gaze upon Israel and upon us, His Wild Olive Branch!
“For this mitzvah which I am giving you today is not too hard for you; it is not beyond your reach. It isn’t in the sky, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it? Likewise, it isn’t beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us, and make us hear it, so that we can obey it? On the contrary, the word is very close to you – in your mouth, even in your heart; therefore, you can do it!” (Deut. 30:11-14 CJB)
So, be at rest dear seeker, for His words are a river running through your heart!
Shabbat Shalom
Sydney
Your website is so beautiful, Sydney. I am so happy to be a part of the Torah “barge” all these years and I look forward to each class. My life has changed in so many ways through Torah. Thank you for being such a woman of Adonai and a beautiful Scribe for the Lord. Thank you for sharing your walk and your life with us. We have journeyed through the scriptures and learned so much together. So thankful and feeling so blessed to be a part of this Torah Life!!
Dear Becky:
I am in full agreement with you that our Torah Tribe, our “human barge,” as I heard the Lord say 5 years ago, will float upon His living water all the way to His throne. We do this as a community of sacred students, (Talmidot), and we grow stronger from our immersion together.
Thank you for encouraging me! My zeal is a fire for His Torah, for ADONAI and His Mitzvot, for it is for our good!
I pray many prayers at Yom Kippur, over us, our intimacy with the Lord, our families and children, our Country and the World! I pray for Israel. May the Lord be glorified every day that we still walk, on the Eretz! (earth)
I love you, and am so grateful for you dear sister.