Second Touch (43 page)

How do we try to use God for our own purposes?

Do you agree with the following statement? Why or why not?

“The true sickness in a man’s heart is pride. Pride justifies wrongdoing and conceals the truth . . . even from a man’s own self. Every person is a leper on the inside. . . . That is the condition of each soul trying to live outside God’s sovereignty and purpose. What you see on the outside of the people of Mak’ob is an image of what’s inside ¬every¬one.” —Yeshua (p. 348) We all want to go our own way. It’s called human nature, and it’s a condition we are born with as a result of the Fall of Man. Adam and Eve bungled it for all of us when they chose to do what they wanted to do, rather than what God had commanded them to do. As a result, pain and suffering entered the world. Isaiah 53:6 makes it clear that all of us have this condition: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.

However, each of us must choose how we will respond to God’s promises in the light of our daily circumstances. And the responses vary. Take a look at Deborah, Mosheh, the Canaanite woman, and Simon. Read “God has forsaken us. We are the ones who are Outside. Outside the love of God. How can we think otherwise? Rabbi Ahava? He’s lying to us. We ¬aren’t loved by God!” —Deborah (p. 205) Adonai showed me the truth of what I ¬really was! Unclean! Corrupt! Powerless! I cried out in anguish at the sight of my own mortality.

—Mosheh (p. 94) “Have mercy on me, O Lord . . . Son of David!” the Canaanite woman begs Yeshua. Then she asks Him to heal her little girl, who is tormented by a demon. When Yeshua tells her that her request is granted, she bows, then cries for joy—she believes! “It was obvious from the change in her demeanor and energy she had complete trust that when she arrived home, she’d find her daughter completely delivered and healed.” —pp. 271–272 (read Matthew 15 for the entire story) “If Yeshua is anyone . . . any sort of prophet, he’ll look at me and know. He’ll do something without my having to ask or grovel! I’ll wait and see what he does. I’ll know if he’s a man from God by how he treats me, a respected ruler of Israel. By what he does! . . . I’ll not bend my knee to him! I’ll not beg! I’ll rot away before I ask Yeshua for help!” —Simon ben Zeraim (p. 207) Ask Deborah was angry, and ¬under¬standably so. She had to birth her baby in horrible circumstances, knowing she had to give him up in order for him to live. And all this at a time when she ¬didn’t know if her husband would ¬ever return to her side. Imagine that you are Deborah. How would you respond to such hardship? Has there been a time when you, like Mosheh, realized your “own mortality”? In what circumstance? Contrast the attitudes of the Canaanite woman and Simon. Which of the two are you most like in attitude toward God right now? Why? It ¬isn’t until Simon is completely stripped of his business, friends, his ¬repu¬tation, status, and self-esteem that he realizes how much he needs Yeshua. Then he is hit hard with the truth: It ¬isn’t the tsara’at killing him. It is his own stubbornness and pride (see p. 331). He indeed does have to “rot away” for him to acknowledge his need! Read “Lord, I was too proud. I ¬didn’t know my heart needed mending.” “Yes—” Yeshua put His hand over Peniel’s eyes—“even something small . . . small as a hand . . . can block the eyes from seeing an object as big as a mountain.” Yeshua took away His hand. “So it is with the eyes of the inner man. Do you ¬under¬stand what I mean?” “Yes. Yes. I need you to cleanse my heart even of small wrongs. Lord!” “Gladly! With joy! Such a request is always answered! The cry for mercy is always heard and never refused. Your sins are forgiven.” —Peniel and Yeshua (p. 349) Ask Do you long for forgiveness? In what areas? Have you admitted, like Simon, “This is my true heart: I am a leper! Inside and out, I am unclean”? (p 339). If so, what encouraged you to do so? If not, what hinders you? Wonder . . . “What should we ask for? If we ask anything at all?

“That the will of the Lord be done in our lives. Aye. God’s will for us is never wrong. Never. The Lord feeds the humble man because he loves us. If we make the Lord as much a part of our daily lives as eating, then truly he is our ‘bread of life.’ ” —Avel and Zadok (pp. 216–217) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For ¬every¬one who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. —Luke 11:9-10 How deep is your need for God? What will you ask Him for today?

2

No Limits! “The Son of David was sent to this world for this single purpose! Chesed. Mercy.” —Yeshua (p. 349) When you think of the word mercy, what person or organization ¬comes to mind, and why? Give a specific example. If someone committed a crime and then begged for mercy, would you extend mercy? Why or why not? Would there be limits to your mercy? Explain. Simon ben Zeraim was a good Pharisee, yet he had lived a lifetime without extending true chesed, mercy! It ¬wasn’t until ¬every¬thing had been stripped away from him that he realized how “small” a life he had actually lived. Because of his pride and self-centeredness, he had never told his wife, Jerusha, how much he loved her. He had driven away his son. He had taunted Yeshua and “born false witness” against Him. He had harmed the defenseless by evicting a tenant family with a young girl with leprosy. He had even, out of “religious principle,” separated Jerusha from her mother’s and father’s love. Simon came to the end of himself and the beginning of an ¬under¬standing of God’s mercy when he realized his errors: “Anger! Envy! Resentment! Gossip! Coveting! Small wrongs he had committed against others! Small acts of mercy he had failed to do for those in need! All these together became a broad, deep river washing away the last pretense of righteousness!” (p. 331). Simon, a respected religious official, always fulfilled the letter of the law in ¬every¬ way. However, in the midst of the duty of fulfilling the Law, he missed the meaning of the Law. How easy it is for us to do so, especially when questions abound about how mercy works in the real world. Should we always keep the letter of the law to be fair in all situations—or extend mercy? If we decide to be merciful, how far should that mercy go? Should there be any limits? Most of us would extend mercy . . . up to a point. But when a line is crossed (such as harming a person or thing we hold dear), then we crave justice. Our vision is colored by our emotions. We have difficulty thinking

in terms of eternity, the perspective from which God sees. Or we may tire of doing the right thing—such as helping a suffering friend or a person in financial need. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult for us to comprehend the infinite number of times God forgives us, not ¬only for what we do wrong (see Matthew 18:22) but for who we are, at the very core of our soul. Read “[Those who are whole] ¬don’t see that they are us. On the inside they are what we are. The same. Needing mercy. No different . . . wounded. In different ways. But still wounded. All of us. They want to forget. Not think about it. Get on with their lives.” —Deborah (pp. 180–181) “Can a soul be tsara? Can a heart have leprosy? Can the inner man be so numb he no longer feels and so increases his injury day by day? God’s mercy could heal such a heart. I believe it. Forgive and heal. Restore the feeling. Bring back what is eaten away in us.” —Lily (p. 32) Ask In which of the following scenarios would it be the easiest for you to be merciful? Why? • A man on the street asks you for money. • A friend asks you to drive her to the doctor. • A coworker asks you to lie about his being in the office. • A relative abuses your child. • A homeless woman asks for food. • A desperate friend asks you to keep her child for one day because she’s exhausted. Are there days in which you feel “numb”—as if you no longer have feeling in your heart? Describe the situation. Here’s Rabbi Ahava’s perspective for just such a day: “This is what the Lord says to your aching heart: ‘Can a mother forget a baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See! I have engraved you on the palms of my hands!’ [see Isaiah 49:14-16] . . . Adonai, the Lord, has engraved our names. No, he’s done much more than that. The word used in this passage says he hacked out our names, as with hammer and chisel, into the flesh of his palms! Love for his children has made the wounds we will see one day when we look at the outstretched hands of our Redeemer!” —p. 84 Does knowing that God’s wounds are for you, because of His great love, change your situation or perspective in any way? If so, how? Read He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

—Isaiah 53:5 You are not your own; you were bought at a price. —1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Ask God truly paid a high price for you—the agonizing death of His ¬only Son. If you had to choose whether or not to allow your ¬only child to die to save others, even those you didn’t know, would you/could you do it? Why or why not? It is so easy to view the wounds of another without compassion. How does knowing that God has purchased every person at such a price change your perspective toward those in need? toward those who have injured you in some way? Read Surrounded by the thousand-foot-high cliffs that rose from the Valley of Mak’ob, she was at home among the chadel, the “Rejected Ones.” Outside they were known as chedel, the “living dead.” Strange how fear, loathing, and a vowel or two could make such a different in the definition of a person’s worth, Lily thought. —p. 60 In ¬every¬thing, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. —Matthew 7:12 “So many men know the Scriptures. And still there’s the viaduct. The rubbish heap. People who exist in the long, dreary waiting, like animals locked up and forgotten. . . . “Easy not to be bothered. Easy to follow the letter of the Law. Make a great show of keeping the Law. But men forget the true intention of the Law. . . . By turning away from those who suffer, they miss great blessings from heaven. Maybe the one they refused to help was an angel in disguise. Thus ends the lesson.” —Yeshua (p. 9) Ask When have you felt judged or rejected? In what ways has the memory of that circumstance affected how you respond to those who are suffering? Have you ¬ever received “great blessings from heaven” as a result of helping someone? Describe the situation. Read “What’s the best day to show mercy, Peniel?” “Every day, I think, Rabbi.” “Well spoken.” “You know what I think. ¬I’m glad you ¬didn’t turn away from my affliction because ¬I’m poor and it was Shabbat.” —Yeshua and Peniel (p. 7) Lily began to weep. Her shoulders shaking beneath this unexpected first touch of kindness.

How long had it been? How long since anyone but another leper had dared to reach out to her, embrace her? —p. 302 What remained after Peniel’s failure? Shame and disgrace! If left to fester, unconfessed and unforgiven, such emotions would have eaten away at him like a sort of leprosy, rotting his heart beat by beat. And yet Yeshua had forgiven him. Fully. Love him. Unconditionally. Even before the act of betrayal had been fully played out, Yeshua had immersed Peniel in mercy as deep and wide as the sea! —p. 349 Ask Mercy. Chesed. Both Peniel and Lily experienced the life-changing results of unmerited, unlimited mercy. Yeshua touched Peniel in the way that would make the biggest impact on his soul—Yeshua healed his eyes. Mary reaches out to embrace Lily, the leper, who has been longing for physical touch. And then Yeshua touches Peniel a second time. He extends mercy and forgiveness after Peniel betrays Him! When have you felt the kind touch of a friend or stranger? How did that one touch impact your situation?

We are all human. None of us has entirely fulfilled either the letter of the Law or the meaning of the Law. Simon harbored a secret that destroyed his life. Is there a secret for which you long to be forgiven? If so, why not ask God today? You could write out your request as a benchmark here, if you wish. Wonder . . . “No one on earth would ¬ever go hungry or live out a life of loneliness if this was the bread we broke and shared together. That is what Yeshua is. Manna from heaven. Enough love and mercy for ¬every¬one. Enough to go around. Those who gather much have just as much as those who gather little.” —Zadok (p. 216) “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” —Yeshua, Luke 6:36 In the end all we can do is ask God for His mercy. Act on that mercy. Hold to it. Claim it. . . . Then His grace pours out life to us freely, abundantly. —Mosheh (p. 155) In what areas of your life do you need to accept God’s unlimited mercy? To whom do you need to extend unmerited mercy?

3 Who Is Messiah? Who is our Messiah? That is the question. Yahweh’s speech, Yahweh’s words—

the Omer—contains the answer! —Mosheh (p. 203) Imagine watching a man walk down the street. There seems to be nothing unusual about him. In fact, people hardly notice him because he’s so ordinary. So unremarkable. Later, his face flashes across the evening news and you remember seeing him. You’re surprised by the story. Evidently this man has healed people—the blind, the lame, those tortured in soul. Even more, He claims to be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, the Messiah sent by God. Would you believe His claims? Why or why not? What would it take to convince you that a God-Man was walking this earth? Step back into the first century, when the people had lived so long with the expectation that someday the Messiah—the One who would save them—would walk the earth that it almost seems like a legend. Or a fairy tale. They accept that there is a God in the heavens. But a God walking around on the earth? Healing the suffering? Standing in the same places as those who have earthly flesh? It seems impossible. Especially when this Messiah ¬doesn’t match their expectations—either in looks or demeanor. They expected a “kingly presence”—someone who would sweep in to end Rome’s tyranny over Israel. Someone who would be their avenger, their protector. Someone who would establish a rich kingdom right here on earth. Instead Yeshua came gently, in the form of a baby, a lowly carpenter’s son. He moved among the people, “touching flesh” with them. Walking in their shoes. Sharing their meager suppers. Experiencing their emotions. Seeing the sorrows and the dreams in their eyes. But since He was not what they expected, few believed who He ¬really was. Only those with “new eyes” knew. Those like Peniel, the blind man who could now see. The man who had a questing heart. The man who was content merely to walk by Yeshua’s side. Read Unnoticed. Unremarkable. Ordinary. Yet Peniel knew the truth. All who sought Yeshua tested Him. When they found Him, they sized Him up, trimmed Him to fit their expectations, and tried to force His image into a puzzle of their own making. But Yeshua did not fit. —p. 6 Like Mosheh, Messiah is the Son of a King. The King of Heaven! The Prince of Light has laid aside His royal robes and clothed Himself in the poverty of our human flesh, taking on the appearance of an ordinary man. And yet He is the Good Shepherd [see Psalm 23; John 10:11] that David sang about in one of his psalms! He will confront and defeat the Prince of Darkness and liberate His flock, not by the rod of fear and oppression, but by raising the simple staff of righteousness and love. And by the staff of our Shepherd-King, all power that the Prince of this world has over mankind will be swallowed up just as the staff of Mosheh swallowed the serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians!