Tag: faith

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Discussions Torah

Faith and familiarity: Why God’s people often struggle to trust God (Exodus 10–13)

Faith & familiarity: Why God's people often struggle with trust in God (Exodus 10-13). An elderly man with a white beard wearing Middle Eastern style head covering and cloak looks pensively off to the right side with illumination mainly of his face.

The stubborn disbelief of Israel despite witnessing God’s power worked by Moshe (Moses) and Yeshua (Jesus) is a persistent, perplexing pattern across time and the Scriptures. Despite the miracles, generations of God’s people who witnessed the miracles remained resistant, while surrounding pagan cultures sometimes displayed more humility and open-mindedness to belief.

This study of Torah reading בֹּא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1–13:16) explores the paradoxical nature of Israel’s stubbornness, acknowledging its role in preserving Scriptures but cautioning against using stubbornness as an excuse to ignore God’s will.

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Appointments With God Atonement Discussions

Faith meets fullness of mercy in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)

Faith meets fullness of mercy in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) - Leviticus 16

For everyone except Israel’s high priest, the Tabernacle/Temple service of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is all about faith — no one else is present there. It takes several layers of faith to believe that what the high priest is doing would heal the rift between Heaven and Earth. So it’s only that Yom Kippur finds its fullness and its enduring lessons-in-practice through faith in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus).

https://hallel.info/atonement-2022/

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Discussions Torah Unleavened Bread

The Exodus teaches us how to stand up to bullies

The Exodus teaches us how to stand up to bullies: Lessons from the seventh day of Unleavened Bread

Standing up to a bully is never easy. It’s not easy for an adult to do, but it’s even more difficult when our children have to stand up to those who would bully or persuade them to distrust their creators — their parents.

God, though the plagues of the Exodus and the drawing Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, defended ancient Israel against the bullying of Pharaoh and his nation. Mitzraim (Egypt) taught Israel to deny their Creator, but God put Egypt in its place.

And on the Day of the LORD, God again will defend Israel and all those adopted into her from the bullying into apostasy.

We are being called to stand up to the government and the wealthy oligarchs who want our children to deny their parents and their Creator. That’s a key lesson from the memorial of the seventh and final day of the Festival of Matzot (Unleavened Bread).

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 33: Travelogue of Egypt to the Promised Land teaches faith in the LORD

No matter what happens, travel gives you a story to tell.

The LORD makes a big deal about fulfilling our promises, because He wants us to count on His promises of our transformation of character and world made new through the Messiah. That’s an important lesson in the Torah double reading מטות Matot (“tribes”) and מסעי Massei (“journeys of”), covering Numbers 30:2–36:13. covering Numbers 30-36.

But easy to miss in seemingly unending list of 40-plus place names in Numbers 33 are the critical lessons learned by the Exodus generations and each one to our current day about temptations “common to man” (1Cor. 10:13).

Apostle Paul riffs on the incidents behind the Egypt-to-Promised Land travelogue to show us we must trust that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1Corinthians 10:13 NASB).

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Discussions Torah

Genesis 23:1–25:18: A time to rebel and a time to trust

"Different is Great" Vector art by Gabriella Fabbri/Freeimages.com

God put a degree of rebelliousness in all of us because sometimes we have to have a rebellious spirit. When the culture around us, whether it’s in our own family or our national culture, is wicked and evil, we have to have the fortitude to rebel against that and stand firm in living the way that is right.

The name of the Torah portion חיי שרה Chayei Sarah means “life of Sarah,” but it starts with the matriarch’s death. We see how Abraham works hard to find a final resting place for her, but her death had a huge impact on Yitzkhak (Isaac) as well, affecting him for years. Her death also played a larger than life role in how Abraham’s most trusted servant, Eliazer of Damascus, set out to find a suitable wife for Yitzkhak to carry out Abraham’s legacy.

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Discussions Torah

Abraham’s teachable moments on faith (Genesis 18:1–22:24)

Studies in Torah

Why is Abraham considered our “father of faith” when so much of his biblical biography shows examples of his utter lack of faith? He laughed in God’s face about a son from a barren wife, circumvented God’s prophesy for that son and lied to two different kings about his relationship with Sarah, putting her in real danger.

In the Torah parashah (portion) called Vayera (“He appeared,” Gen. 18:1–22:24), we learn that despite Abraham’s (and Sarah’s) ups and downs, their faith was growing, not shrinking. That is why God Himself not only credited Abraham’s trust as righteousness but also made them patriarch and matriarch of “a great and mighty nation” through which all nations of Earth would be blessed.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Abraham learns faith in God despite his trust issues (Genesis 18:1–22:24)

Studies in Torah

Do we trust God in His promises? We can come up with all sorts of ideas about God. But if we don’t really trust Him and His leading, why bother following? These are questions tackled in this discussion on the Torah portion Vayera (“and He appeared”), covering Genesis 18-22. Abraham is shown to have trust issues up to his great test of faith. At that point, he sees something. This passage is all about the Promised One — the Mashiakh (Messiah) — represented by Abraham’s son Yitzkhak (Isaac).