Have you ever asked the question, “Where is Yahweh?” Maybe you have asked this question due to the trials you are facing. You don’t mean to ask the question and you might even feel like the question itself is blasphemy, but yet the thought is there. Maybe you are tired of this world’s corruption, the lies, and the hate which has moved you towards a state of discouragement. Have your prayers lost their effectiveness? Does following the commands of Yah matter to you anymore? So, you continue to ask, where is Yahweh?”
I believe this position of discouragement is actually a good place to be. Why? Because it’s at this point that we come to realize that we need Yahweh! When you are at the bottom, there is only one way you can look. Up!
The life of Sarah, all 127 years is a reflection of someone who learned to put her trust in YHWH. She left her home to follow a man who would become a nomad. Her husband would allow her to be taken by a foreign king not just once, but twice. She wasn’t able to bear children on her own, so she took another woman to her home. In her old age, angels tell her that she will give birth to a son, only to experience her husband taking her one and only child off to be sacrificed. (History seems to imply that Sarah didn’t even see the result of Isaac’s experience.) Yet, Sarah still stayed by the side of Abraham. She chose to have faith.
Another woman in this week’s study is Rebecca, a young maiden who makes a faithful choice to leave her family and marry a man she has never met. Her motivation seems to stem from doing what is best for her family and from the insightful promises and stories of Abraham’s servant. She chose to have faith, got on a camel, and moved toward Yah’s calling.
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction, of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of YHWH so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1-3
The concept of the physical being made from the invisible is indeed a mystery. But we know that Yah Himself is a mystery. The apostle Paul addresses the Corinth body of believers to assure them of what lies ahead when their physical body dies. I believe this teaching was to remind people that life on this earth has a spiritual purpose as well as a spiritual future.
To drive his point home, Paul addresses those who do not believe in a resurrection or the “faith of things hoped for.” He speaks to those who believe that life on earth is short and that we should just eat, drink, and be merry with no righteous cause to lead a spiritual life.
“For if the dead are not raised, not even the Messiah has been raised; and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”
I Corinthians 15:16-17
How does the believer who seeks a spiritual life (that of listening and walking in faith) conquer what is physically seen or experienced. Paul gives some good advice, “Do not be deceived; Bad company corrupts good morals.”
What is bad company you might ask? I believe they are the ones who do not believe in the bigger picture of victory over death and sin accomplished through Yeshua’s resurrection. They are those who do not believe in a new spiritual life—the mystery of that which is not easily seen.
“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. I Corinthians 15:50-54
What is Paul saying? He is saying that your physical body will not be going to the Kingdom of YHWH. Why? Because its entire DNA is corrupt. Its physical form–that which was born into sin, cannot go into the Kingdom in its current state. It must be changed. In short, your body suit will be exchanged for another suit. A spiritual suit without sin. Hallelujah!
Friends, if you are experiencing discouragement over current world events. Have faith. We are living in a world that is in the middle of spiritual warfare. The evil one seeks to draw your heart and spirit away from that which is Holy. But we are here to fight a spiritual battle to move into a spiritual Kingdom. Therefore, be sober, do not be deceived, and once you have developed a distaste of sin do not return to its vomit. Instead, look up and place your thoughts towards the spiritual realms of the Most High. “His ways are higher than our ways.”
“Thanks be to Yah, who gives us the victory through Yeshua our Messiah.”
I believe Sarah and Rebekah saw the battle and they stepped forward to be faithful warriors. Will you move forward in faith?
Be Blessed this Sabbath,
Rollyn