Ekev (On the heels of, Because of)
D’varim (Deuteronomy) 7:12 – 11:25
Haftorah: YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 49:14 – 51:3
B’rit Hadashah: Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:1-11; Ya’aqov (Jacob/James) 5:7-11; Romans 8:31-39
Plenty of food in the frig, but what am I really hungry for? It’s time to eat, but sometimes nothing appeals much to me. What can I find that will truly satisfy my hunger?
He Let You Be Hungry
Why is there so much hunger throughout the world today, even among believers? Would a good father let his children go hungry? In our Torah portion, we find Abba did just that with the children of Israel in the wilderness.
Moses told them, “He humbled you and let you be hungry.” Deuteronomy 8:3a Sounds a bit cruel, doesn’t it? Sometimes He lets us be hungry, to be in need of a basic need, to expose what’s in our hearts that we may not realize is there. That’s what Moses said leading up to this word on hunger:
“You shall remember all the way which YHWH your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2
One way Abba humbles His children is by putting us through a test. A test isn’t for Him to find out what His child knows or doesn’t know. A test is for His child to come to see for himself what’s really in his heart. The next test will test us on what we got wrong in the previous test until we learn what He wants us to know and get it right. As His children, will we do what the Father says to do even when it’s tough and not easy?
Klug's Crisis
My wife and I are being humbled and tested these days with health and financial crises. We’ve had to fast from a lot of what we used to eat. We’re experiencing some hunger pangs with our new diet. We’re cutting back drastically on expenses. Having thought we knew a lot about health and nutrition, we’ve had to admit we fell off the wagon and are now suffering consequences. Thank Abba for His grace and mercy!
For the first time in my life, I’ve had to humble myself to ask for a lot of help with my wife’s healing and the finances to support her in our time of need. The Father has shown me the pride in my heart about always being the generous giver, the lender, not the borrower. I prided myself in being one of the strong ones who bore the needs of the weak. For that, I humble myself before Him and my brethren and repent.
We have a need for the Body of Messiah, just as the Body needs us. At times in our lives, we all need other brothers and sisters in Messiah and their support. We are humbly grateful to Abba for so many of our precious mishpocha and their love for us.
And Fed You
Thanks be to Yah, Moses didn’t stop at “He humbled you and let you be hungry.” He said, “and fed you with manna which you did not know.” He’s a good, good Father Who feeds His hungry children. What is the bread from Heaven He feeds His people with today that we may not have realized we really needed?
Yeshua midrashed on the manna: “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” John 6:49-51
What do I really need to satisfy my hunger? More of my Messiah. More of Yeshua’s eternal Life nourishes and strengthens my spirit, soul, and body. Only He can truly satisfy and meet my every need.
More of Messiah
How do I take in more of the Messiah in my heart and soul to truly meet the needs of my heart and life? Back to Moses, we find: “that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of YHWH.” (Deut 8:3b)
More of the Word from my Messiah spoken to my heart is for what I really hunger. My part is to shema – which means to hear, believe and obey His voice. What I do and even what I eat needs to be in obedience to what the voice of His Spirit tells me inside my heart. That’s what I need more of – only His Word will genuinely satisfy and nourish my soul.
What strengthens me is to do what He tells me to do. I deceive myself if I do not do what Abba tells me to do in His Word. Then that needs correction.
But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Jacob/James 1:22
The Purpose for Discipline
Now, when I disobey what His Word tells me to do, my loving Abba disciplines me as any good father would. His purpose for chastening me? For me to keep His commandments by doing them; to walk in His ways, not mine or the world’s; and to fear Him as a child fears his Father. That’s what Moses told us:
“Thus, you are to know in your heart that YHWH your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of YHWH your God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. Deuteronomy 8:5-6
The writer of Hebrews (Chapter 12) encourages us on how to make it through the chastening of our Elohim (God). We start by considering what Yeshua suffered.
Our Father in Heaven disciplines us for His profit (Heb 12:10) so that we may share in His holy, set-apart nature. Even though it’s not pleasant to endure, it afterward yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness (vs. 11). In other words, by being corrected, we can do the right thing with the right motives by His righteousness, not by our own. Knowing we’re doing the right thing brings peace to our souls. We’re stronger, for it can strengthen our brethren and bring healing and shalom to others in need. The purpose of Abba’s discipline is all about maturing and becoming more like the Son of God, Yeshua.
Learning to be Content
In whatever state we’re in, the secret to living a satisfying life is to be content with such things as we have. As Sha’ul (Paul) wrote:
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. And I know what it is to be poor, and I know what it is to be rich; I have gone through many things and experienced many things, both to be filled and to hunger, both to have plenty and to be in need.
I can do all things through Messiah, the One giving me strength. Philippians 4:12-13
Sha’ul explains that to be content is to be able to do whatever Elohim tells us to do. Our strength to do His will comes from following our Good Shepherd to the green pastures He leads us to, as Yeshua and Moshe described. Abiding in Him and in His love, we find strength. Then we use that strength from Him to do all the things He commands us to do. Therein is the secret to contentment.
It’s not in the abundance of our possessions, although they may be part of the resources needed to do the work He’s called us to do. Whatever possessions we have, let’s be content with them. Coveting just drives more hunger. That’s not what makes for the abundant life He wants for us anyway. Remember what our Rabbi said to do:
“But seek first the kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Then do not be anxious for tomorrow. For the morrow will be anxious of itself. Sufficient to each day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:33-34
Being satisfied in life is through the service we do out of love for Him and for our neighbor by the strength that we find from the inner man by the Spirit. Being satisfied with just doing whatever He tells His child to do, no matter what others think, how great or small, seen or unseen, important or unimportant, gives satisfaction to the soul. Being simply obedient to Him is anxiety-free, with shalom in a soul who knows he is in a right relationship with Him because of his faith and confidence in the work of his Messiah.
His Food: Doing His Will
His riches in glory, not riches in the world, are granted to us to ground us in His powerful love (Rom 8:31-39) and to strengthen us to do His work:
I pray that from His glorious riches, He would grant you to be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Ruach so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to grasp with all the set-apart ones what is the width and length and height and depth and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled up with all the fullness of Elohim. Now to Him who is able to do far beyond all that we ask or imagine, by means of His power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the community of believers and in Messiah Yeshua throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:17-21
Our Messiah, Whom we are to follow, found His source of sustenance not so much from physical food but from doing His Father’s will. Yeshua tells them, “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” John 4:34
What can hinder or keep us from doing the work that Elohim has called us to do? From what our Rabbi said, food can be a hindrance if we rely on food to give us the strength to do His will instead of relying on obeying His Word and the power He gives us from the Spirit inside. But answering, He (Yeshua) said, “It has been written: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every Word going out of the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:3
Or material things of this world can hinder us: “And those falling in the thorn bushes, these are those hearing, but under cares and riches and pleasures of life, moving along, they are choked and do not bear to maturity.” Luke 8:14
Abba also warns us, “No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life so that he might please the one having enlisted him.” 2 Timothy 2:4.
Time for teshuvah, people of Yah! That definitely includes me too. Time to turn from all those things that cause discontent, weigh us down, entangle us and keep us from obeying His voice. Let’s be content with our state in life but hunger for more of Him and His righteousness. For only He can satisfy my soul, only He can make me whole!
B’rakhot BaShem Yeshua HaMashiyach (Blessings in the Name of Yeshua the Messiah)
David Klug