Psalm 91 is a beautiful psalm which promises God’s complete covering over us when we place our full trust in Him. “1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High (Elion) will abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Shaddai). 2 I will say of Adonai, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Did you know that this is also one of just a few places in Scripture that reveals we have “guardian angels” (Ex 23:20; Ps 43:3). God has provided us with heavenly messengers to protect us from dangers many of which we may not even be aware of. Why would this be? Ps 91 provides us with some clues:
9 For you made the Eternal [your] refuge, the Most High your only home.
10 No evil will come to you; plagues will be turned away at your door.
11 He will command His heavenly messengers to guard you,
to keep you safe in every way.
12 They (guardian angels) will hold you up in their hands
so that you will not crash, or fall, or even graze your foot on a stone.
13 You will walk on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 “Because he clings to Me in love,
I will rescue him from harm; I will set him above danger.
Because he has known Me by name, (Yeshua)
15 He will call on Me, and I will answer.
I’ll be with him through hard times; I’ll rescue him and grant him honour.
Although this is a messianic psalm, the promises apply equally to every believer who dwells in the secret place of the Most High and is an amazing encouragement for those who are experiencing hard times in these tumultuous days we are living in. As Paul also reminds us in Rom. 8: If God is for us who can be against us?Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword? “I am persuaded to believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God – death, life, height, depth, principalities, powers, things present, things to come
(Deut. 7:12-11:25; Isa. 49:14-51:3; John 7:1-8:59; Rom. 8:31-39)
1.“Because [eikev] you listen to these rules and keep them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and steadfast love that He swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you.” (Deut 7:12–13)
The Hebrew conjunction, ‘eikev’ in this Parsha refers to God’s conditional blessings for the Israelites. God promised them as in Ps 91…because you listen and obey Me, you will be blessed. Implied in the statement is the converse… if you don’t listen…
The question is, why would anyone not want to obey god’s rules? And therein lies the story of humanity’s blindness and pursuit of evil over good since the Garden of Eden through to the present time.
The word eikev comes from the verb akav, which means, ‘to take or grasp (by implication) by the heel.’ This word is first used early on in Genesis 3:
“And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (v.15)
Satan attempted to strike the heel of the Messiah (destroy) but instead the Messiah crushed the Devil’s head and broke the curse of sin by becoming a curse for us that we might be reconciled to God. Through Him, instead of being blinded by sin we can choose life instead, and this was what God was now offering the Israelites.
In Jewish tradition, the last generation is described as ‘the heels of Mashiach,’ with Feet of bronze” (representing judgement) since that particular generation is expected to hear His footsteps and those who fail to hear will be judged. In the world today our ears are cluttered with so many ‘voices’ that seek to crowd out our ability to ‘hear’ as we await Yeshua’s imminent return, but God will fill with hearts of joy those who remain vigilant.
In this respect our parasha calls to attention the importance for us to show our gratitude to God (‘hakarat ha-tov’) for His immeasurable love displayed to us through Yeshua. Paul writes: “In everything give thanks…” He didn’t say “for everything.” Some things are evil, hurtful, harmful, or tragic. But, God has given us the capacity to triumph in every circumstance through His death and resurrection because in Him we have become ‘more than conquerors.” And so we “…rejoice in the Lord always: and are careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make our requests known to God. (Phil. 4)
This was not a strong point of the Israelites during their 40 years sojourn in the desert. They complained and rebelled against God, frequently reminding Him of His promises but forgetting their own.
And Moshe also sternly warned the Israelites of something else of great importance: “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (i.e., when God blesses and prospers you) … Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’ “ (Deut. 8:11-17)
Moshe itemised the blessings of God for those who remained faithful to Him. He would bless the fruit of their womb and the produce of their soil, their grain their new wine and their oil, the increase of their herds and the young of their flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you. From all peoples, they would be blessed—there would not be male or female barren among them or their livestock. God would remove all sickness from them, and He would not inflict on them any of the terrible diseases of Egypt but inflict them on all who hate them.
Israel failed to live up to these expectations and as a result lacked in fullness which God desired to bless them with. How far do we fall short of God’s fullness? Conversely, when we walk in His ways and trust Him nothing is impossible and no wall is unscalable, for it is God who goes before us. Moshe told the Israelites: “17 You might say to yourselves, “Those nations are so much more powerful than we are! How can we ever displace them in the land?” 18 But don’t be afraid of them! Remember what the Eternal, your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt…He is your God and will do the same thing to all the nations you’re so afraid of right now.”
Our God is a God of miracles who promises to do exceedingly abundant above all we hope or imagine when we meet His conditions. For His promise to us is, “to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” (Eph 3:20)
God is bigger than all our problems, (problem solver) bigger than all our anxieties, bigger than any obstacle, bigger than all our questions, dilemmas, crises, – whatever we may be facing, God is bigger…
Satan as a ‘roaring lion’ understands this well knowing that his time is short, as he seeks to steal, kill and destroy the elect of God. All around us, things are spiralling downwards but Satan can only touch us if we buy into his lies.
God desires that we operate from a position of strength having been given authority over every demonic spirit through His precious blood shed! “The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Yeshua, 6 being ready to punish every act of disobedience, when your own obedience is complete.” (2Cor. 10:4-6)
When we wage spiritual warfare, we come against the demonic realm who is filled with an insatiable blood lust to steal, kill and destroy through every expression of evil and subtlety. When God renewed His covenant with the Israelites He urged them to make good choices by placing Him first in every area of their lives, which is the foundation stone of spiritual warfare! He presented a choice to the Israelites: “15 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you …love the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, … then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” Deut.30:15-16
The world today is saturated in darkness and echoes the despair and spiritual bankruptcy of every person who resides outside of the Kingdom of God.
But, we have been filled with His light through Yeshua because we choose to live as children of light. (Eph 5:8; 1Thess.5:5) This means that we seek only to please Him in all our ways. And God is with us and will never forsake us even in our darkest moments even as it was with Israel: “Can a woman forget her nursing baby or lack compassion for a child of her womb? Even if these forget, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. (Isa.49:15-16)
Among the countless Holocaust stories, so many demonstrate God’s incredible love and mercy in even the worst of circumstances. Here is one I would like to share.
“Little Shlomo was the youngest of the family’s nine children. His favourite time was Friday evening, when his mother lit the Shabbat candles. But one Shabbat eve, when his mother had closed her eyes to recite the blessing, one of the candles fell on Shlomo’s arm, badly burning him. Time passed, and the burn eventually healed, but he was left with an ugly scar on his forearm as a reminder of the incident.
Then WWII broke out, and Poland was invaded by the Germans. As part of the ‘final solution,’ all the Jews in Shlomo’s town were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Rabbi Avraham, Shlomo’s father, was forcibly separated from the rest of his family. It was the last time he would see his wife and children. He was placed in a labour camp and miraculously survived the Holocaust, and eventually found himself in Russia.
Rabbi Avraham was now alone in the world. Consumed with grief, he tried to lessen his pain by learning, praying, and teaching Torah and mitzvot (commandments) to Jewish children, many of whom had never been exposed to Judaism.
His activities were completely illegal and time and again he was cautioned by the Communist authorities. But, he felt he had nothing to lose. For a number of years, he continued to spread Torah and mitzvot, and spent even more time in the Yeshiva he had founded.
One of the worst of Rabbi Avraham’s tormentors was a young communist named Natishka. Natishka repeatedly threatened him with a firing squad if he continued with his activities.
One evening Rabbi Avraham entered the yeshiva and lit several memorial candles in remembrance of his family. His eyes filled with tears as he recalled their faces. He began to recite the Psalms, and the sound carried out into the street. At that moment, Natishka happened to pass by and when he saw what the Jew was doing he decided to teach this Jew a lesson and began to roll up his sleeves.
Rabbi Avraham knew what was coming but had already been beaten up many times, so he was not fearful and began to recite the ‘Sh’ma.’
It was then that he looked up and noticed Natishka’s bare forearm, poised to strike. It was a long scar, from an old burn, which wound its way down his arm in a very familiar pattern…
“Shlomo!” Rabbi Avraham cried out. “Is that you, my son?”
The young communist’s face drained of colour as his hand froze in midair. Inexplicably, his eyes were drawn to the candles’ flames, as if they reminded him of something long hidden. A cry erupted from his throat as his eyes filled with tears as he embraced the elderly Jew and began to weep like a small child.
After so many years of separation, father and son reconciled and later they made Aliya together amazed at God’s compassion and mercy upon their lives.
Why would one wish to share such a story? Whenever I reflect upon it am reminded of people who have forsaken their identity and destinies because of sin which is like a scar – that represents each one of us – who seek to destroy the very one who knew us before we were in our mother’s womb.
It’s when God speaks out our name and fixes His piercing gaze upon us that we suddenly awake as it were from a sleep and recognise the very One who we rejected is in fact our Abba Father whose love remains constant even when we reject Him.
And this is exactly true how Scripture describes the end of the story will be for the Jewish people as a nation. In the meantime, we must keep our eyes fixed on Him AND pray for the peace of Jerusalem….
