THE VOICE OF THE WORD INSIDE

Psalms 11:4

Adonai is in His Holy Temple, the throne of Adonai is in Heaven:

His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men.

We can imagine the conviction that will fall upon each one of us at the end of this age, as we appear before our Lord and Master sitting on His throne in Heaven. We will experience the trying of His eyelids as He looks at us with loving reproach. We will then remember the wrong and hurtful things we did or said when in our mortal state, even though we most of the time knew better. But do we have to wait until that day to experience conviction?

King Solomon remarked that The eyes of Adonai are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Proverbs15:3).

The prophet Zechariah tells us about God’s seven eyes which run to and fro through the whole earth (Zechariah 4:10).

The apostle Paul teaches us that our body is like the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Our Beloved Master does not watch over from afar; us from Heaven on His throne; He does not shepherd us sitting far away on His throne; He is right near us; in fact, the Torah says that he is within us, within our hearts filled with His Words, and within our mouths as we speak His precepts to each other. Yeshua watches us from His temple inside of us, from, the heart of our souls, within our bodies.

May we be granted to know His presence in the heart of our body and soul just as if we were standing in front of Him in the throne room. May we experience the trying of His eyelids reproving the excuses that we so easily indulge in to justify our failings. Most of all, may we not sear the voice of the conscience that He has put inside of us, neither kick against the pricks of His Spirit (Acts 9:5).

THE ROOTS OF OUR FAITH

Psalms 11:2,3

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Imagine poisoning the roots of a tree. The tree will still stand for a long time, pretty and strong looking as it always seemed. No one, except an expert, would notice that it was rotting from the inside, until after some months, or even years the tree stops bearing fruit, its branches become dry and brittle and eventually, the smallest storm brings it down.

If the foundations of our faith are poisoned, if the roots that hold our belief system lose their true value, if they carry in them the poisons of lies, deceits and hypocrisy, if they do not feed the tree anymore of the true life-giving nutritive sap to strengthen it, our tree becomes weak, unable to bear the fruit his owner desires. Starvation would provoke sterility and genocide. Existence would become useless and even dangerous as it would eventually dies and rot. The tree would then needs be cut down.

Is it then surprising that the enemy of our soul aims his arrows straight at the foundation of our faith, at the very beliefs that hold it strong—at our faith in God’s Words?

Satan has been at it since the beginning. In the Garden of Eden when he questioned Eve, hath God said. . . .? (Genesis 3:1), and his techniques have not changed. He does not negate the Words, oh no; that would be too obvious: he just changes the perspective with which we read them, thus we understand them differently.

May the Father, the Author and Finisher of our faith, help us and protect us from the enemies destruction of our faith through his meddling with the Word. May we have the courage, the strength to look the Word straight in the face, not sideways nor from the back but straight, to face it like a mirror, let it expose our erroneous ways and change us, let it freely flow into our souls to strengthen and give us Life.

FLEE AS A BIRD

Psalms 11:1

In Adonai put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

Yeshua commented and said that the children of the world are wiser than the children of Light (Luke 16:8). Have you ever heard smart-aleck cynics say that faith is only for the weak and the dependant? If they only knew! In the sight of the world, people who are dependant, insufficient in themselves, look like weaklings, easy to take advantage of and overcome—‘easy targets’ they say.

People of faith can sometimes seem like easy preys. They can be like a little frightened bird, “Go; go to your mountain” the big bullies tells them. “We’ll give you a sporting chance to escape, but get out of our sight before we devour you!” Little do these bullies know that back at his mountain homeland, the frightened bird has a concerned Father who knows of every fallen sparrow and who dresses every blade of grass (Luke 12:6; Matthew 6:30). He is there waiting to come to the defense of the weak, and to unleash His wrath against the arrogant insolents who have dared to touch one of His protégés.

So flee little bird yea, flee to your mountain; do as they say. Because you have put your trust in El Shaddai, and whereas they may think they take advantage of you, your Father will bless your trust and be your everlasting protection. When He comes to your rescue and they feel His wrath, they will be alone; they do not have a loving Father to help them.

Go to the secret place of the Most-High. Abide under the shadow of the Almighty
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Psalms 91:1-4

FAVORS FROM OUR FAVORITE

Psalms 5:12

For thou, Adonai, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

In the book of Job, Satan challenges God about a man’s virtuous life and says, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. (Job 1:9,10)

If we could only open our eyes, we would see how much God looks after us, we would realize the full spectrum of his protection. The shield He covers us with is His favor, as though we are His favorites; God does have favorites, you know. He is automatically closer to those who abide close to Him. When we give Him the honor of being the ‘favorite’ of our hearts, we become His ‘favorite’, He surrounds and covers us.

Before asking God for the benefits of His favor, let us ask ourselves: Is God my favorite? Is He my favorite hobby, pastime, counselor, presence, and friend?

As a reflection on 9/11, Ann Graham, the daughter of the famous evangelist by the same last name gave an answer the question, How could God let something like this happen? She said, I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?

Looking at all the areas in our lives where we wish that God would somehow intervene, let us check to if perhaps He is perhaps not there because we either have not invited Him, or have even escorted Him out of the issue. Can we then expect His favors?