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Happy Anniversary!

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Psalm 18:6-9 In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears.7 Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry.8 There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet.

In this passage, which coincides with Jonah and this month of Elul, God does something amazing: “He bowed the heavens…and came down…” Psalm. 18:9

Jewish rabbis believe that during the season of Elul the King is in the field, and God is considered most accessible, allowing for personal meetings. God is seen as making Himself available to His people in their everyday lives – like a King visiting His subjects in the fields. Unlike other times when God may seem distant or require formal protocols to approach, during Elul, He is considered accessible and approachable. The season of Elul precedes the most momentous of events for Israel – the Giving of the Law. God came down to Israel, and gave them a “ketubah,” or marriage covenant, inviting them under the “chuppah” (hoopah), or wedding canopy of the Cloud of His Glory – to be wedded to Israel, and Israel wedded to God.

In the love story of Boaz and Ruth, Boaz goes out in the field and sees Ruth gleaning at the edges of his field. It is here that she gains his favor and he becomes her Kinsman Redeemer. What’s a kinsman redeemer? The kinsman-redeemer is a male relative who, according to various laws of the Pentateuch, had the privilege or responsibility to act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need. The Hebrew term (go el) for kinsman-redeemer designates one who delivers or rescues or redeems property or person. (Got Questions.org)

The season of Elul should be your wedding anniversary with Jesus. This should be a special time of intimacy, and remembering the One Who came down from His Throne to meet you where you were. This should be a special time of gleaning in His field of Intimacy in and through the “Barley”- Grain of His Word. Barley grain was the poor man’s grain that made the poor man’s bread. In Revelation 3:18 Jesus exhorts the wealthy Laodiceans to do something strange: ...and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. What does this mean? Vines Dictionary gives the following definition for the Greek word for eye salve: primarily a diminutive of (the Greek Word) kollura, and denoting “a coarse bread roll”. Coarse bread? Coarse bread is barley bread; the poor man’s bread.

Communication is the key to starting a friendship, nourishing companionship, and developing intimacy. In this season of seeking the Lord how would you rate your intimacy with the Lord? Stranger, Acquaintance, Friend, or Spouse (your wedded to Him). Are you poor in spirit, hungering for more intimacy with Him? Or have you been blind to His coming near? Are you strangers sharing the same house?

Who’s Your Daddy?

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Ruth 1: 1, 20-21 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons…..20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

There are many peculiar contradictions embedded in this first chapter of Ruth: there was a famine in the land…but Naomi claims, I went out full; there is a famine in Bethlehem…the House of Bread? Moab means Who’s your father or Who’s your daddy?…When God was to be their Father. Moabites were historical enemies of Israel from the Exodus through the times of King Saul. Yet this is where Naomi’s husband led his wife and family. What’s really sad is Naomi’s perspective on the entire ordeal: …call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me….the Lord has brought me home again empty…the Lord has testified against me….the Almighty has afflicted me. The Lord is receiving the blame yet she is missing the obvious and glaring fact that Her husband, Elimelech, led them into their predicament.

Ruth 1:1 states that these were the days the judges ruled. Yet the book of Judges states, But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them. And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not so. (Judges 2:16-17) The book of Judges agrees with this Scripture stating that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. (Sound familiar?)

Naomi left Bethlehem full but returned spiritually famished after feeding off the idolatry of Moab. She had grown accustomed to the sacrifice of children in the land of Moab – the god of Chemosh. Her return to the land of her inheritance should have been a returning to God – her Father – instead all she could do was find fault with Him. The only thing she was full of was bitterness and self-pity. But that’s the life of one ruled by self – doing what is right in your own eyes. Hebrews 12:15 warns: See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;…ESV Over the years I have prayed for people who, although, they began with a root of bitterness – the root grew into a tree, and the fruit it bore was disastrous. Usually this seed sprouts from a perceived hurt. The hurt breeds unforgiveness. Unforgiveness evolves into judgments, and judgments become vows (I would never have done, I would have never said, etc.) While all of these things are rooted in pride, and the center of self, you become a curse. The good news is that our Father is forgiving and loving and Jesus, our Kinsman Redeemer, has already paid our redemption, or ransom. All you have to do is acknowledge your sins, release the person or persons from the judgments you have had, confess your vows, and be restored into right relationship with your True Father. In other words, be released from the prison cell of your own making.