WISDOM IN GOD’S TORAH?
Just listening or hearing words of instruction does nothing to guarantee an improvement in our lives.
For the Children of Israel this also holds true. Just reading the bible does very little to improve our lives.
Many people have read the bible, but never applied the lessons to their lives.
How many times did Israel gather before Moshe to hear the instructions of YHVH, but paid scant attention. How many Kings of Israel read and heard these words of wisdom but ignored the instructions? Listening and reading words of wisdom and instruction give no guarantee of change.
For change to take place, a person or a people need to:
ØAbsorb the message.
ØUnderstand the message.
ØEmploy the instructions given.
For instance… a farmer can be told over and over not to allow weeds to infest a crop, but if he doesn’t understand what a weed is, ignores instruction, his crop will suffer.
There is enough scientific evidence to point out the risks and foolishness in smoking… yet many people still smoke?
Fact - words of wisdom given, more often than not, fall on deaf ears.
Fact - there is no wisdom greater than the wisdom of YHVH.
Fact - Yeshua is the Living Word… therefore He is the perfect One to follow, and learn from.
Every Child of YHVH should endeavour to listen, understand, absorb and employ words of wisdom given by YHVH.
The wonderful counsel found in the Word of YHVH, provides mankind the best counsel available - not matter the timeframe. Problem… most fail to seek this counsel, and if they stumble upon it, ignore or ridicule it.
Sadder still, most who see themselves as Children of Israel likewise ignore or ridicule it.
Nothing new under the sun. Yeshua and His Talmidim had this same challenge. The religious leaders who saw themselves as Children of YHVH were against the Living Word – Yeshua.
This resulted in many arguments and discussions amongst the religious Jews of the time.
This same challenge is still alive today.
We have religious Jews who want nothing to do with Yeshua, thus in the opinion of this author causes many of them to pollute the wisdom of YHVH.
We have the Christian Church who dismiss the Torah… it causes them to pollute and change the wisdom of YHVH and misunderstand Yeshua HaMoshiach.
Both faiths [Judaism and Christianity] have failed to fully absorb the words of wisdom given by YHVH. However, in saying this, The Almighty obviously knew this to be the case, and has blessed both faiths using them to bring about His purposes. None the less, it is time for change.
Our Father is calling us back to Him – hear His Word!
A famous Jew who was and is hated by some - was and is loved by others once wrote:
“All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2Timothy 3:16 [NASB]
As we remind our students, the only scriptures available at this time was the Tanach/Old Testament.
Torah was and is the foundational documents for educating the Children of Israel.
There was no New Testament at this time or when Yeshua walked the earth. So, when Yeshua spoke words of wisdom or when the Talmidim wrote or spoke words of wisdom they were founded upon Torah and the understanding of Torah.
The Master Yeshua said:
“... you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. And a second is similar to it. You are to love your neighbour as yourself. All the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvoth.” Matthew 22:37-40 [CJB]
“... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 [NASB]
These are words of wisdom from the Master Himself, obviously coming straight from the Torah.
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5 [NASB]
“You shall not take vengeance, not bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself; I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18 [NASB]
Let me ask: How do you love the Lord your God? Do you love according to today’s understanding of love? Do you love according to the understanding and meaning given via other faiths such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Satanism and other countless faiths? Do you do it according to your own understanding, an understanding that will be flawed?
Just how do you go about loving your Father with all your heart, soul and mind?
Let me bang the table a little.
You will not understand the words of Yeshua without knowledge and understanding of Torah.
You cannot love YHVH without embracing both HaMoshiach and Torah. The same goes for the commandment to love your neighbour.
Surely this is not too hard for us to hear, absorb and employ!
A quick reminder of the biblical meaning of love: Total dedication to another.
Yeshua told us - loving YHVH and our neighbours is the foundation of all the Torah/commandments/instructions.
This being the case, surely, we have an obligation to search and seek words of wisdom from the instructions of YHVH.
As fallen sinful humans we don’t understand how to love God or our neighbour.
We desperately need lessons on how to love God, and neighbour… impossible without instructions from our Father.
We have the perfect example of love - the death of our Saviour Yeshua.
We talk about love, but when it comes to action, we lack much.
This is not meant to demean our levels of love, but we have opportunity and room to build our understanding of love through instructions from the Master.
Wonderful lessons are to be taken from all of scripture, starting at the Book of Genesis through to the Book of Revelation.
The essential ingredient to understanding words and instruction from YHVH is knowledge and understanding of Torah. I realise I repeat this many times but we fail to appreciate this fact.
Until we embrace Messiah Yeshua, and the Torah we will be forever on struggle street.
Be encouraged, our heavenly Father is waiting for all His Children to come home.
May the grace, love and wisdom of our Father and Yeshua HaMoshiach be with you!