Nitzavim “Standing”/
VaYelech (He Went)
Starting To Think
Many people have dreamed through the years how great it would be to
have lived during Biblical times. They imagine what it would have been
like to live during the time of Jeremiah, Isaiah or one of the other
prophets. They think how exciting it must have been to have heard first-hand
the words of John just days after he saw the vision.
If you have ever been one of those who thought this way, I encourage
you to consider that we live in an even greater time today. Not only
are we reading these exciting prophecies in our day, but we are also
living them out. We are truly witnesses to the day which the prophets
longed to see.
Moses himself spoke one of those prophecies in this Torah portion. Moses
has already stated he was not merely speaking to the people who were
gathered on that day, but to multitudes who were not there. He was speaking
to a generation yet to come. When he spoke the words of Deuteronomy
30:1-6, he was not only speaking to the people he was seeing with his
natural eye, but also to a people he could only see with his spirit.
He was speaking to you and to me!
In verse 1 he says, "When you start thinking." Take a moment
and consider the last few years of your live. Was there a time when
you could say you just "started thinking" about the words
of Torah. “Are they for us today?” “Do they have any
relevance in my life?” “Were they truly done away with?”
“Was I taught wrong?”
If these are questions you have asked, then the words of Moses are literally
being fulfilled in your life today.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine that our lives are really fulfilling
scripture. The fact is that life on most days just seems so, well, daily.
We get up and go about our normal routines of life day after day. The
weeks and months pass by at such an incredibly fast pace that we can
be living a life of prophecy and never truly take the time to consider
what is happening to us. We just think we are living our life, when
in fact the pages of scripture are being lived out in every new day
of our lives. Every time we look at the news we see scripture coming
alive before our eyes. Every time you and I read a verse of Torah, find
something new to us and seek to place that verse into our life and lifestyle,
we are fulfilling the words of scripture. Each of us is in the midst
of starting to think and our actions are driving us to become a people
restored to our Creator and to the instructions He has given to us for
life. In the midst of that restoration our spirits are beginning to
yearn for the full promise of being restored to our home, Israel.
In just a few short days we will enter into the Fall Feasts. We will
begin with Yom Teruah and move on to Yom Kippur and Sukkot. These are
days in which we are called to reflect on the life that was, the life
that is, and the life to come. Do not allow the busyness of these days
to cause you to miss the point of the days.
These feasts are to be times we are to set aside the normal cares of
life and focus on Him. We are to focus on His call on our life, the
day He has called us to live. We are to ask YHVH to cleanse our vessels
and prepare us for the next steps along the way.
The Fall Feasts are a mixture of both personal time and community time.
If at all possible make every attempt to live out both aspects to their
fullest. Take time to not only start to think, but to also continue
to think of the place He has called you to in His family. Know that
He has placed each of us here for a specific time and for a specific
purpose. Take time to think this through and you may find that there
is truly no greater time to be alive than right now. We are not just
reading about a prophecy to come, but instead living it out with every
breath we take.
