The reading of the Torah cycle has recommenced. I find that I am getting something new every year as I read through it again. That is probably the reason why the writer of Acts reminded the new "Gentile" believers that they would learn how to live their lives set-apart to YHVH as they sat in on the teaching in the synagogues every week...
For from ancient generations Mosheh has, in every city, those proclaiming him – being read in the congregations every Sabbath. (Acts 15:21)
As I read each week, I am reminded every time of how important it is to listen, to hear and obey. The most often spoken prayer has to be the Sh'ma, which is prayed several times daily by all devout Jews and many Messianic believers as well. We think we know what the word sh'ma means... but do we? If we did, I think there would a lot more people living set-apart lives in this world.
William Bullock, Jr. ("The Rabbis' Son") gives a very interesting word picture:
To sh’ma means much more than either to listen or to hear. It means to totally restructure one’s life based solely upon what one has heard, forsaking all other ways besides that way explicitly spoken by he who has spoken...An example of what it means to sh’ma is found in the way a mother of a newborn baby responds when her baby cries in the night. No matter how tired the mother is, or how inconvenient it may be, or who may tell her just to 'let the baby cry, it will be alright,' she is driven to respond, and does respond. Her reaction to the baby’s cry is a sh’ma response. She knows her baby’s voice. When she hears it, she drops everything and responds because of the depth of the relationship – the bond – she has with the baby. We are to sh’ma [YHVH's] voice the way the mother responds to her baby’s cry – drop everything, listen to no other counsel, and respond appropriately, in a manner consistent with the relationship.
As I read this week, my challenge to myself is to sh'ma... to 'listen' as I am reading... for His voice, and to respond appropriately.
This week's reading, starting with Creation, is a vivid reminder of the power of WORDS. With nothing more than Words, YHVH did then what He continues to do in our own lives - He uses words to transform emptiness into something more useful in His plan of redemption. He does it all in order, He has a design... So He has done with me and everyone who chooses to sh'ma His voice.
As Rabbi Bullock points out in his teaching this week, there is a Divine Principle in the process of Creation called havdalah – separation. YHVH separated the light from the dark, the sea from the dry land, the heavens from the earth... there is a pattern here worth noting. We, too, are created to be separate. He has called us to be set-apart from the common, from the profane. If we are going to sh'ma, we need to learn what that looks like... and we need to respond appropriately because of the depth of our relationship with Him.
Torah B’reshit: Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
Haftarah: Isaiah 42:5 - 43:10
B’rit Chadasha: John 1:1-18 and Romans 5:12-21
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