I could learn a lot from a deeply committed Jew.
Did you know that for thousands of years there has been such a deep reverence for God's name, Jewish scribes would use a different ink or different pen to write the name of God-because his name is that holy. Often the Israelites refused to even say the name of God, because it was too holy to be uttered. In the giving of the law, every instruction was to be carefully followed, so it makes perfect sense that they would make phylacteries to hold the scripture about their heads and carry prayer shawls. This was the Holy God that brought them out of Egypt. A holy God that made the mountains shake when he met with Moses. A Holy God that would provide manna from the sky and water from a rock. He is big, He is powerful, He is good, He is holy. Their deep reverence and righteous fear is inspiring and beautiful. Their commitment to it runs deep into every fabric of their culture. How cool is that?
But we humans have an amazing way of messing with God's creation. Missing the heart of God in the shema (Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only!), Israel chose to cozy up and worship the rules rather than the Rule-giver. And we do the same thing. We cry out for freedom, yet secretly want rules because then life's black-and-white. So Jesus comes and refers to God as "Abba" or Daddy, to show that God is an approachable, personal, father. He is still Holy and longs for our unbridled reverence and devotion, but he's so much bigger than the rules he's given.
I could learn a lot about devotion and commitment from a deeply committed Jew, and I'm sure you could too. So may you and I learn to hold deep reverence for God and for his word. May we never forget that God is our God! and he is the one and only! And may we know that we can run to him in confidence, knowing him as the Holy, approachable Abba!
No comments:
Post a Comment