Ex. 1:1 - 6:1; Is. 27:6 - 28:13; Acts 7:17 - 29
5767
In this week's Parsha we find a new king has come to power in Egypt. This king did not know or care what Yosef had done to help Egypt through the famine. He did not care about the relationship Yosef had with the previous Pharaoh. All he cared about was what he saw with his eyes. This Pharaoh looked with his vision and saw only what was before him at that time. This is something we as believers need to be careful of; it is easy for us to forget the past events of our lives. We also sometimes fail to remember the promised events of the future and all we see are the things that are here right now. One of the reasons I am thinking about this today is that I believe our congregation is part of a move of G-D that is happening world wide. These events have been mirrored in the past and are prophesied to come in the future. If we look only at our lives through the eyes of the present without the faith of the past and the future we rob ourselves of the most powerful tool we have at our disposal: Faith!!! Faith is what allows us to see from G-D's point of view instead of only ours and Faith is what gives us the power to stand up to those who doubt the promises of G-D. We have the choice everyday to live in the present or to live in the promises. What will your choice be?
5766
As I was reading through this week's Parsha the following verse really stood out to me. I have read this passage since I was a young man, but I never focused upon this particular verse. Exodus chapter 1 beginning at verse 10 we read:
1:10 Come, let's use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they'll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether."
When I read this verse it spoke so clearly to me of what hasatan and those in league with him try to do to believers. They know they cannot win against us in an open battle because Greater is He who is in us then he that is in the world. So instead they want to use worldly wisdom against us. They will speak to our minds in an attempt to get us to justify our actions, to try reason the things of G-D with the wisdom of men. They attack the scriptures and our observance of them by telling us that the world has changed, that we are living in a new time, that we are modern people who have learned how to live in a new way. They say that G-D gave us Torah only until we matured to the point where we no longer need it.
Why do they want to weaken us by attacking us with worldly wisdom? The second half of the verse tells us why: other wise we will continue to multiply and join together with the rest of the enemies of hasatan and fight against him. In other words, if we can live according to the ways and commandments of Torah, and join together in Torah with other believers, we can get to the place where we will be victorious in Messiah. hasatan knows that it is when we walk in unity within the ways of Torah that we have the power to overcome the flesh and truly affect our world for Yeshua. hasatan also knows that if he can dilute our faith by weakening our love for Torah then he can stop us from being the powerful army of believers that G-D wants us to be.
Let’s not allow worldly wisdom to rob us of our place as the Children of G-D. Remember that Yeshua said if you love me keep my commandments.