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MessianicMusings.com

Not quite Jewish, not quite Christian … totally commited to Torah and Messiah Yeshua.

Archive for September 15th, 2008

A real-life Catch-22

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Oh, if only problems in one’s 40s were as simple as they were in the teenage years, when solutions to the most pressing problems lay in a jar or two of acne cream.

I know of a person who is dealing with a debilitating illness and is in deep pain; the only thing that helps is narcotic-level prescription drugs. And yet, such drugs are highly addictive.

What a terrible position to be in; either attempt to endure an incredible amount of pain, or risk addiction for some temporary relief! All I know about a situation like that is, this is not how life in this world was meant to be.

Simple prayer

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Some problems can be solved with something practical, like a new HDMI wall plate; other problems are less oriented to the material world.

Take for example an anonymous friend of mine (not anonymous to me, but I’m maintaining confidentiality here). Like me, this friend is going through a time of grief. It’s amazing how, once you are grieving yourself, you begin to find out how many around you are also part of that club.

Anyway, while this person’s grief is not centered around a parent, it is centered around loss. The thing this person requested was simple: prayer. I can relate to that. Words fail to be of much use at times of great loss. All the cliches in the world, meant to comfort, are actually of little use or real comfort.

That’s why prayer is so effective; we don’t need to know what to pray about specifically to be effective or for Adonai to know how to respond. All we need to do is direct our prayers toward Adonai and ask Him to intervene, comfort and be Himself.

What could be more effective than that?

Already studying for my next commentary

Monday, September 15th, 2008

After working hard on my commentary for Shof’tim, my next task is to concentrate on my next turn on commentary, which is coming up in only a couple-three weeks, Va Yelekh. Considering it is the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy and deals with the end of the life of Moshe, I can only imagine how personal and difficult this could be, in light of my mother’s recent death. However, I also believe it could be a healing time for me, as well.

While most people would rather ponder happy thoughts like Outer Banks rentals than ponder their own mortality, there is wisdom to be gained by realizing our time in this life is not infinite; the older we get, the more we become susceptible to sickness, disease, discomfort and weakness.

We must pass through this life to overcome it; and an eternity with Adonai and his messiah is certainly not morose. I know both Moshe, and my mother, understood that when the time came.