Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Deuteronomy 10:12: “And now, Israel, what has Jehovah your God asked of you, only to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve Jehovah  your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

“Only?”  To fear Him, walk in all His ways, love Him and serve Him with all your heart and soul?  Yeah, only that, nothing more.  I mean, like is there anything more?  Do that and He’s got it all.  Hey, like I am all for it, what born again Christian, washed in the blood of Jesus does not want to walk in all His ways,  love Him and serve Him with all their heart and soul.  Man you know like a dream come true.  I mean I’m ready, let’s go for it.  But, I’ve been a Christian since I was 9 years old and now that I am old and grey I am still not walking in all His ways, I still do not love Him as much as I desire and I still pass up opportunities to serve Him.

Our English translations seem to have a fine way of telling us what we already know and feel in our hearts, but never seem to give us the clue to getting there.  Well, Scripture is complete, the answer is there. God is not in the business of playing a cat and mouse game with us.  He is pretty straight forward.  We just have to take pause and meditate on His Word for a moment.

The key lies in the phrase  “ki yi lire’ah.”   Yi and lire’ah are connected with a megeth.  That little horizontal line, no bigger than a dash is the key to unlocking the secret to walking in His ways, loving Him and serving Him with all your heart and soul. For what that does is make the phrase “only to fear  Jehovah your God” a complete phrase. In other words we only need to fear Jehovah and then walking in His ways, loving Him and serving Him with all your heart and with all your soul will be the natural result. Our focus does not need to be in trying to walk in His ways, trying to love Him and trying to serve Him.  Our focus should be in “fearing” Him and then the rest is easy, you will do it because you want to do it, not because you have to do it.

Now it becomes very important to understand what that word “fear” really means since this is our focus.  The word in Hebrew is “ra’ah.”  Translating it as “fear” is very unfortunate, because fear in the English language carries a negative feeling.  Ra’ah in not a negative word, but a very positive word.  Remember, Hebrew is an emotional language, a poetic language.  You have to feel a word to understand it.  Checking into the back of Strongs Concordance  or pulling up a Lexicon online will not cut it.

The sages translate ra’ah as awe.  Most unfortunate is that we have no word in the English language to use for ra’ah.  Awe is the best we can get.   I remember I had a student whose wife just had their first child.  He said to me: “When I took my first look at my baby daughter, my whole life, all my dreams, hopes, and desires instantly changed.  Suddenly all I wanted was to be with her, to love her and to go out and work to take care of her.?  I said only one word “ra’ah.”

Note, the passage says “to fear your God. It does not say “our” God.  Just as that baby girl was my student’s daughter, she was no one else’s daughter,  God is your God, you belong to Him and He belongs to you.  I performed many marriages and I could not help but think of  ra’ah when I saw that man look into his new wife’s eyes and she looked into his.  They belonged to each other. She belonged to him and he belonged to her – ra’ah.  I saw ra’ah  (awe) in their eyes as they came to the realization that here was someone who thought he or she was worthy enough to make a life time commitment.   It almost seemed ridiculous as I ask: “Do you promise to love, honor and cherish etc…”  I almost expect them to answer: “Why do you ask such stupid questions?”

What does Jehovah ask of you?  Only to realize that you belong to Him and He belongs to you.   Next time you run out of gas in your prayer time, meditate on that and as you do it will fill you with such awe that walking, loving and serving will no longer be such a chore.

“Come unto me all you labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and gentle in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:28-29.

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