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Happy Friday!
Today was our last
day of class. We studied Ecclesiastes
and Esther. I learned something very
interesting (I learned many, many things, but this one was really interesting.) In Jewish temple worship there are two
scrolls from which the rabbi reads: The
Torah and Esther. Here is the
interesting part…The Torah is the most sacred scroll in all of Judaism and
Esther is the most secular and yet these are the two scrolls read in temple
worship. There is no mention of God in
Esther and no recorded historical evidence of the story being a part of actual
events in Jewish history.
The closing moments
of our class almost made me cry. One of
our classmates is a Jewish man studying Old Testament at Brite before going to
rabbinic school. He works in a temple in
Dallas as their rabbi cantor. He brought
the traditional challah bread to class.
In the closing moments of our class we recited in Hebrew and then in
English the blessing over the bread. It
was a very touching moment when this young man led us in the blessing and then
shared the bread with each of us. It is
a moment I will not soon if ever forget.
Prayer: “Father, I will trust in Your faithfulness
that I will not be tempted beyond what I am able and that by Your grace, You
will make a way of escape (1 Cor. 10: 13). In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
“And do not lead us into temptation.”
Luke 11:4b
The word temptation
can mean the enticement to sin or a trial meaning testing. In Luke 11:4 the meaning is temptation that,
if yielded to, will lead us into sin. Here is an interesting thought about this
word temptation: “an unforgiving heart is the pathway to an overwhelmed saint.
If we aren’t careful, God’s test of forgiveness can turn out to be our
temptation to sin because scripture teaches in James 1:13 that God does not
tempt anyone, and in vs. 14 says, ‘But each one is tempted when he is drawn
away by his own desires and enticed.”
This verse from James is a great partner verse to the verse from
Luke. Let us not be overwhelmed by
temptation. Satan tempted Jesus in the
wilderness, but Jesus was not overwhelmed.
My first principal
in Fort Worth had a plaque in her office that read, “Lead me not into
temptation for I can find it myself.” I
always found this saying quite funny.
But I think here it applies. We
are all tempted at times, but we do not have to be helpless victims of
temptations of sin because God loves us so much and by His grace we are
overcomers. 1 John 5:4 says, “For
whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
Take joy in the
journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get
some sleep. Be safe on this Memorial Day
weekend. Count your blessings and say your
prayers. Love you all. Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.
I
am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by
what I believe and I believe God.
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