top of page

Shemot - שמות - "Names"

Writer's picture: MDIMDI

Shemot - שמות - "Names"

Exodus 1:1-6:1

19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” (Exodus 5:15-23)

Just like most Torah portions, this one is packed with tons of topics we can discuss. We can go over the importance of God’s name, the deliverance of Moses and so on; but this week it has been pressed upon my heart to discuss complacency.

Because we primarily operate in the flesh, it is very easy for us to lose who we are to this world.

We react by things we can see, hear, smell and touch. The spiritual world is a mystery to us and because we cannot physically see, hear or touch God it is easy for us to forget Him as well as we go through our day to day motions throughout the week.

This week’s Torah portion is a testament to God’s love for Israel. After 400 years in Goshen, Israel began to cry out to God, He heard their pleas and sent Moses to deliver them. When Moses and Aaron tells them what God had in store, they believed and began to worship Him (Exodus 4:31). Next, Moses goes before Pharaoh to begin the campaign of freeing Israel, the first attempt fails with Pharaoh adding to Israel’s workload.

Instead of leaning closer to God, Israel gets upset because Pharaoh is upset with them. They quickly forgot about their true God and turned to appease their false earthly god. They wanted their cake and they wanted to eat it too. Was it freedom they were looking for, or to be equals with or accepted by the Egyptians?

Here in America, we are faced with our own Egypt. We hate the corruption in the government, the immorality that TV shoves in our face day in and day out, not to mention all the sin that we see just commuting to and from work or when we go grocery shopping.

We want to be free from this immoral world, from all the suffering this world offers, from all the taxes and the greed that goes with it. However, are we willing to give up the luxuries of this world for God’s sake?

What if God told you to stop watching TV or stop driving cars? What if God told us to have nothing to do with computers, DVDs, video games, smartphones or the Internet? What would we have to give up before God frees us from this world?

The Israelites had to give up their faith in Pharaoh, their priorities in life, the little comforts they were allowed to have, their core understanding of how the world works, along with their love for the world.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 john 2:15)

As believers of God, we must continually realize that this is not our world. There is nothing wrong with TVs, cars, computers, DVDs, video games or the Internet; as long as they are in moderation and not glorifying the enemy, but we must examine our hearts.

We must constantly be willing to give it all up for God.

Do we love the world?

Or, are we waiting eagerly for the return of Yeshua, for the restoration of all things.

Do you want Yeshua to hold off on his return or are you jumping out of your skin waiting for that moment when God wipes the tears from your eyes?

Are you eagerly awaiting that moment when there will be no more sorrow, death or sin in our lives?

This world does a great job when it comes to getting us to take our eyes off the prize. Israel’s eyes were not on the prize in Exodus 5:15-23.

Israel was so focused on the little they had that they were unable to see the greatness that God was offering them. Never forget that this is not our world. Our world is free from sin, death, pain, hate, illnesses, wars and violence.

Our world is centered by YHWH with Yeshua as our King.

Our world will never fall and we (Israel) are all co heirs in that world. Our world is far greater than this world. Never forget.

 

16 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

 © 2021 Messianic Discipleship Institute

  • w-facebook
  • Twitter Clean

Join our mailing list

- never miss an update.

bottom of page