November 2017
Thankful for His Providence
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Thankful for His Providence
by Sam Nadler
Thanksgiving Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on God’s grace and the harvest He provides. God orders the seasons. He alone supplies the early and the latter rains that are crucial for a bountiful harvest. In a similar way, He orders the seasons of our lives. Timing is everything.
Harvest CalendarThe Gezer Calendar sets forth the gravest seasons in ancient Israel. Olives were harvested from the middle of September to the middle of November. Flax was harvested in March-April by cutting it off at the ground, then allowing the stalks to be softened (called retting) by dew or other moisture (Jos. 2:6). In April or early May, the barley harvest took place, with the wheat harvest in May-June. The harvesting of figs, grapes, pomegranates, and summer fruits were during August and September.
Time to Glean God’s Grace
When I think of the harvest, I also think of the labor. In Ruth 2:2, we read, “And Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” We can learn a few lessons from Ruth. First, we see Ruth’s willingness to work when she said “let me glean grain.”
Gleaning grain meant bending and picking up loose grains that were accidentally overlooked by the reapers. It was a humble way to acquire something to eat and, at times, may have seemed like taking other people’s leftovers from their trash. This was also how the manna was collected in Exodus 16, as people bent over to pick it up off the ground. Therefore, we learn from Ruth, how to labor in humility.
Provision For The Poor
In Torah, Israel is warned not to reap the corners of their fields or gather the gleanings of the harvest; the gleanings were to be left for “the poor and the resident alien” (Lev. 19:9-10, 23:22; Deut.24:19-22). Ruth fit both categories. Deut. 24:19-22gives a bit more insight into gleaning. The unharvested sheaf of grain was to be left for the needy, so that the Lord’s blessing would rest on the owner’s work. In the olive harvest, the trees were only to be beaten once with rods to gather the olives. The olives that were left behind were for the widow, the orphan, and the alien. During the grape harvest, the vines were gone over only once so that the needy could have the remainder. This generosity allowed the needy to collect all that was not initially harvested.
Compassion Provided
This was the compassion that God’s law required; a benevolence that allowed the poor and alien to work by gleaning. There were no free handouts for the healthy and able bodied people. The benevolence provided work so that they might eat, although often just barely.
A miserable day’s work netted only the little grain that the reapers could reach, gleaning under the hot Middle Eastern sun.
Israel was told to consider the poor so that they would remember that they had been redeemed from Egypt (Deut. 24:22). Now, we learn how Ruth trusted in God’s providential care. In Ruth 2:3 we read, “So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.”
When Ruth happens to choose one field among the many possible fields to glean, it alludes to the sovereignty of God over events in the lives of individuals.
Likewise, as we trust God through the ordinary and distressing problems of our lives, we will also see His providence at work. For example, William Carey proposed to go to the South Seas but was divinely guided to India, where he translated the Bible into over forty languages found in that country.
David Livingstone planned to go to China, but God led him to Africa as a missionary and explorer. There he brought the blessings of salvation in Messiah to the lives of thousands. God providentially leads those who faithfully seek His grace. This grace is sometimes seen only through the eyes of faith.
God’s Sovereignty Provides Stability
Providentially, grace prepares the way even before we start seeking faith in Messiah. As soon as we, by faith, seek grace and find it, we can walk in the good works that were prepared beforehand for us. Your life in Him depends on the fact of God’s providence because “we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
The Scriptures assume God’s oversight of our lives through His providence. We read in Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a man are established by the LORD.” His overseeing providence in our lives provides us much needed stability. As 1 Thessalonians 5:24 affirms us that “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” Because He oversees our lives, we can be confident in Him.
God’s Providence Comes Through Faith
We can see His providence at work: when Ruth was looking for a job that provided only daily nourishment, God gave her much more than that. He gave her an eternal inheritance, and a lasting legacy. Matthew 1:5 confirms that the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world descended from the ancestors of Ruth and Boaz. The providence of God is appropriated through our faith in Messiah, and our undivided trust that He will guide us even in our mundane activities for His eternal purposes. We can faithfully work to feed our family, raise the kids, go to school – God is at work in and through us.
As we anticipate Thanksgiving Day, let us remember His providence in our lives, and appreciate the fields where He providentially placed us. May we, like Ruth, have humility of heart and willingness to labor in order to bring Him glory and demonstrate His grace to all in need of Him. (Adapted from the book of Ruth, Hope Fulfilled in the Redeemer’s Grace).
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Abraham's Faith
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Abraham’s Faith by Sam Nadler
Once, after Shabbat classes, an 11-year old boy was asked by his mom what he had learned that morning. “Well,” Josh said, “our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines to rescue the Israelis from the Egyptians. Moses led them to the Red Sea and then ordered his engineers to build a bridge. After they all crossed, they saw the Egyptian tanks coming, so Moses radioed the Israeli Air Force and they sent jet fighters, who bombed the bridge and saved the Jews.” Josh’s mother looked at him sideways and said, “Josh, is that really the way that your teacher told the story?” “Not really,” Josh admitted. “But if I told it her way you’d never believe it”.
Regarding salvation, Yeshua, Himself, explained to His own mystified disciples, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26); so, it was with Abraham. Though Abraham believed in God, he was confused about God’s promise of a seed, so he cried out to God and told Him that his only heir was his servant, Eliezer (Genesis 15).
In the midst of this narrative we find a profound theological statement regarding Abraham: “and he believed the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). If Abraham was struggling, then it seems that having struggles with God is not a sign of unbelief. Yet, what about the fear and disappointment? How can we be sure that God is with us and has a plan for us? How can we have assurance of being right with God? Is it through heroic torah-obedience? No, but if I told you what the scripture does say, you might never believe it! The assurance that we are made right with God is the same assurance that Abraham had. How does God deal with our fears? We will consider three things about how Abraham believed God:
- His faith was personal. He did not merely believe about God, but in Him.
- His faith was propositional. Believing in the person of God meant faith in the promises of God.
- His faith was practical. Belief necessitated action.
Abraham had faith in God. His genuine faith was seen in his responses to God’s promises. The idea is highlighted in the text with the first word “and” (the letter vav in Hebrew) at the beginning of the verse. This conjunction, “and,” ties it to the previous verse, where God directed Abraham to look to the night sky and said, “So shall your seed be” (Genesis 15:5).
Faith is a response to God’s promise, not our own imagination of what we want. Abraham’s life of faith is seen in three periods of growth in Genesis:
- The period of his calling, Genesis 12-14
- The period of his covenants, Genesis 15-21
- The period of his confirmation, Genesis 22-25
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out. (Hebrews 11:8)
The primary salvation, truth, found in Genesis 15:6 marks each of the three periods of Abraham’s life, and it is used in the New Covenant to characterize each period in His faith development (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; Jacob 2:23). Romans 4:1-25 is Paul’s commentary or Midrash on Genesis 15:6 that portrays Abraham the father of faith. The test in Romans states that he believed the Lord:
- He believed the Lord for many descendants (Genesis 15:5). What if Abraham prayed something like this: “That’s nice, God, but I’d like just two kids, a boy and a girl, healthy, intelligent, good looking, athletic, with good careers, and a few grandkids. Thanks.” Of course he then added, “And I really believe you can do it!” What would be the result of such belief? It would not be reckoned as righteousness, unlike faith in God’s Word.
- He believed the Lord of one Glorious Descendent. The word “seed” in Genesis 15 is in the singular because it was pointing to Messiah. As Yeshua observed, “Abraham was glad to see My day, and he did see it” (John 8:58). For within the promises made to Abraham was the essential truth that Messiah was the goal of them all, even as Adam was assured in Genesis 3:15. Indeed, Yeshua is the very righteousness to which all torah (Law) would witness (Romans 3:21; 10:4). The demons believe God and tremble, but we believe in God and trust.
- He believed the Lord apart from any natural means and that all would be accomplished through the power of God. Faith is trusting God despite the circumstances. It is not weakened or diminished by them. Faith trusts God’s power without denying our inability or wavering with inner disputes over the immensity of the promise. Abraham never denied his own inability, but trusted in what he believed God could do! Rather, he was strengthened in faith, as he gave glory to God, and he was confident and fully persuaded in the character of God, as well as His power. This faith was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:22).
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Is your life not turning out as you had hoped? The trials of life continually test us to see if we will trust in the promises of God. In this book, you will learn how God can take any person from the depths of despair to the fullness of life. As we look at the book of Ruth, it would appear to be a story mainly about love and friendship, and this is certainly a theme throughout the book. However as we take a deeper look, we see it is also the story of the people of Israel and their need for a Redeemer. Find out how this timeless account points to our ultimate Redeemer, Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, and how it reveals His unconditional love for us – a love that desires to redeem your past, restore your present, and give you a hope-filled future! 250 pages
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