Being a Christian will never exempt you from life. Most people react to life instead of responding. How do you respond or react when life throws you an unexpected curveball? This year I am 42 years of age, and I have seen my share of unexpected curveballs. Over 42 years, I have learned how to respond instead of reacting to life. This is what Yeshua is trying to tell us in Matt 6:25-34, as Christians, we are to respond when faced with uncertainty and respond in the right way.
Some time ago, our washing machine broke. We had a mechanic come and take a look at it, and his estimate was it would be cheaper to buy a new one. When we checked the market for a new one, we could not find anyone in our price range, so we contacted him again and said we had to try to fix it. We have no guarantee he will be able to fix it, and it will be expensive but not as expensive as buying a new one.
Both my wife and I work full-time jobs, and we have a steady income. But having to pay our mortgage, rent, buy necessary food, and the upkeep on our car and running a full-time ministry does not leave much room for unexpected expenses such as a broken down washing machine.
A broken washing machine is not a life or death situation; it can be fixed, but what about cancer or the sudden death of a loved one? If nothing happens without Yehovahs acceptance or permission, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?
Before we came to the Torah when we were mainstream Pentecostals, an unexpected crisis such as this one would have rattled our peace. But now, we have peace and guidance on what to do.
Because we are in covenant with Yehovah, we asked Him for help.
Did money suddenly appear in our bank account? Did the washing machine suddenly fix it by itself? No, the machine is still broken, and right now, we do not have the money we need to fix it. But what we do have is peace and assurance Yehovah will in one way or the other tell us what to do to get the money we need to either buy a new one or fix this one.
This is what Yeshua is referring to in Matt 6:25-34 and Deut 28:1-13. If we obey the Torah, then we can rest knowing Yehovah has got our backs. Whatever happens in our lives, He knew it would happen, and He has a solution to it. It might not be exactly the way we envisioned it to be, but it will be the best solution because only good things come from Yehovah.
But why did He allow it in the first place? And why has He allowed something worse than this to happen in your life? Why did He let my father die of cancer after having abused his family over several years? Why did He allow my father to continue his abuse of his family?
The sign of the new covenant is our Torah obedience.
It is effortless to be obedient to the Torah when everything goes as planned. But it is not that easy to be obedient when your life takes an unexpected nose dive. But when your life does take a sudden nose dive is when you need obedience the most because that is when you need Yehovah to help you.
I do not know what is happening in your life right now or what you need. But I know this, Yehovah is ready and willing to help you if you are willing to join with Him in the new covenant.
If you are willing to repent back to Moses’ law, the Torah, He is willing and able to take care of you. (Deut 28:1-13, Matt 6:25-34) He did this for our forefathers in the desert, and He will do it for you, if you do your part and obey His Torah the sign of the new covenant.
Is it that easy? Just obey the Torah, the same Torah mainstream Christianity says was done away with at the cross? Yes, it is that easy.
When my wife and I were mainstream Pentecostals, we believed the Torah was done away with. We believed in grace by faith, and if we tried to do anything, it would be legalism. When disaster struck or something like a washing machine collapsed on us, we would see this either as the devil attacking us trying to hinder us from walking in and living in grace. Our response would be either spiritual warfare, rebuking the devil, legalism, or both.
What do I mean by legalism?
Turn on Christian TV, and one of the first things you will notice is preachers telling you they have the “Biblical solution to your problem,” and it always involves money. They will ask you to tithe to their ministry, give a “love offering,” or sow a seed for your financial miracle or healing.
You do not need a Ph.D. in theology to understand from the Bible how our relationship to God works. Everyone who can read can see for themselves the Bible clearly says that if we do A, God will do B. We can all see and understand the Bible says if we obey the Torah, then God will bless us in return. But when we believe the Torah does no longer applies to us, it leaves a vacuum that needs to be filled. We feel we need to know what to do to get what we need from God instead of obeying His Torah. And this is where legalism comes in.
To fill that vacuum, we as Christians become susceptible to preachers promising the key to our blessings if we will only give to their ministry.
Back in the days, when my wife and I practiced as mainstream Pentecostals, we would fill this vacuum with tithing, sowing a gift, giving a love offering or anything to obey God to get something from Him. We knew the Bible told us to obey the Torah as a sign of the new covenant, and only those who follow the Torah can expect Yehovahs help. But even so, we have more confidence in our pastors than the Bible. So when they said, “the Torah is done away with, everything is grace…but if you want God’s help, you need to tithe, give, sow a love offering,” we believed them.
Did we get any help from God? No, we only became broke and unable to pay our bills.
So we stopped tithing, and we only gave within our means to ministries that had helped us. This all changed when we repented back to Moses entered the new covenant by Torah obedience.
Now we are Torah obedient, and now we can finally answer the age-old question: why does Yehovah allow bad things to happen to good people?. Why has Yehovah allowed my father to abuse us when I was growing up? Why did he allow the washing machine to collapse?
Deut 8:2 answers to test us to see if we will indeed obey His Torah or not.
This seems like almost cruelty, why would Yehovah expose His children for suffering to see if they will obey Him or not?
It would be cruel if Yehovah exposed a 3-year-old to suffering to see if they would obey Him or not. But in Deut 8:2, we are not talking about infants and three-year-olds, Deut 8:2 is about adults who are children of Yehovah.
Do you see it as cruel to send a soldier into combat without any basic training? Most people would say a definitive yes; if you are to send a soldier into battle, they need basic training to survive and defend themselves. For a soldier, basic training is all about being exposed to unpleasant situations so they can learn how to live, breathe, and act like a soldier. To become a good soldier, you have to suffer in basic training, so you dont get killed in combat.
The Bible says our weapon against the devil is our Torah obedience and our atoning sacrifice made by Yeshua on the cross. (Rev 12:11,14) In 1. Pet, the Bible says we are at war with the devil who roams the earth seeking whom he may devour.
It is easy to learn how to live, breathe, and act like a soldier sitting in a classroom. It is an entirely different situation when you find yourself under enemy fire.
It is easy to learn how to obey the Torah, our weapon against the devil, sitting in the pews at a meeting, or reading a sermon online. It is an entirely different situation to obey the Torah and defeat the devil when you find yourself under enemy fire.
If we never had to suffer, we would never learn how to fight the devil. If we never learned how to fight the devil, we would never be able to overcome him. If we never were able to overcome him, we would all be in hell right now.
When Yehovah brings you through tests and trials, to humble you and teach you how to obey the Torah amid the storms, you are in the midst of your basic training as a soldier in his army. A broken-down washing machine, a car that needs fixing or unexpected unemployment, is a good way for you to learn how to respond with Torah obedience instead of legalism. So when the devil throws at you a real-life or death situation, you resort to your basic training and be an overcomer.
So the next time your washing machine collapses, or your car won’t start, rejoice and make sure to pass the test you are going through by resorting to Torah obedience instead of legalism.
I am 42 years old, and I have had my share of trials in life.
My parents have abused me; I have seen people I love suffer physically being unable to help them. Deut 8:2 says Yehovah allowed these and other things, to happen to me to test me and see what was in my heart if I would obey His Torah or not.
The first commandment in the Torah is to acknowledge there is a God. The more I suffered, the more my suffering pushed me to admit there is a God and seek His help. The more I found His help, the more I learned who He was. Looking back, I am thankful for what I have been through for without it; I would never be where I am today, a Torah observant child of Yehovah in the new covenant.
As a Torah observant child of Yehovah, I can help others who are right now suffering and show them the way to Him.
So I rejoice over my sufferings because they have been my basic training molding me, maturing me and shaping me into the man I have become today. And I rejoice over my current sufferings because they help me mold me, train me, and mature me into the man I am supposed to become.
Now I have learned to respond and not react; I respond to life’s sufferings with Torah and Torah always opens the door to Yehovah’s help.
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