Shiur L'yom Shishi

Shiur L’Yom Shishi1 [Friday’s Study] READINGS: Torah Lech Lecha: Genesis 16:1—17:27 Haftarah: Isaiah 41:14-16 B’rit Chadasha: Romans 4:13-25 I am El Shaddai; I will empower you. [Genesis 17:1] ___________________________________________________ Today’s Meditation is Psalm 115:12-18; This Week’s Amidah Prayer Focus is the Kadosh, the Prayer of Holiness It is still early in the Avraham Chronicles section of Torah – but it has already been an amazing journey. In just a few chapters we have traversed the entire known world. We have met – and had to find a way to deal with - people of all nations, worldviews and attitudes. We have faced some seemingly impossible situations. We have been party to some extremely toxic relationships. We have made some pretty serious mistakes of judgment – and have not once been judged, rejected, or abandoned by the One Who called us. We have navigated around – and/or been Divinely delivered through – some absolutely incredible obstacles. We have been tested with just about every fleshly distraction the world has to offer. And in the process we have learned some critically important lessons about what it is like to be a covenant partner of the Creator of the Universe. We have not yet apprehended the fullness of what this entails of course. Nor have we seen the ‘end- game’ fully unfold. But we are learning. We are learning to trust our Unseen Shepherd’s kindness, His wisdom, and even His timing. We are learning what it looks like, in real time, for those who curse us to be cursed, and for those who bless us to be blessed. And we are learning how critical it is for those of us who walk this covenant walk to always incline our hearts toward - and respond in real time and real ways to - every word of Divine communication we receive. Alas, we are just beginning this walk – this derech Adonai lifestyle. Some of the most important lessons that our ancestors are going to teach us about covenant- centered life lie ahead of us. It is time to resume the journey. A word of warning, however: Remember that the Holy One is calling us to be overcomers and Transcenders. For that to have any real meaning there must be some very serious obstacles and difficulties for us to face, overcome, and transcend. And these obstacles and difficulties must be so serious and seemingly impossible that we cannot hope to navigate them in our own strength, according to our own ways of 1 All rights with respect to this publication are reserved to the author, William G. Bullock, Sr., also known as ‘the Rabbi’s son’. Reproduction of material from any Rabbi’s son lesson without written permission from the author is prohibited. Copyright © 2017, William G. Bullock, Sr. what seems right, or just, or good. The challenges that face us from here on out must cause us to burrow deep into - and rely totally upon the strength, the wisdom, and the goodness of - our Covenant Partner in Heaven. The Beautiful Voice that spoke to Avram in the fields of Charan never promised him – or us - a rose garden without thorns. Especially if he – or we - should leave the trail that He has blazed and lapse into folly along the way, thorns and thistles and drama and disaster are to be expected. The Covenant comes with no ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card. In the Covenant, real life choices have real life consequences. In the Covenant, walking in the Holy One’s way brings a level of protection and provision and productivity. But walking in our own way – or the way of the world - yields self-destruction, disturbance of bayit shalom [i.e. peace and well-being in the household] and misery. Doing what ‘seems right to man’, or ‘following our heart’ instead of following our Unseen Shepherd’s Wise Instructions is never going to end well – for us, for those we love, or for the world. There is, however, some really good news inherent to the Covenant. That good news is that even when we err or stray – as we all do from time to time - the pathway the Holy One has blazed for us always beckons to us to ‘return again’ to its wisdom. Even when we foolishly let our eyes and affections and appetites light upon and entangle with something in this fallen world to the extent that our identity and mission as sons and daughters of the Holy One gets compromised, the Unseen Shepherd always calls to us to come back to Him so that He can bind up our wounds. Even when we make really bad life choices, and lend our minds, our mouths, and any number of other members of our bodies to tamei [unclean] works of the flesh, the Beautiful Voice out of Heaven always looks for an opportunity to speak restoration into our souls, redemption into our messes, and renewal into our minds. This is the wonderful reality of the Avrahamic Covenant. This is a drastic difference between the Covenant-centered life and lives built upon morality, philosophy, ideology, and religion. The Holy One does not do these things for us because we have done or could do anything to deserve or merit them. We have not - and we cannot. He does these things for the honor of His Name, and in order that He might fulfill every commitment He made to Avram Avinu. Some receive and embrace this reality; others choose another path, surrender to another shepherd, and suffer another destiny. But we were speaking of Avram Avinu, weren’t we. Grab onto the tzit-tzit of Avraham’s garment and let’s see what life experiences and God-encounters are in store for us today. From the Mountaintop to the Valley of Tears By Way of Self-Will Chapter 15 of Sefer B’reshit was a crescendo of sorts – a high point in Avram’s life. For the first time in his life Avram actually spoke al p’nei – face-to-Face – with the Holy One as a man speaks to a friend. This was heady stuff – and was a 2 preview of much greater things – and much deeper conversations - to come. In addition to upgrading the intimacy factor in chapter 15 however the Holy One also actually upped the ante on the already-magnificent promises He was making to Terach’s son. The Holy One promised Avram that not only would he at long last have offspring2 as he had always desired, but that his offspring would one day be as ha-kokavim shel ha-shamayim [the stars in the heavens’ - Genesis 15:5]3. The ‘mountaintop experience’ of chapter 15 did not by any means stop there. After Avram prepared the chuppah of covenant at the Holy One’s instruction, the Holy One did something else remarkable – He actually ‘zapped’ Avram much the way He had ‘zapped’ Adam in the Garden of Eden. As the Holy One had caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, he now caused Avram to fall into a deep sleep. Then, while he was sleeping the Holy One pulled back the curtains of time and space for Avram and showed him 400 years - and four generations - of his offspring’s destiny. Finally, to top it all off the Holy One made b’rit [covenant] with Avram, making him only the second human being in history [Noach was the first] to have a specific b’rit with the Creator of the Universe.4 Fire, smoke, a voice from Heaven, prophetic visions – man, it was a day ‘to die for’! Avram’s ‘greater destiny’ is beginning to take shape quite nicely. Nothing is going to stop Avram and Sarai now, right? Alas, it will not be that simple. First he is going to depart from the Blazed Trail and the footprints of the Unseen Shepherd. He is going to listen to, agree with, and implement a plan that is the opposite of Divine Wisdom. Oh Beloved, learn this and learn it well - we can never fulfill a Divine Mission, much less rush a Divine Promise into being, by employing methodologies of consensus dreamed up by the human mind or by depending upon the works of the flesh. His Promises must be brought into being in His Time, in His Way. A covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe, you see, is far more about learning to cooperate with and take delight in the stronger Covenant Partner’s processes and timing than it is about enjoying the physical fulfillment of His Promises. Covenant is about cultivating and nurturing relationship and trust as much as it is about performance of covenant vows – and for a Covenant to be fully functional this reality has to be true for both parties to the Covenant. A Covenant can never be just about getting what we want. That is witchcraft and manipulation. 2 The Biblical ‘code word’ for offspring is zara [i.e., seed], bringing back memories of the Holy One’s promise of a Head-Crushing ‘seed of woman’ to come. Genesis 3:15. 3 The author suggests the reader consult and meditate upon Philippians 2:12-16 in connection with this promise. 4 Traditional Torah commentators sometimes refer to this part of the Holy One’s covenant with Avram as B’rit Bain Ha-B'tarim [the Covenant Between the Parts]. 3 A Covenant is about cooperation New Levels, New Temptations With every new level of Covenant Opportunity comes a new series of challenges and new barrage of temptations.

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