“The more we study, the more we discover our ignorance”

Study is said to be the highest form of worship. Indeed the Father would rather have obedience to his word than sacrifices of any kind, and the best way to know how to obey and what he wants of his children is to study his word. King David, a man after YHVH’s own heart, said “How I love your Torah! I meditate on it all day.” (Psalms 119:97)

It is not uncommon today for those who profess faith in the Mighty One and the Messiah to go to their fellowships one or two days a week and act completely out of self-desires all the other days. The Faith today gets ridiculed and mocked by most because of this hypocrisy. People update on their network sites with statuses like ‘going to fellowship in the morning’ and then for the rest of the week there is no mention of the Torah (Scriptures) and no continual study of it, except maybe a few ‘oh thank you Father for sending the sun’ or ‘Praise the Lord for having success”. Besides this, I see a great lacking of understanding and depth of studies today by believers and those who write books, preach sermons, posts devotionals, and those who are charismatic are only getting just margarine when there is rich butter to serve.

From your precepts I gain understanding; this is why I hate every false way.

Psalms 119:104

The Scriptures are rich. They are ripe for the picking. However, they become tasteless, and the reason for this is because the salt, which Yeshua makes reference to (as an idiom) in Matthew 5 as the Torah, has been outcast as something evil. We call it bondage, legalism, Pharisaical, etc. Because of this perception of Torah, while there are some who are thirsty for Truth, they are still left yearning for more than what is given. They are not satisfied. Because what they are being fed is unfulfilling and bland, they just ‘meditate on it all day’. They find it hard to focus on studying the Scriptures or praying to the Father. They have not studied the precepts, David mentions, and therefore lack the understanding.

Deal with your servant in accordance with your grace, and teach me your laws. I am your servant; give me understanding, so that I can know your instruction.

Psalms 124-125

A few years ago the Father caught my attention with a pagan celebration mentioned in the Scriptures that actually replaced his Holy-Day of Passover. It has been there all along, yet I had never ‘seen’ it. Since that time I have sought out his precepts and his laws, as King David did, and he has given me understanding to know his instruction (Torah), and to this day the things he reveals blow my mind away. I can remember the time, in my youth, that I felt like Amy March reading the Scriptures, so tediously, to Aunt Josephine and being so impatient for when reading-time was over. Now, reading the Scriptures is something I would choose to do over many, many activities that would be so much more ‘fun’. There is nothing so precious to me than knowing what the Father’s word says, and nothing so important. The Messiah showed us this. First we see his example of how he defeated the wiles of satan by quoting the Tanakh (OT) over and over and over, and then he tells us in Mark 12 that we are to love YHVH with all our being. We can see what love means by looking at the Tanakh and what YHVH defines love as, and that is keeping his commandments. To know and keep the commandments we have to study them – meditate all day.

The Torah of his God is in his heart; his footsteps do not falter.

Psalms 37:31

Many believers today claim to hold the Sabbath as Set-Apart for the Father, but while they go to fellowship on that day it is then spent doing things they want to do and that violate the Torah. They cook, buy and sell, watch their sports, work, and all the while discard what the precepts say. They lack the understanding of what they are doing. A friend asked me if I was able to manage things on Feelin’ Feminine this Shabbat (that is the 7th Day of Rest), and I replied “No, I don’t work on it on Shabbat”.  The Shabbat, the Day of Rest, is an excellent example of withholding yourself in reverence of YHVH (Isaiah 58:13). It is so easy to do your own thing on the Father’s Day, but the purpose is to withhold what you want to do and focus on him and rest. It can be quite a task sometimes. Our own desires get in the way so many times, but the Shabbat is a weekly renewing of giving him what he wants from us… our attention, our meditation of his word.

There are practical things we can do daily to get into the habit of meditating on the Torah day and night. No one always gets it right the first time. There is always a second, third, fourth, etc. When life gets busy we allow other things to take up our time, but that is when YHVH wants our attention the most and when we give him our busiest times he will be faithful to show us a reward for our obedience.

1. When you rise in the morning, before anything else, pray the prayer of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We are commanded to say this when we rise, lie down, eat, walk, etc. It is always to be on our mind. This is what Yeshua says is most important in Mark 12. I have this passage as my computer desktop and you can also print it off to hang in your bedroom (by your alarm-clock! haha!).

2. Place the Scriptures where you can easily grab it to read, even for a few minutes. Practical places would be on your kitchen counter, in your bathroom, on your desk, in your car. Instead of checking your email while you wait for bread to bake, commit to reading x-chapters. Instead of chatting with a friend (who you will see tomorrow) go sit somewhere quiet and write down a few passages of Scripture to search online for an in-depth study. Instead of grabbing your fiction book grab the Scriptures for the bathroom-break. Instead of having to update your facebook status about going on a four-hour trip, put the iphone away and do a short study of a certain topic!

3. Surround yourself with believers who are always studying the Scriptures and who will hold you accountable to studying and meditating day and night – that is bring your mind back to Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

4. This is a commandment, but I will make mention of it anyways – wearing the four tassels on the corners of your shirts mentioned in Numbers 15. YHVH gave these to his people to wear to remind them of the God they serve, his commandments, and to be set-apart from the world. I wear mine everyday and they have reminded me who’s child I am and the way I am called to act.

I know there are young ladies who don’t know what to do as far as getting into a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, and it is because we don’t know what they say. We have to begin to study and study well to know and to gain understanding. Most of the time, we can be more devoted than we are.

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you will redeem me, YHVH, God of truth.

(Psalms 31:5)

“Entertainment to an observing mind is study.”

Shalom,

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