Ninth of Av and Breakthrough after the Fast

Thus said the LORD:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom;
Let not the strong man glory in his strength;
Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

But only in this should one glory:
In his earnest devotion to Me.
For I the LORD act with kindness,
Justice, and equity in the world;
For in these I delight
            --- declares the LORD.          Jeremiah 9:22~23

 

Today is (was, here as its night Japan) an important day of mourning and fasting, remembrance and repentance, for the Jewish people, and marks the end of a three week mourning period.   These are some reflections from what I am learning about this day.  

The name of this day in Hebrew is Tisha B`Av, which means the 9th day of the month of Av.
Do you recognize this meaning of the name of this  month ?  

 אב  =  `Father`!

Av (אב) is the fifth month counting from the first month of Nisan on the Hebrew Calendar, and yes, `Av` means Father.  The month of the `Father`!! (of course all months are, but this has the word Father as its name!).  The full name is Menachem Av.  Menachem is `Consoler` reminding us that God the Father comforts us in times of tragedy and all times. 

This day, the 9th of Av,  commemorates the destruction of the Holy Temple --both first and second---in Jerusalem, as well as many other tragic events that happened on this same day throughout the history of the Jewish people.  It is said to be the saddest day of the Jewish calendar.  

It is customary to read the book of Lamentations on Tisha B`Av,  in which  the prophet Jeremiah saw the destruction of the Temple would be on the 9th of Av, and prophesized the events.  It is a time of mourning today,  a collectinve and individual time to mourn and remember.  As it is a fast day, it is also a time to reflect, to repent, draw nearer and return to God.

But in the sadness there is also the transformative joy to come on the day in which the sadness will be no more, it  is said by the Jewish sages that Tisha B`Av will become a `Yom Tov` or holiday and celebration day when the Temple is built again and at the revelation of Messiah to the Jewish people (or, as those who are believers in Yeshua would say, the second coming), this day will be celebrated fully as a great Yom Tov, a day of great joy at the Redemption of all Israel!!  

The Jewish sages say that there is blessing for those who weep for Jerusalem, as this tuning in to God`s heart for His beloved city and the city where He puts His name.  We know Yeshua wept over Jerusalem.  When I visited Israel last spring we stood on the Mt. of Olives where He will again set his feet upon His return.  May we too look toward Jerusalem and unite our hearts with God as one, all of the body of Messiah, with the Jewish people, and today may we see all baseless hatred in all forms, and all anti-Semitism be eradicated.   May we see more and more of baseless love!! (Love which knows know bounds!!)  I think how it must grieve the Holy Spirit when God is separated from His people (of course even in the separation there is deep connecting and coming closer, a little hard to explain but trying to write this out as there is so much depth and love in the longing), and when we His children are separated from one another. 

 Yeshua tells us He will not return until we say,
Baruch Haba Bashem ADONAI.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.

At the end of the day,  my soul yearns for Jerusalem.

As long as within our hearts
The Jewish soul sings,
As long as forward to the East
To Zion, looks the eye –
Our hope is not yet lost,
It is two thousand years old,
To be a free people in our land
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.  --Lyrics from Israel`s National Anthem, Hatikvah

After today the coming days on the Hebrew calendar are days of Comfort beginning with this Shabbat for 7 Shabbatot, and the days leading up to the Fall Feasts!! This Shabbat is the Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, from the reading in the Book of Isaiah from Chapter 40:1~.

Comfort, oh comfort My people, 
Says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
And declare to her
That her term of service is over, 
That her iniquity is expiated; 
For she has received at the hand of the LORD
Double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:1~2

 I could even feel a breakthrough at the end of today when I sat and read some of the evening prayers, and as God brings on the night with His Word, I saw the moon outside very bright, a telling of the day we are in, and almost the way it filled with light in its `half` state, moving into fullness, reminding us that after the mourning there is gladness!!!  May we experience in the coming days an expression of that joy and breakthrough!!

Much Love, ♡

Shayndel

(Jerusalem pictures in this post I took on my trip to Israel in 2019,   L`dor v`dor trip-)

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem--

may those who love you be at peace!

May there be shalom within your walls--quietness within your palaces."

Psalm 122:6~7

For those who would like to know more about this day and how it is important for everyone in the body of Messiah, and for one worship-full perspective on this day,   I recommend that you might watch this video from Messianic Worship Leader Paul Wilbur`s Worship Wednesday this week, HERE.

There are also many videos at TORAH ANYTIME which are amazing and give so many teachings on the days we are in on the Jewish Calendar as well as if you are interested in learning from the weekly Torah Readings and Jewish understanding.  The teachings on Tisha B`Av will probably just be up for another day or so, as its always updated.

PS I didn`t know that There is also a day in the month of Av this Tuesday considered on the Jewish calendar to be a day of  Love,  The 15th of Av!!  With some joyous significance.   I just came across it but don`t know much about it.... If you care to know more, let me know what you find out....it is called Tu b`Av!!!

Because of the LORD`s great love we are not consumed,

for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;  therefore I will wait for Him."

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

 Lamentations 3:22~26

POST NOTE July 17, 2021, 9th of AV 5781, from the Author, I am reading this post on Tisha B`AV one year later, and I realize from reading this post, when I wrote it I must not yet have known the verse in Zecharaiah 8:19 where the Bible states that this fast day as well as the fasts of the fourth, seventh and tenth, will become cheerful moedim and days of gladness!! I will leave the post without editing it but Please see Zecharaiah 8:19, to see that it is stated in the scripture about the fasts being turned into feast days of celebration, may it be so even starting now, and may we see Messiah`s return speedily and in our day!

He Straightens the Bent

 The LORD upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.

---Psalm 145:14

 1.

I planted seeds to grow morning glories on our balcony, and got so excited when some of the little green sprouted up from the soil!  I was so excited to watch them grow.  For a few days or so.

Then to my dismay,  I went out to check them one morning and they all were bent over and fallen down, I didn`t know if there was any chance that they could still have life.  I am not much of a gardener, I am of very little experience .  And almost no know how.



But I thought, as our G-d is a powerful God who straightens the bent, upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down (see scripture above, Psalm 145:14), perhaps I could use this Word and the power of He who lives in me,  and apply it for the morning glories.  I got a new hope! I ran desperately back into the house fueled by a passion to want to straighten them and bring them back to life.  I grabbed some wari-bashi from the cabinet (disposable wood chop sticks) and  nylon string and got to work.  I sat with the wilting stems and lifted them up onto the chopsticks.

The next day, they were still standing, and little by little, with adjustments here and there, they made it to the top of the chopsticks.  They have sprouted the `vine` and today, one of the vines made it to the net and is on its way up the trellis!! Praise God!!

       2.                              Another scene---a few days ago I was having a sandwich and coffee for lunch in a nearby park, but not so nearby.  I hadn`t been there for about a year.   When I looked around, I noticed the beautiful purple hydrangeas.  After eating I took a walk around  looking at the hydrangeas, when an amazing thing caught my eye!! I saw little green plants being held up with chopsticks!! And then I saw a net around the tree, and that these little plants were morning glory, and some were even growing up and around on the net around the tree!! There was one flower!!

can you see the greens around the tree, and growing up the tree and supported by a net, a vine of morning glories!!  There was even one flower that was open

I felt filled with such great hope and confirmation that my morning glories too would make it to flower ! Seeing that I wasn`t the only one who used chopsticks to straighten the bent morning glories,  I felt the great presence of the Almighty God, here in this tiny detail of those greens so close to the ground!!!  As I looked around the garden, it was like a miracle unfolding.  Next I saw there was a great tree in the middle of the garden.  It was a palm tree!  And then I noticed...yes!... a net around the base of the Palm Tree.... for morning glories to grow up around!!  I wondered who made this garden, and at the same  I loved just sensing it was put there  from the G-d of Heaven to reveal something about His love and kindness and mercies that are new every morning for us here on earth!!

At the base of this great, straight, Palm Tree in the ....middle of the Garden!!...someone had planted morning glories!!!

Before I left the garden I began to notice tucked here in there in between shrubs and in quiet corners, I saw a watering can here, a shovel there, and then a box of garden gloves and other garden tools.  The hand of the gardener was there, and yet so sweetly she/he tried to hide her presence.  Then I saw her there, in a corner, pruning some plants.  She must have been 100 years old, her face full of lines almost hidden by a bonnet, as though she had been there, in that garden, tending it for a lifetime, plus lifetimes, waiting for someone to notice it`s splendour, to  wander through the garden just marvelling at its wonders.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!

Much Love,

Shayndel

Because of the mercies of ADONAI we will not be consumed, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning!

Great is Your faithfulness.

--Lamentations  3:22~23 TLV