Daily Devotionals

Voice of the Lord

Devotional: 9th of Teves

Of the descendants of Yissakhar, men who understood the times and knew what Isra'el ought to do, there were 200 leaders, and all their kinsmen were under their command (1 Chronicles 12:32 [33]).

Vladimir Jabotinsky was a volcano of Zionist vision, rhetoric and action, who trained and inspired modern Israeli leaders like Menachem Begin. When much of European Jewry was enjoying a false security at the end of the 19th century, inspired by the Age of Enlightenment which had been co-opted into Jewish religious circles as Haskalah (Enlightenment), Jabotinsky was screaming at the top of his lungs, "The ground of Europe is burning under your feet, and you do not smell the smoke! Get out while you can! Let us rebuild our Homeland!" Jabotinsky saw what very few around him could see, even though they were all looking at the same thing.

The Tanakh (1 Chronicles 12:32) accords the tribe of Issachar the same compliment during the rise of King David. The Scriptures give us a thrilling and tantalizing summons,"ADONAI, God, does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Happily, God's desire is for us to know what is going on. God is not playing hide-and-seek with us. Even when God tells us, "I am doing something new" (Isaiah 43:19), he continues with an almost playful invitation for us to join with him, to know his mind, " ...it's springing up—can't you see it?" (Isaiah 43:19).We can, for we have the mind of Messiah.

...ask God to deepen my understanding of his plans for my generation, and seek to strengthen my connection to his purposes.

BC