9.25.26 – Pass It On

It is a couple of days before the Feast of Sukkot. It is a time of celebration. It is a time to let the whole world know who our focus is. It is not a time to be shy; it is a time to shine, not a time to conceal (like the blood-red moon this morning).

David said, "We will not conceal them from our children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done."
(Psalm 78:4)

What parent would even hide something vitally important and beneficial from a child? Actually, I would—and in reality, nearly all parents would. You see, the culture of origin that does not worship the King and pass His instructions to its children essentially deprives those children of life's most valuable treasure. Even worse, those parents sign the death warrant for their children, relegating them to lives of confusion and emptiness, vain hopes and shattered dreams. Why, oh why, would any parent do such a thing? The answer is tangled simplicity: a sinful lack of true perspective. If I believe that life is about me—my goals, my dreams, and my efforts—then my reach will not exceed my grasp, and I will be locked in the labyrinth of the yetzer hara. I can still achieve great things, but they will be straw before the Throne. Unless I see that life—my life—is about God and His purposes, I will have no urgency to share this bigger-than-me vision with my children. As a result, they will have no bigger-than-me vision of their own existence. I will have accidentally concealed from them the one thing that lifts human perspective beyond the feet treading the path—God's glory.

I remember the days when my children were very little, rambunctious, curious, precocious. I remember each of their births. When I read David, I also remember the heartache of not adequately revealing the glory of the Lord to my most precious gifts. I drifted through the malaise of success, the pointlessness of prosperity, and the emptiness of a life preoccupied with myself. All that time I claimed to be a Christian—a devotee without discipline, an adherent of religious persuasion without transforming conviction. What did I teach my kiddos? That life is about how I feel, what I want, how hard I work. I missed too many opportunities to point them to the glory beyond me, the reason for my very being in the world. Perhaps they will forgive—and look at those things I concealed in my ignorant myopia.

"We will not conceal," says David. This is not simply an individual's affirmation. David speaks for an entire people, a culture of revelation. The verb is kahad. It means to keep something back, to refuse to make something known. This verb has a prefixed nun. That changes the meaning from a declarative command to a performative request: "We will please not conceal." It is a deliberate choice, not an accidental byproduct of culture. God does not hide. If we seek Him, we will find Him. For this reason, He sends His messengers. The Hebraic worldview is the worldview of the prophets—men called by God to show His people who He is and what He demands. The greatest gift I could give my children is a sense of the prophetic moment placed in their hands: the awe of being alive, the mystery of God's ultimate purposes, and the invitation to involvement. These things I wish for them today, on the day that I will celebrate, in rehearsal form, the Day when Yeshua sets His foot on the Mount of Olives and all the nations are gathered to Him to worship Him at Sukkot (Zechariah 14).

Chag Sameach! (Happy Holiday)

Alan

The morning WhatsApp call is at 9:00 AM EST. Let me know so I can include you in the "Feast of Tabernacles" preparation studies.

lightintorah.org

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