The Tabernacle Hesed Moon

The Tabernacle Hesed Moon
Living in His Undeserved Love
October 15, 2019
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Note:  On October 16, 2019 at 10:30 p.m., we received a phone call from my sister that my brother had passed away unexpectedly. We arrived at my mother’s home about midnight. This blog was posted the day before on October 15. We were told the following Saturday that Doug died on October 15. So, this blog was written in the early morning of the day my brother died.

Dear friends,

The week-long Feast of Tabernacles began this year [2019] at sunset on Sunday, October 13^th and will culminate on Sunday, October 20^th – “the last day of the great feast” (John 7:37-38). 

My heart has been filled with a warm longing for more of Yeshua as I look at the Tabernacle full moon outside our east window at night and outside our west window in the early morning. Both sights are gentle reminders that Father has enclosed me behind and before and laid His hand of love upon me. (Psalm 139:5)

 

Art from The Feasts of Israel Fulfilled Collection on the Flower Girl Greetings, LLC website.

Early this morning, I began to write out this message that was on my heart when I awoke.

Everything has been about hesed these days – Hesed – the Hebrew word for God’s undeserved, lavish love that we will never be fully-able to wrap our minds around. I want the rest of my life to reflect the droplets from the vast ocean that is His hesed.

I am now walking into my 40^th year of knowing God, since He caused me to be born anew in 1980. It seems that so many people, almost all of us, have some kind of thwarting voice that tells us that we must earn God’s love. We know this is the voice of our enemy and that we must reject it every time we hear it, but often we don’t recognize the form it takes. We must be aware and on guard so that we can live in freedom.

Yes, we know that we are blessed when we obey. We know that we are happiest when we follow the Manufacturer’s instructions for our lives. And yes, Father has given us everything we need to walk His way, including the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. But our obedience is simply an act of love toward the One Who has so marvelously already covered our sins. Obedience is not our ticket to heaven; it is rather the expression of the Holy Spirit in us loving God in return. Obedience invites us into a 2-way love dance with our Bridegroom.

But what about when we fail miserably or miss the mark minorly? We remember that His love was and always will be undeserved.

What is happening for me now as I journey into the world of understanding His hesed these past 2½ months is that I start every prayer with, “I don’t deserve to ask you for _________, so based on Your hesed, I am going to ask. He doesn’t answer prayer because we behave, but because of His hesed. The more we believe this, the more our obedience naturally follows! (The only time Jesus was amazed at someone’s faith was in His interaction with the centurion. The centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant with full knowledge that he was completely undeserving. On the other hand, Jesus’ disciples had told Jesus that He should heal the centurion’s servant because the centurion was deserving. The centurion understood God’s grace. The disciples did not.)

We must believe these 4 truths in order to walk in freedom:

• I don’t (and never will) deserve God’s love.
• I cannot earn God’s love. I can only receive it.
• He delights to lavish His love on the undeserving and receptive.
• My obedience is my expression of gratitude to God for His love. It is not my ticket to heaven or favor.

When we believe these 4 truths (above), we will be free:

• We will be free to let God examine our lives according to Psalm 139:23-24. We will be more able to receive information from Father about our faults and sins so that He can correct, transform and free us in His love. In other words, when we believe that we are completely undeserving of His love, we can face our sin with hope and without fear.
  
  Many people avoid examining their lives before the Lord, or suppress the truth about their sin, or deny their wrongdoing out of fear of punishment or shame. But God’s children are free to embrace and acknowledge their sins knowing that they will be washed and renewed in God’s never-ending ocean of love and forgiveness.
  
  
• When we believe these 4 truths, we will be free from the burden of thinking our entrance into heaven or God’s favor depends on us, when it only depends on what Jesus did for us on the cross. (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)
  
  
  • Do you find yourself thinking in the back of your mind that a certain good deed will earn God’s favor? Oh, God will smile and be blessed, but His favor rests on what Jesus already did for you.
    
    
  • Do you find yourself thinking that God cannot possibly love you anymore because of a habit you have not overcome? Oh, God longs for you to overcome and has given you the tools to do so, but again, His favor rests on what Jesus has already done for you.
    
    
  • Those who understand what God has done for them in Jesus will desire to recognize their sin as they read God’s word, so they can be free from it by His power. God’s children grieve over their sin, while at the same time, they rest in the finished work of Jesus.
    
    
• When we believe these 4 truths, we will be free to praise God with authentic, full hearts, because we will finally get that His love is completely free. This is why we sing! We will overflow with praise in our quiet times before Him, in our study of His Word, in our crying out for help, in our pain, in our singing and dancing! So, how about dancing? How about, no matter how you feel right now, giving Him the sacrifice of praise with dancing for His huge love!

The Old Covenant was conditional. But in the Old Covenant, the Scripture foretold of a New Covenant that is now here! An unconditional love base on Father’s Incarnational hesed through the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah on our behalf! Will you shout praise with me?!!!

In His love, hope and grace,
Beth Ann

 

The Hesed card is sold as a 4-Pack or also in the Love Collection.

Shale Fragments™ - devotionals by Beth Ann Phifer is a division of Flower Girl Greetings, LLC. ©2020, All Rights Reserved.