In 1860, Anna B. Warner wrote the song “Jesus Loves Me.” Many of us grew up with this song in Sunday School because it tells us as children that “Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.” There are five verses. As kids, we probably didn’t sing all five, but the last verse goes like this:

“Jesus loves me! He will stay close beside me all the way; Thou hast bled and died for me, I will henceforth live for Thee.”

Also, in the 1800s, Hymnist Fanny Crosby wrote a similarly-themed hymn, “Because He first loved me,” saying,

“I love my blessed Savior because He first loved me.”

These songs have a far deeper meaning that goes back to the time of Moses teaching the Israelites about God’s love and how to experience it.

In Deuteronomy 7:12, Moses says,

“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the love that he swore to your fathers.”

The traditional Jewish interpretation of this verse is,

“because you will listen…” as in, “and it shall be that your heel is ready to take a step, you will listen to your heart.”

This is the step of faith, as you walk with God, you will come to know that love—and love Him in return. Listening and responding is the point. If the people listen to God’s word and are obedient to it, then the blessings of God will be abundant. The more we walk with the LORD God and hear His ways, the closer we will be drawn to Him.

Moses reminded them how the LORD had kept them all the years in the wilderness and did this so that they would look to Him for their needs. And now the Promised Land laid before them, and the LORD would continue to care for them as He had in the desert.

The blessedness came from walking by faith. Moses warned the people not to forget the LORD by ignoring His commandments.  If they forgot their deliverance and turned away, trusting in their own ingenuity, God promised they would soon perish from the land. Moses reminded the people of God’s forgiveness, exhorting them to “circumcise” their hearts–that is, to remove their hardheartedness. Open hearts toward the love of God compels us to love Him in return.

The book of Deuteronomy mentions the word love over twenty times, mostly dealing with God’s love for us as His people. Let us recall Christ telling the lawyer in Matthew 22:37 what is the most important commandment:

“to love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Jesus is reaffirming the Jewish Shema, commanding us to also love the Lord God in response to His love.

1 John 4:19 says,

“We love him, because he first loved us.”

Let us learn to walk with God, with Christ, learning His ways and His love for us that we might Love the LORD our God with all our heart, our mind, and strength. By this, we might also love our neighbor as ourself, showing the light of Christ to all.

Posted in The Daily Jot

There are many parallels between Israel and the United States.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been under constant attack by leftists who seek to undermine him and his common sense approach to government. The same type of people have been falsely accusing Donald Trump in attempts to undermine both his presidency and his quest to return to office—much the same as what Netanyahu experienced. Court case after court case, never successful on the general accusation, finding bits and pieces under mostly false pretense. Death by a thousand cuts.

Meanwhile, the poster boy for bribery, Joe Biden, continues to poke at Netanyahu for not towing the leftist line—as if it is any of Biden’s business. Netanyahu and his allies are trying to bring some common sense to the judicial system in Israel, trying to balance the branches of power. To this, the leftists have organized massive protests, claiming the reigning in of the Supreme Court’s discretionary authority is a front to “democracy.” In reality, it strengthens democracy. Biden, for his point, issued a statement through his Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said, “It is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority.” But if it had gone the other way by one single vote, Biden would have been crowing victory for the left.

The turmoil in Israel is on many fronts. Economic, military, judicial, social (especially with homosexuality), and political. Citizens in the United States are experiencing much the same. The two nations have been inextricably tied together since the rebirth of Israel. There is also a strong spiritual tie. The US came into existence as guided by the laws of God and the precepts outlined in biblical books such as Deuteronomy. The US system of representative government was also modeled after the advice given Moses by his father-in-law Jethro in Exodus—to choose “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rules of fifties, and rulers of tens.”

But there is one verse in the Bible that clearly speaks to the troubles our nations are having. Speaking of Israel, in Genesis 12:3, the Lord says, “And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you, and in you shall families of the earth be blessed.”

During the Obama Administration, which treated Israel with contempt, the US faced much economic, social, and political turmoil. During the Trump Administration, in which Israel was treated as a true friend, the US prospered. During the current Biden Administration that treats Israel poorly, America is once again faced with economic, social, and political turmoil, even as the forces of evil work in both countries to undermine what is good and right.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for Israel’s peace is our peace.

Posted in The Daily Jot