Last week's Torah portion was from Exodus. The verses document the spectacular, supernatural delivery of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt.  Almost everybody knows the story of the parting of the Red Sea, whether they are Christian or Jewish or atheist! It is a classic tale of a Mighty God who rescues His people from their cruel taskmasters who have kept them in bondage for 430 years. But it is not just a fairy tale. It is a historically proven, entirely true account, as documented in the ancient book of Exodus.  And as I read it this year, I was overcome with all the similarities I see with God's people today, who are coming more and more under violent persecution and public shaming and disgrace.  

Before the ancient Israelites are rescued, they are instructed by Moses, the man whom God has chosen to lead them, to commemorate this awesome day of their deliverance by keeping a special observance known as the Passover.  Moses instructs the people in the keeping of this holy time, which included the roasting of a lamb for each household and seven days of eating bread without yeast. He says to the people, "On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand, and a reminder on your forehead that the Torah of the LORD is to be your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with His Mighty Hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year." (Exodus 13:8-10).  

Not unlike the ancient Israelites, many today are crying out to the LORD for deliverance from the oppression of evil rulers, literal slavery and trafficking, and laws against God being imposed upon us.  And I think about the sign that God puts on those who believe in Yeshua/Jesus, our true Savior and Deliverer, and put their trust in Him. It is found in Revelation 9:4, and refers to last days plagues and torment that mirror the plagues of the book of Exodus. It says, "They [the locusts tormenting those on the earth] were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did NOT have the seal of God on their foreheads."

I believe we can take these things literally and gain important understanding. In Deuteronomy 6:8 the LORD commands the Israelites to keep His commandments and to teach them to their children. He also says, "Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." These are the specific places on our bodies that the God of the Universe has chosen to mark His own.  So, it cannot be a coincidence that this is how the enemy will choose to mark his people in the end-time. Revelation 14:16 says, "He [the false prophet] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads." It is a counterfeit mark. It is the mark that will be willingly taken by all who CHOOSE to worship Satan's counterfeit saviors.  It is those who choose to save their lives but lose it.  Those who sell their birth right for a bowl of beans.  Those who would betray Yeshua, their true Savior, for 30 pieces of silver. 

As the birth pains increase, food supplies get more scarce, jobs are wiped out, and disease touches our loved ones, it is imperative that we pray for God to increase our faith and strengthen our resolve to serve Him and no other! Keep the Passover - it is a sign between you and your Heavenly Father!  Read again the ancient account of the Exodus, to remind yourself of the Mighty Power of our God, who saves and who provides for us. And I offer you these few verses to memorize (as I am) just to keep yourself mindful of these things. This is Psalm 62:1-2 in The Passion Translation:

I stand silently to listen for the One I Love
Waiting as long as it takes for the Lord to rescue me.
For God alone has become my Savior.
He alone is my Safe Place;
His wrap-around Presence always protects me.
For He is my Champion-Defender!

John is slipping away into a small, safe world we have created in our home. He does not want to leave home now. I had read that those afflicted with Dementia choose to stay in a neighborhood, and then desire only to be in their home, and then eventually in a room. Their world gets smaller, but in the smallness they find safety. Yesterday he spent four hours of the morning playing the same 78 RPM record over and over. I watched as he took it out of the sleeve and placed it on the turntable. When it finished, he would gingerly remove it from the record player, put it in its album cover and set it on the table. Then he would pick up the album, take out the record, and repeat the process, delighting in the songs, as if he had not just heard them all five times already.  He is content in our little yellow house, in the big brown chair at the window, doing the same thing over and over again. The Maranatha Singers are singing the Psalms on this old album and it should give me peace too. So, why isn't it? Why is my heart so troubled within me, why am I so filled with a worry, or some sort of menacing fear that won't let go? As the Psalmist says, "Why so downcast O my soul?"

What is this fear anyway, I ask myself, this anxiety that has so tightly gripped me, that follows me around, demanding my attention? I turn and face the fear and look it squarely in the eye. Then I cannot avoid it. It is the worry that I will be imprisoned in these four walls for the rest of my natural life! These same walls that give John peace and safety are crushing and smothering me and I see no way out. The lying spirit tells me that I will have no other life beyond cooking and serving meals to my husband, laundering his clothes and trying desperately all day long, to understand his alphabet soup of words that make no earthly sense. I dare to pray a question to God about all this. "Is it true, Abba? Is there to be no other life for me? "

The light of day has not yet dawned when I ask Him this question this morning. It is dark and still, John is sleeping peacefully in bed, and in the silence I hear the Voice I so long to hear. He whispers, "No. It is not true. It is False Evidence Appearing Real.  FEAR. It is a lie to keep you from all peace and joy, to obstruct and overshadow My real plans for your future.  So know, this, child. RIGHT NOW you are giving me much glory as you lay down your life for your husband. RIGHT NOW what seems to you to be drudgery and imprisonment is causing angels to applaud and rejoice! And in days to come you will know the rewards of your beautiful service to Me. Look to Me in every moment, every event every happening. I will meet you there. Look for me and find shalom in the little house, in the four walls where you are planted. It is not forever. But one day you will know the perfect work I have done in you there."

A little bubbling of joy comes up from a deep wellspring I had forgotten was there. I pick up the One Thousand Gifts book again and open it randomly. The words on the page say, "Commune with His Presence  filling the laundry room, the kitchen, the hospital, the graveyard, the highways and byways and workways, all the blazing starways. His Presence filling me. This is what it means to truly live."

I can go back to the question now and live the answer: Why so downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. For I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5)