Psalm 119...A Beginning Place for Truth in HIS WORD!

"Your Word continues forever, Adonai, firmly fixed in heaven; your faithfulness through all generations; you established the earth, and it stands." Psalm 119:89-90

Hello from Mexico!

Recently I have had some telling conversations with a few people who have expressed to me that they or someone else have had concerns about this new direction I seem to be going in my beliefs and in my journey with Yahweh through His Son Yeshua. This "new" journey actually began for me many years ago with some compelling questions. It wasn't until 5 or 6 years ago that I seriously began to search for answers to these questions. And it wasn't until the last 2 or 3 years that I actually made the decision to ACT on the answers that I knew were from Yahweh! So, even though this "new" journey isn't really that new, I realize that I haven't outwardly shown this journey to many people, who might now be surprised at this supposed "sudden departure" from the "tried and true ways" of Christianity.

In my upcoming blog posts, I will be addressing some of these questions and the answers I have found and am still finding as I open my heart more and more to Yahweh's truth and seek Him alone.

The general question that I have had many times over the last 5 or 6 (or more) years is this:

"What if those things I have known and trusted regarding my faith and my beliefs about God and a relationship with Him have been wrong?"

Now, before you think that I am abandoning my God or my relationship with Yeshua, and before you think that I have begun to believe there is any other way of relationship with Yahweh outside of Yeshua, let me put your mind at ease. I have no doubt that the only way to have a relationship with Yahweh is through His Son Yeshua, the Living Word.

I do not think that EVERYTHING I have heard or been taught or known in my Christian walk is wrong. But I do think that MANY teachings and traditions that I have heard and embraced and accepted are not actually according to the complete Word of Yahweh but are actually from man and have been twisted subtly (and not so subtly) by the enemy who desires to keep us from the TRUTH of Yahweh.

For those of you who have ever had a similar life experience, you know how very hard it is to come to a realization that what you have "known" and accepted as truth is actually not truth, and in reality could be going directly against the Word of Yahweh. This experience has really shaken me over a period of years...and that is a good thing (although very hard at the same time)!

The primary Truth I have come to see, the Truth that governs every other sub-question I have, is this:

The WORD of Yahweh is true for His people. The COMPLETE WORD is true for His people. Every part of His Word is still for His people today. If we are believers in Yeshua, then we have been grafted into the people of Yahweh, and we are to OBEY His commandments, His Torah...every part of it!

Everything else, every specific detail of my new life immersed in obedience to the Word of Yahweh, hinges on this one Truth. I cannot examine the Scriptures with an open heart and open eyes and mind and not see that Yahweh does not change. He has made covenants with His people. He has given commandments to His people, instructions on how to live. Yeshua is the LIVING WORD! He did not come to abolish or do away with the Torah of Yahweh! He IS the Torah of Yahweh! He is the fullness of the Word of Elohim!


Psalm 119 is one of the first places this question came to my mind.
If you have ever read Psalm 119, you know that it is unique in several ways. It is an acrostic using every letter of the Hebrew alefbet (alphabet). Every section features a different Hebrew letter, and every line of that section begins with that letter (in Hebrew). And every part of all 176 verses of Psalm 119 is about obeying the mitzvot, commands, precepts, laws, Torah, instructions, rulings, WORD of Yahweh.

I grew up attending a Christian church from my very earliest childhood. We memorized Psalm 119:11 when I was kindergarten: "I treasure your Word in my heart, so that I won't sin against you." And all during my teen years, we sang a song directly from Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path." We learned the Ten Commandments from my earliest memory. We even had the Ten Commandments in public school when I was in the first grade.

Now, the questions for me came when I read the rest of Psalm 119. It is hard to ignore the fact that many times Christians ignore part of the TORAH, the commandments of Yahweh.

Psalm 119:4-5 says "You laid down your precepts for us to observe with care. May my ways be steady in observing your laws. Then I will not be put to shame, since I will have fixed my sight on all your mitzvot."
And in verse 21, "You rebuke the proud, the cursed, who stray from your mitzvot."

And in verses 33-34, "Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws; keeping them will be its own reward for me. Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah."

And in verses 51-53, "Though the arrogant scorn me completely, I have not turned away from your Torah. Adonai, I keep in mind your age-old rulings; in them I take comfort. Fury seizes me when I think of the wicked, because they abandon your Torah."

And in verses 71-72, "It is for my good that I have been humbled; it was so that I would learn your laws. The Torah you have spoken means more to me than a fortune in gold and silver."

And in verses 103-104, "How sweet to my tongue is your promise, truly sweeter than honey in my mouth! From your precepts I gain understanding; this is why I hate every false way."

And in verses 118-119, "You reject all who stray from your laws, for what they deceive themselves with is false. You discard the wicked of the earth like slag; this is why I love your instruction."

Verse 137, "You are righteous, Adonai; and your rulings are upright."

Verses 142 & 144, "Your righteousness is eternal righteousness, and your Torah is truth. Your instruction is righteous forever; give me understanding, and I will live."

The message in this Psalm is hard to ignore. Yahweh is serious about His people obeying His commands...ALL of them! From the beginning of His Word, in Genesis when he gave instructions to the first people, through to the covenants and Torah given to His people Israel, through to Yeshua's life and ministry, through to the early church, Yahweh has not changed and Yeshua is the LIVING WORD!

If Yahweh did not want His people to obey His Torah after the coming of Yeshua, then why do the New Testament writers quote, refer to, or allude to the Word of Elohim in the Old Testament at least 1,000 times (some sources say up to 4,000 times)? If Yahweh did not want believers in Yeshua to obey His Torah, then why did Yeshua obey and keep the Torah in every way? Why did Yeshua say this in Matthew 5:17-19? "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."

Yeshua, according to John chapter 1, was the WORD in the beginning, and all things came to be through Him. This Word became human and lived among us. In Revelation 19, the name by which Yeshua is called is THE WORD OF GOD. In John 5, Yeshua says that the Torah bears witness to Him, and that if people really believed Moses's writings in the Torah, then they would believe Yeshua as well, because it was about Yeshua that Moses was writing. Later in John 8, Yeshua says "If you obey what I say, then you are really my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
If Yeshua is the LIVING WORD of Yahweh, then He is the complete WORD, from beginning to end. If we obey what He says, then we will know the truth, learn from Him, and have relationship with Him.

Isaiah 40:8 says "The grass dries up, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever." Peter quotes this again in 1 Peter 1:24-25 and adds, "morever, this Word is the Good News which has been proclaimed to you."There are so many other scriptures throughout the WORD of Yahweh that support the truth that we are to obey His commands...ALL of them. It is worth researching and digging into much deeper!


So how does this change my life?

Briefly (and to save more for future posts), I have decided to no longer celebrate things that are not commanded by Yahweh and that have their origins in pagan idolatry. This includes Christmas and Easter. Instead I am learning more about Yahweh's appointed Feasts, commanded by Him to be observed by His people throughout all generations (that's me). Last year was the first year that I began to observe His command to keep Shabbat (Sabbath, Saturday) holy and set aside for Him as a resting day. My life has become so much richer as I see the implications and symbolism in His command to set apart this day. I still attend my church on Sunday, but that is only because that is the day they meet. Otherwise, I spend time with my Abba from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday in obedience to His Word, sometimes meeting with other believers to worship and study His Word...sometimes just resting with Him and delighting in Him.

This year is the first year I have celebrated the appointed Feasts. What a picture of Messiah they present! What a picture of Yahweh's timeline for past and coming events in His biblical calendar! What an amazing picture of His covenants with His people! I can't believe I have waited this long in my life to obey and observe this part of His Word.

I have begun to eat the foods that Yahweh laid out in His Word and stay away from those that He said to stay away from.

I have chosen to use the personal name for Elohim that He revealed and said to use: Yahweh. (If you read the intro section of just about any version of the Bible, you will discover that somewhere along the way, men removed the name of Elohim, Yahweh, from the Bible and replaced it with LORD or Adonai.) And I have chosen to use the proper Hebrew name for the Messiah, Yeshua or Yahushua, because the meaning of His real name is so important...it means "YHWH saves" and it includes the name of Elohim, showing that Yeshua and Yahweh are one.

I know there are more changes in my life that are still to come. I want to know and obey the complete Word of Yahweh. There is a difference between observing the Torah of Yahweh and observing the Rabbinical or even Christian traditions of man. I choose to observe the Torah, the Prophets, the Living Word of Yeshua.

Now, once again, I know that this is a huge jump for many people. It was for me. And I know it can cause some alarm and concern...it can bring up some strong reactions in people. It did in me.

If you would like to do some digging for yourself, I have put some helpful links in the Link Menu on the right side of this blog. Check out "Torah Resource" and "Bible Truth". I have also included a link for the version of the Bible I have been using in this blog - the Complete Jewish Bible. More than anything, it has been helpful for me to read the Word (both Testaments) with spiritual and fleshly eyes that are willing to be changed from tradition to truth. Yahweh's Word has been shining in dark places in my life, and I ask Him daily to show me more of the Truth of living in Him.