Parasha Lech Lecha: Day 5

B'reisheet/Genesis 15:7-17:6

YHVH Elohim is not a respecter of men. He regards each individual based on the response  each person gives in the initial and ongoing contact that Elohim first initiates. If any man did not know that there was a Creator, the only Elohim, then why would he call upon Him? It is Elohim Himself Who causes any one person to realize that there is an El and that He can be called upon in times of distress. This is the same Creator that can be called upon in times of potential sin and temptation or to ask forgiveness in transgressions against Him and/or His Law concerning mankind or the earth.

Abram knew of this as he called upon Elohim numerous times, speaking to him in person. Others, though, would not seem to be likely candidates to have personal conversations with the Creator, or so it would seem to some that regard such conversations as purely sacrosanct and reserved for special, set apart people. It is quite evident that as man is drawn from the earthly corruption and sin of mankind, that Elohim does evoke more of Himself in many ways. Be it intimate contact, an audible voice, signs and wonders, or any infinite number of ways that YHVH can reveal Himself to man, the purest of these is shown to those that are called, chosen, anointed and set apart.

Far be it, however, to think that the Master of all things does not speak to anyone whom He chooses! Sarai's maid may not have been deemed as one to have a personal encounter with the Creator. After all, she was not of Abraham's seed, she had despised Sarai after the conception of Ishmael (and vice versa), and she did not submit to the authority of Sarai to the point of running away. Without Hagar's call, the angel of YHVH came to her, speaking to her about her life, situation, even prophesying over the fruit in her womb. At that point, Hagar, the woman who would spawn the a lineage who would hate Israel into the modern era, called Elohim a Name that had not yet been revealed to any other—El Roi, the Elohim Who Sees. Whether or not Hagar reared Ishmael in a Hebraic way that Abraham lived or not, she was given, as a foreigner, the opportunity to serve the Creator, walk in repentance and live according to His Words as Abraham would exemplify.

As more of Torah reveals the kindness and long-suffering of Elohim, it is important to point out that He has much patience, not only with us, but with the nations around His own people. For instance, there is a time for the gentiles, all the nations of the earth to teshuvah/repent and live their lives for YHVH Elohim, the only Elohim. That time will end as the end of the age approaches and His long-suffering for the nations of the earth will be spent even as He sends destruction, ultimately consuming the world. Until that time, the nations: pagans, heathens, atheists, agnostics, false religions fare and wide, and those in the church that do not walk in Covenant with Messiah all have the opportunity to return to Elohim and walk out the precepts listed in the Book as exemplified in Yeshua. The future demise is prophesied as Abram was listening to Elohim talk about the Amorite. Their time had not yet come as their iniquity was not yet complete. At the time that it was, more than four generations later, they were removed from the Land of Promise and replaced by YHVH's chosen people.

Wherever we are in life, it is still not too late to call upon the Name of YHVH. Through Yeshua our Messiah, we will find Him since He has first found us. One day, possibly soon, it may be too late as the earth and the transgressors of Torah and Covenant are cut off from the Living One. El Roi sees the circumstances in which each of us dwells. He has carefully placed us here in order to purify us and cause us to call upon His Name, shining as refined silver. Abraham acted favorably as Elohim called Him out of the Chaldeans. From that point forth, Abraham became a Hebrew, crossing over from his past and his former identity with an earthly nation. Hagar, may or may not have committed her heart or reared Ishmael in the way of Life; yet, she still heard Elohim's voice and responded in obedience by returning to Sarai (this would be repentance) and in naming her son Ishmael. When Elohim reveals to us His Name, be it YHVH or some other magnificent outpouring of Himself, will be respond correctly? As our father Abraham, whom Elohim talked to more and more, may we find that voice and hear as we obey and be drawn closer to the Creator.

Dwell upon John 10:16, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd."