Musing – What do you want to Accomplish in 2017?

Hebraic Musing – What do you want to Accomplish in 2017?

What do you want to accomplish in life?  Since the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, let’s start January 1^st?   However, a worthwhile journey has to start with a Critical Departure.  A cross-country trip for example involves leaving the comforts and familiarity of home in order to embark on a venture to a destination with many unfamiliar things to deal with on the way.

The day we were born was a very Critical Departure from the comfort of mother’s womb. Leaving home for college or whatever… required a Critical Departure because we had to leave that which is familiar and comfortable and come out into a place where the ordinary schedules and routines of life have to be abandoned in order to deal with a new set of physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges.   Yet the act of leaving will deter many because it is usually accompanied by a range of emotions - from apprehension to terror.

A Critical Departure does involve significant risk and requires major adjustments to the way one looks at, thinks about, and engages with the world.  It means leaving something behind - at least temporarily - to go where He has called us to go.  We are led on this journey by an invisible, Divine Hand.  If we settle for where we are when God would have us go somewhere else, we deprive our lives of meaning.  We would not be following His perfect will. 

Was that a Critical Departure when you accepted Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, as your Lord and Savior?

So let’s start with this statement "Every meaningful journey in life begins with a Critical Departure.”  What can we learn from some examples of Critical Departures in the Bible?

Abraham had to leave his family to go…    Gen 12:1-2  The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;… “ NIV

Moses had at least four Critical Departures.  First was being left in a basket in the Nile river; then had to leave Egypt suddenly; then he was called by God to return with a message “Let my people go”; and then the Exodus adventure.  In fact, all the Israelites experienced a Critical Departure in Chapter 14.

Jacob had to leave home because of animosity with Esau. “Jacob left Beersheba….to Haran” Gen 28:10   But he had a new name when he returned to the Promised Land as Israel.

Joshua rose early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out …”   to leave the desert and cross the Jordan miraculously in order to conquer the Promised Land. Joshua 3:1-17  

Ruth, a Moabite, was living in Moab when she made a Critical Departure to go with her Step-mother Naomi to Bethlehem.  As a result, she becomes listed in the lineage of David and Our Lord

Jesus made a Critical Departure from heaven for us.  John said  “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  John 1:9    What did Jesus give up in order to come to us in the flesh?

The day will come when each of us passes in a Critical Departure.  Are you ready?

Points to ponder

Are we caring too much about what we leave behind?
Or are we focused on what lies ahead?

What Critical Departure is God calling you to make?

Are we called to a Critical Departure by the word “Go” in Mark 16:15?

HAPPY CHANUKAH

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                       December 27, 2016