How to Have An Outstanding Shanah Tovah!

In case you haven't noticed, the current year is 5785. We have just entered the Jewish New Year!

We Jews routinely greet each other with "Shanah Tovah," exchanging a wish for a good New Year during what is known as the Ten Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah (the beginning of the new year) and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

But how can we make this New Year outstanding? Our Torah reading in D'varim/Deuteronomy 32 shows us how!

We will have an outstanding year as we imitate the perfect character of our God and wear three hats he wears: Finder, Protector, and Provider.

The model to follow is ADONAI himself!

"The Rock! His work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A trustworthy God who does no wrong, he is righteous and straight" (D'varim/Deuteronomy 32:4).  

The character of God is the Gold Standard by which we should be measuring ourselves.  

Paul echoes this imperative in his letter to the Ephesians,

“Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly loved children;  and walk in love, just as Messiah also loved us and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

To walk God’s straight and narrow, we must align ourselves with his character whch is righteous and straight. We see that character and behavior in the pages of Scripture and embodied in Yeshua, our Righteous Messiah

The text also tells us an alternative to avoid. It says this in verse 5, that while God is not corrupt, “the defect is in his children, a crooked and perverted generation.” 

If we seek to compare ourselves to other people without keeping God’s character foremost in our minds, we will always end up bent. Paul picks up on this too in writing to the Corinthians. Here is what he says: “Be imitators of me as I am of Messiah.” The point? Don't imitate people who do not embody Yeshua's characteristics.

Hebrews 1:2-3 says this: “In these last days He has spoken to us through a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He created the universe. ³ This Son is the radiance of His glory and the imprint of His being.”

Yeshua bears the very stamp of God’s nature. By our fellowship with the Holy Spirit, life of prayer, and immersion into God’s word, we should ourselves bear the imprint of God’s nature evident in Messiah, and, in Paul’s words, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold” (Roman 12:2, Phillips). Always check yourself out: which imprint are you bearing? With what are you aligning yourself. What are the models you follow?

WHAT ARE THE THREE HATS GOD GIVES US WHICH WE SHOULD BE WEARING IN THE YEAR AHEAD?

The Finder Hat - "He found his people in desert country, in a howling, wasted wilderness” (v.10).  If we would live a righteous and rewarding life in the year to come we should always be finding people whom God is seeking, just as Adonai found his people in a desert place. The Son of Man came to seek and save those who were lost. We should be doing the same thing, focusing especially on our specific calling to find the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. 

The Protector Hat - “He protected him and cared for him, guarded him like the pupil of his eye.” (v.10)  In our lives with others this is part of who we should be:  Protectors. The opposite being a protector would be to be a person who tries to not notice the afflictions of others, or their mistreatment. This is the person who does not want to get involved. Is this righteouness? No. Is this bearing the image of Yeshua?  No it is NOT.

The Provider Hat - Finally, we will be providers. “They ate the produce of the fields. He had them suck honey from the rocks and olive oil from the crags, curds from the cows and milk from the sheep, with lamb fat, rams from Bashan and goats, with the finest wheat flour; and you drank sparkling wine from the blood of grapes" (vv. 12-13).

This means that the needs of others will not be to us a matter of indifference. And here we are not simply speaking of material needs, but of emotional and spiritual needs. We will be nurturers. This means we will be the kinds of people to whom others instinctively go when they are hurting or spiritually hungry.

We will surely have an outstanding new year if we consistently reflect the character of our God embodied in our Messiah, and if we wear these three hats, being finders of God's wandering sheep, protectors of the vulnerable and mistreated, and providers, sensitive to the needs of those around us.

If we will win a reputation this kind of behavior, we will reflect well on the reputation of God. And that will be outstanding!

SHANAH TOVAH!

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