Peoples is Peoples

This past week was pretty rough.  When I sat down on Sat. the 13^th, I was greeted with the news that a musician I have a lot of respect for passed away. I know we see news of people, especially musicians, passing every day. The reason this one hit me so hard is because, along with many, many others, I had been praying for Chi for a long time. You see, Chi was in a car accident back in 2008 and was in a coma for three years. Around a year ago, he progressed to a semi conscience state and remained in that condition until his death. 

So many people where claiming complete healing in our Messiah’s name and I’m sure that they all expected it faithfully. Obviously, Yah’s plan was different from ours and Chi’s heart stopped early Saturday morning. I can only speculate from interviews I’ve read what his relationship with YHVH was, but I also know that Yah has reached people in much worse situations than being in a coma. While I am saddened by his loss, I know Yah’s will was done. So many people came together in prayer and support and fellowship. It will only be when we see the complete picture that we can see all the amazing things that Yah did through his life. 

So that brings me to Monday. I think it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I had no idea that anything had happened. My wife told me as soon as I walked in the door. I immediately grabbed my computer to follow the news as it was breaking.  My heart dropped to my stomach with the first photo I saw. So much destruction and needless loss of life. 

Then the fingers started pointing. Who should we blame? What are we going to do when we get our hands on them? The tragic answer to that came on Friday, when one of the bombers was killed in a shootout with police. The only difference was, when that news dropped what I saw and heard was people celebrating that the man “got what he deserved” and rejoicing in his death. That was the point when my heart broke.

 ^“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins.”-2 Peter 3:9

Now, before I go too far, let me just say that I think that justice was served in the case above. I do not think that it was in the least unjustified. What I am saying is that if the Lord YHVH doesn’t wish that any man perish, then why would we ever rejoice when they do? Every human being contains the breath of our Creator. When they are gone, every chance at redemption and His salvation are gone.

When we look through scripture we see countless examples of praising Yah for the removal of their enemies. In each case I’ve found, none of them ever seem to be celebrating the loss of life, rather the deliverance that Yah has given them. One of my favorite examples is the Song of Moses.

Then Moshe and the people of Isra’el sang this song to Adonai:

“I will sing to Adonai, for he is highly exalted:
the horse and its rider he threw in the sea.

² Yah is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
This is my God: I will glorify him;
my father’s God: I will exalt him.
³ Adonai is a warrior;
Adonai is his name.

⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he hurled into the sea.
His elite commanders
were drowned in the Sea of Suf.
⁵ The deep waters covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶ Your right hand, Adonai, is sublimely powerful;
your right hand, Adonai, shatters the foe.
⁷ By your great majesty you bring down your enemies;
you send out your wrath to consume them like stubble.

⁸ With a blast from your nostrils the waters piled up —
the waters stood up like a wall,
the depths of the sea became firm ground.
⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue and overtake,
divide the spoil and gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
¹⁰ You blew with your wind, the sea covered them,
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?
Who is like you, sublime in holiness,
awesome in praises, working wonders?

¹² You reached out with your right hand:
the earth swallowed them.
¹³ In your love, you led the people you redeemed;
in your strength, you guided them to your holy abode.

¹⁴ The peoples have heard, and they tremble;
anguish takes hold of those living in P’leshet;
¹⁵ then the chiefs of Edom are dismayed;
trepidation seizes the heads of Mo’av;
all those living in Kena‘an are melted away.
¹⁶ Terror and dread fall on them;
by the might of your arm they are still as stone
until your people pass over, Adonai,
till the people you purchased pass over.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain which is your heritage,
the place, Adonai, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, Adonai, which your hands established.

¹⁸ Adonai will reign forever and ever.

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots
and with his cavalry into the sea,
but Adonai brought the sea waters back upon them,
while the people of Isra’el walked on dry land
in the midst of the sea!”

²⁰ Also Miryam the prophet, sister of Aharon, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing, ²¹ as Miryam sang to them:

“Sing to Adonai, for he is highly exalted!
The horse and its rider he threw in the sea!”- Exodus 15:1-20

I’ve always loved this. Throughout the song we see the praise of Yah for the deliverance of His people. Yet, we never see the people glorifying the loss of life.

I guess what I’m getting at is that, life is so special. A great gift from Yah. Yet we treat it so lightly. We thirst for vengeance, yet we don’t blink an eye for the millions of babies that are killed every year in their mothers’ wombs. We don’t blink when we see the numbers of soldiers that have died. We shed no tears for the victims of suicide bombing as long as it’s not in our back yard.  When we’re gone, that’s it. Time’s up. All the chances you had to fall before Yah in repentance are gone. Evil people need their lives more, in some respects, than those of us who know Yah. They need every chance they can get.  Just some food for thought.

One love,

Albert C. Coble

Yah Loves Variety

I was doing some self-evaluation recently. Just running through the things that seem to define me; the hobbies and actions that make up who I think I am. I started to jot down the things that I find beautiful and have passion for and think that I have at least a small talent in. Things like music, photography, drawing, and gardening. 

Then as I was on my way to work, I heard a passage of scripture that really got me thinking about those particular passions of mine and where they came from. The verse was John 3:27:

“Yochanan answered, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from Heaven.”

This verse sent me on a rollercoaster of thoughts about who we are and the abilities that we have and where they come from. I started from the beginning, literally. Genesis and the creation account. We see Yah created everything. What we don’t ever get a sense of, simply because it’s recorded so matter of factly, is the way that everything worked so perfectly together. How everything from the sun and moon to the grass; they each perform a specific function that all effect each other and work together. Everything is so precisely calculated and everything has a purpose, as part of the whole and as the individual. 

Well, it didn’t take me long to come across something that really got my noodle baking.

“⁷ Then Adonai, God, formed a person from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being.” –Genesis 2:7

The second part of this verse is the one that really caught my attention. Yah breathed life into man. To me, that is a clear statement that our very being is connected to The Creator Himself. A part of Him lives within every living man and woman. This Creator who made everything with a purpose as a part of the whole and in the individual, left His breath as the source for our very existence.  So does it not make sense that the very desires and passions and interest that each one of us has are specific attributes of YHVH? I mean, really look at it. We see from the very first chapter that Yah is the first painter, architect, mathematician, musician (I mean, He created sound!), gardener, caregiver, scientist (since He created it), and every other attribute that there is! 

This really blew my mind and I am not entirely sure if I am articulating it correctly, but what a thought! I mean, look how much time we spent in high school warring with all the other people who didn’t see things the way we see them. In reality, we all need to have an understanding of where our passions came from. His purpose for them in our lives are to work together so we can see the complete picture!  That is why fellowship is so important! Our hearts and minds are geared to certain ways of thinking. Mine is in the art and the beauty of everything my Yah has created. While I know many people who can only see the black and white and analytical side of things. When we come together, our spirits can understand those things more through our combined perspective!

We must be careful not to lean on our own understanding, however. I mean, these attributes of His very being were given to us. Who are we to use them for our own ends? We did nothing to earn them, just as we did nothing to earn His love. Pride was the downfall. What do we have to be proud of?

“After all, what makes you so special? What do you have that you didn’t receive as a gift? And if in fact it was a gift, why do you boast as if it weren’t?” -1 Corinthians 4:7

All too often in my own walk, I lose track of where my gifts came from and start focusing on how great I am at said gift. Yah is always swift to pull the rug out from under my feet. And even though it sucks when it happens, I am grateful in retrospect that He refuses to let me use His breath for my own means. Many times I prayed that the second what I do stops being a ministry, that He would strip it from me. He has been faithful to that, and I praise Him for it. I had writers block for close to four years because I started just diving in to how I wanted things to be. I stopped focusing on just letting Him move through me and started trying to do it the way I saw fit. I am thankful for that now, even though at the time my world seemed to be falling apart.

I want every breath to be given back. I want to work with the spirit in those who see things in a different narrative in order to see the whole picture. We are truly wondrous creations that we have the indwelling of the very attributes of our Creator.  We can do so much to help others to see the completed masterpiece of who our Abba is. That is one of the many reasons we are called to help one another repeatedly throughout Scripture.

“As each one has received some spiritual gift, he should use it to serve others, like good managers of God’s many-sided grace —” -1 Peter 4:10

We are nothing without Him. Everything we have is Him. We have been given free will to see it out to our own ends, but in the end, our breath is going back to Him one way or the other. I would much rather offer it in thanks than have it pulled from my lungs. 

“So I fill my lungs with every breathe that comes from You. The taste is sweet and the sensation is something new.” – I wrote this for my wife some time ago. I felt compelled to offer it to Abba here in light of the revelation He has placed on my heart.

One Love,

Albert C. Coble

"The Scene and Herd"

Ahhhhh. The “sheeple”. All the lovely folks who find something to cling to in this world and follow it with a blind devotion that can only be shattered by the realization of how completely full of crap it really is. For years I clung to anything that would “set me apart” from the status quo. I wanted to do everything in my power to not be like the preppy kids or the mainstream. I loved punk rock music. If it wasn’t punk rock I wouldn’t listen to it. I would call other people posers because they weren’t living up to what my expectations of what punk really was, all the while I was ignoring that image of a mirror in my head when I said it. I dressed the way I thought my heroes dressed. I wanted so badly to fit in with the people who were non-conformist. I wanted to flaunt my individuality. And THAT, my friends, is really where the contradictions start to pile up.

Thinking back on it now, it all seems so ridiculous. I mean, seriously? In order to not be like everyone else, all I had to do was dress, act, and like all the same things as everyone else? Hmmmm. Even when I became a Christian, it only got worse. Now I felt I was truly unique, and in a sense, I was. The problem was I wasn’t focusing on the right reasons for being unique. I didn’t do what everyone else did and I took a sense of pride in that. Not because it was pleasing to Abba, but because I found pride in not being like everyone else. I was a dumb kid.

For years I would shy away from things because I deemed them part of a specific group or scene that I didn’t want to be affiliated with. I wanted people to see me and think that I “was” whatever scene I was into that week. Be it a punk, or a skater dude, whatever. I wouldn’t listen to music that I now love simply because I didn’t think people who were *insert genre here* would listen to it. I never listened to reggae, which I now LOVE, because I didn’t want to be a hippie. I didn’t listen to country because I hated rednecks (Johnny Cash is now a personal hero of mine). I missed out on SO much simply because I wanted to fit in by not fitting in.

Then came the removal of the scales. The sweet, beautiful freedom of Torah. Yah laid into my heart hardcore. He taught me about love, about how to live a life that is pleasing to Him. He taught me that in order to be free, I had to first become a slave.

² In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the ‘olam hazeh (this world). Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.

Romans 12:2

So there it is, plain as the nose on my face, this, if you haven’t noticed, is rather large. Conformity is inevitable. In the body, and in obedience, we all still have our individuality. Yah doesn’t want robots. He wants us to love Him willingly, on His terms. Those terms will set you apart from this world. Trust me. The best part? The best part is that I don’t care how I seem to people any more. I care how I seem to YHVH. That is what is most important. I will gladly tie myself down to conformity to His will. His burden is light. It’s not hard. All you need to do is seek Him with all your heart. He told you how. It’s all laid out in Scripture for you.

Every day I hear someone spouting the mantra “do what makes you happy”. Well, what about what makes Yah happy? Why is no one focusing on that? Trying to do what makes you happy only serves to conforming you more to this world. I would much rather do what I can to live a life that pleases my Abba. It seems so much more worthwhile to seek out Abba’s will for my life than to try to please myself. After all, with everything He has done for me, not the least of which sending His son to atone for my sins and make reconciliation between us, it seems only fitting that I would want to spend the rest of my days according to Him. And don’t even get me started on how seeking and walking out His will for my life brings MUCH MORE Joy than anything I was ever doing on my own. It’s a literal win-win situation. I make myself happy by doing what pleases Him. It is the single most gratifying thing in my entire.

The bottom line is, when I was trying so hard to be different, I was nothing but bitter. I hated anyone who didn’t see things the way I did.  I was so judgmental of anything that didn’t fit my scene. Now, I have peace. I am not living up to the standards of Man. I love people and want them to be a part of this “scene”. I want nothing more than to please my Abba, and I take every joy in Him. My heart is full to the point of overflowing. I love the things of Him. I wish I could articulate fully the burden that has been lifted through Him. I honestly believe the words don’t exist to truly express the peace of mind that comes from trying to live in His will. That is something I can get behind.

One love,

Albert C. Coble

Halleluyah!

Praise Adonai from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
² Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his armies!

³ Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all shining stars!
⁴ Praise him, highest heaven,
and waters above the heavens!

⁵ Let them praise the name of Adonai;
for he commanded, and they were created.
⁶ He established them forever and ever;
he has given a law to which they must conform.

⁷ Praise Adonai from the earth,
sea monsters and watery depths,
⁸ fire and hail, snow and mist,
storm-winds that obey his word,
⁹ mountains and every hill,
fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all livestock,
creeping reptiles, flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women alike,
old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of Adonai,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above both earth and heaven.

¹⁴ He has increased the power of his people,
granted praise to all his faithful,
to the descendants of Isra’el,
a people close to him.

Halleluyah!

Psalm 148

Where is the Love, the Love, the Love?

I have been fighting with this one for a few days now. I know what I want to say, rather, what I feel Abba is leading me to say, but I can’t find the right words to articulate it. I have been going back and forth and back and forth, starting over and over and over again, trying to make it work. Finally, the revelation hit me, just pour it out, say what Yah is speaking to your heart and don’t try to force it. Nothing will interfere with His plan if it is what He wants. So, here it goes.

Torah Observant, Hebrew Roots Movement, Messianic Jews, whatever you prefer-- the reason you ended up where you are in your faith is because Abba removed the scales from your eyes. He revealed to you the truth of His word and His law. Because of His divine grace, we now have a greater understanding of who we are called to be in Him; instructions on how we can live in a way that honors our Elohim; how we can “…love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ (Matthew 22:37).

How great is that? I mean, truly? Yah is unlike any other.

I mean, He gave us commandments so He could dwell close to us. What other nation can say this of their god?

“7 For what great nation is there that has God as close to them as ADONAI our God is, whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today? 9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so that you won’t forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these things won’t vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your children and grandchildren — 10 the day you stood before ADONAI your God at Horev, when ADONAI said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their children.’ –Deuteronomy 4:7-10

So, now we have an instruction manual, if you will, on how to live our lives in a manner pleasing to Yah handed down by Yah Himself. That fact alone should be all the reason we need to rejoice! The Creator of all things thinks we are important enough that He should desire to be close to us!

I have to wonder, though, from a lot of the things I’ve seen lately, where is the love? Where is the joy? I mean, why is everyone seemingly up in arms? Have so many of us gotten lost in the writings that we have forgotten their author or their purpose?

Seriously, where did it go? Lately there has been so much in fighting, finger pointing, and all around lack of enthusiasm over our faith. SO many of us have “Lost the Plot” to the greatest story. What I am seeing is so many of us who are so consumed with the letter of the law, that we have lost the words of the law and, more importantly, the One who gave it to us and His purpose in it.

So many of us started out on this journey diligently seeking His will for us and the way we can honor and glorify Him by being a set apart people. Somewhere along the line, we forgot that the reason that our eyes were opened is because He loves us. So many of us seem to be becoming slaves to the law in a way that it was never intended for it to be for us. Please don’t misunderstand me; I am NOT saying that Torah is bondage. I am saying that when we start worrying about the law, the law, the law and lose focus of its Author and the joy we are supposed to take from it, we are not following Yah anymore, but the law alone.

Psalm 119 had this to say:
47 I will delight myself in your mitzvot,
which I have loved.
48 I will lift my hands to your mitzvot, which I love;
and I will meditate on your laws.

I love this verse. It spells out Yah’s purpose for His law so completely to me in just a few simple words. We are to delight in His law. To love it, meditate on it, and lift our hands in praise to our Creator for it. Yah has given us His own instructions on how we can lead a life that is in His will! How great is that?! Our Elohim has handed down His instructions for our life so that we can not only have a clear understanding of what He sees as righteous, but also so that we can delight in His wisdom!



Did you catch that? Key words in these verses are “delight,” “loved,” “lift my hands,” “love,” (again), and “meditate”. At what point do we read the Psalmist saying that he will worry and fret or chastise others? I didn’t see it, did you?

Torah wasn’t meant to cause division amongst those who honor it. When we fight and nitpick with anyone who doesn't meet our standards or interpretation of Torah, we begin to turn into the same kind of Pharisees who chastised the lame man Yeshua healed (John 5). We focus less on the work of our Messiah, and more on ourselves. The Scripture gives us specific instructions. We should ALWAYS be meditating on them, but an issue arises when we put implied meaning on them. When we add to them, we start to make them our rules and not the rules that Abba gave.

I’m not pointing fingers and I won’t name names, but I have seen so much hatefulness towards fellow believers and towards those who don’t yet understand that the Law isn’t done away with. Yes, Yah has called many of us to be warriors of the faith, and ALL of us should be ready at any instant to give reason for our faith (1 Peter 3:15). But when we go out picking a fight so we can prove how superior we are or with the intent to cast stones and belittle people, we become no better than those we should be seeking to correct, not chastise hatefully. I don’t see the point in running out to look for a fight. If you are really walking in the Word of Yah, the fight will undoubtedly come to you. If we trust Abba, and keep His word close to our hearts, He will provide you with all you need to say. If we start relying on our own understanding, we will invariably spit venom and make other children of Yah and Yeshua Himself look like pious jerks.
 

There is a time for war, there is a time for all things, but we are called to carry out all tasks in LOVE. Love was the reason for the law. Why are we always so somber and furrow browed when we meditate or even discuss it? We should be dancing like David danced! Singing and shouting and rejoicing that the One and only true Elohim wants us to be pleasing to Him! If we are not careful, we will become nothing more than the Bible-thumping, crotchety old men who have no joy in their lives. 

I love my Abba. I am eternally grateful for every gift He has bestowed on me. Everything we have is a gift. I don’t want to get so wrapped up in the words that I stop being wrapped up in loving Him. I don’t want to lose sight of the forest because of the trees.

4 Rejoice in union with the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice!
-Philippians 4:4

Think on this, what is it that people see in you? Is it something that they want? Do they see a happiness or peace that they desire for themselves? Or do they see a heavy burden? Do they see rules and restrictions that make you miserable? What should they see? Yeshua said His yoke was light and His burden was easy (Mathew 11:30). Torah was designed to be something that brought us true freedom, not to be restricting and confine us to joyless lives. It’s time we started acting in love. To be the servant that Yeshua called us to be.