Daily Prophets
Day 61
“In that day, there will be several towns in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing loyalty to God;…For God will make Godself known to the Egyptians and the Egyptians will acknowledge God in that day…the Lord will afflict and then heal the Egyptians and they will return to God and God will respond to them and heal them.”(Isaiah 19:18, 21,22)
These verses all have in common a vision of Isaiah that all is not lost forever. No matter what is happening right now, there is hope and a promise of better things to come. While it is seen as a messianic vision/prophecy, I am not so sure. I am reading “in that day” as a pointer for all of us. I don’t believe we need another Moses, King David, Jesus, etc. to move us to “in that day”.
Rather, the verses above point the way for us. We have the opportunity In This Day to swear loyalty to God. We can do this by caring for the stranger, the widow, the orphan and the poor. We can do this by no longer perverting justice for our sake or the sake of our cronies. We can do this by not cheating the people who work for us. We can do this by lifting up our enemies ass when it falls down. We can do this!
God uses affliction not as punishment, as I am reading verse 22, rather as a way of opening our eyes to see how far we have strayed. The affection is what allows the Egyptians, in these verses, to know God, to experience God and to swear loyalty to God instead of believing in idols, false gods and themselves as gods. Affliction is a path to God, not to suffering and misery, when we realize that all we have to do is turn to God to be healed.
“In that day” is any and every day that we return to God, renew our covenant with God and stay faithful to God’s ways. Walk in God’s ways, we are told by Moses and other prophets, do justly, don’t make false images of self and/or God. Love your neighbor as yourself is one of the most important paths to follow in our return to God. When we see the Divine Image in our neighbor, our friends, our family, our enemy, we are able to relate to them in a Godly way, returning to God and our basic goodness of being.
Rabbi Heschel teaches: “What saved the prophets from despair was their messianic vision and the idea of man’s capacity for repentance. There is always a way that leads out of guilt: repentance or turning to God. The prophet is a person, who living in dismay, has the power to transcend his dismay.”(The Prophets pg 185). What an important teaching for us all! It is so easy to fall into despair and the prophets have shown us a way out-turn to God, reach out to another human being and find connection through transparency and truthfulness. Our challenge is to not fall in love with our dismay and our suffering, rather use them to turn to God, repent where appropriate and make “in that day” today.
Our Political leaders need think about what Egypt did to warrant their afflictions; they took advantage of the poor, the needy, the downtrodden. They treated most people as second-class citizens, they lived lives of “ruling privilege”, they did what they wanted to just because they could, they obstructed any and all things that were good for the people. My issue with these politicians is, like in Egypt, the people were afflicted also. We all pay for the mistakes of those we follow/allow to rule. It is time for We, The People, to stop wringing our hands and join the movements to get things done according to God’s will, not as a label, rather because it is the next right thing to do.
In recovery, we know all about affliction and healing. We are recipients of both. We are blessed for our afflictions and, many of us, are grateful for them. We continue to renew our covenant with God each day through prayer, meditation, the steps of AA, living a life based on Spiritual Principles and gratitude. We know that there is no one who can keep us in recovery except ourselves and we commit to our recovery through community and action each day. We know that we will never be perfect, nor are we expected to be by God and we seek spiritual progress each and every day. We are blessed because that progress can, and many times does, come from the errors we make everyday. Our nightly review shows us the progress and where we need to improve. Thank you God!
I have been afflicted and healed by God so many times in my recovery and before that I cannot even count them. I get afflicted because of the errors I make and the errors that others make. My healing, however, is all on me. When I am stuck in dismay and hurt, anger and sadness, I am not turning to God. In fact, for me, the only way out of these experiences is to turn to God. I see others wrap themselves in self-righteousness and I want to do the same, yet…turning to God, I see my part, repent for my part and turn to God for healing. I find that it is an inside job, my dismay comes from wanting something from another that I will never receive and not being willing to do my work and allow God’s healing. “In that day” is every day I return to God’s loving embrace, let go of my self-righteousness, walk in God’s ways and love my neighbor. How are you living “in that day” today? God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark