Daily Prophets
Day 168
“Because I know how stubborn you are. See, I refine you, but not as silver. I test you in the furnace of affliction. Thus said God, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, instructing you for your benefit. Guiding you in the paths you should go. If only you would heed my commands, then your prosperity would be like a river, your triumph like the waves of the sea.There is no peace for the wicked.”(Isaiah 48:4,10,17,18,22).
Isaiah continues to remind us about ourselves about our stubbornness and our recalcitrance towards God and God’s ways. We have been taught everything that is in the Torah and yet, we continue to defy what is good and right in God’s ‘eyes’ and what is good and right in our best interests. We continually make decisions that feed ego, feed the lies we tell ourselves, feed the false idols we follow, all the while believing that God is cool with what we are doing. Our stubbornness and our inability to acknowledge our errors continually come back to haunt us and keep us exiled from God, whether in the land or not. We have the power to end our exile, if only….
We accept the purification process that God gives to us. Yes, it is a fiery furnace and, like Daniel, we will come through it clean, better, less stubborn and with a new heart, a new commitment, a new vision for what can be and how to be. Second Isaiah seems to be reminding us that the exile and destruction is not retributive, rather it is for refinement and we are in desperate need of refining because we have filled ourselves with lies, with ‘fat’, with idol worship, with hard hearts, with all of the ways of being that defeated our ancestors. Exile is the time for us to re-evaluate and to make new choices (or not). God’s gift of refinement, of purification is the time and path for us to return to God and to our true, authentic nature of care and concern for another(s). Will we take heed to the Prophet’s words today or do we need another exile, another disaster, another destruction?
We do this by taking God’s instruction and using it. We realize, through taking God’s direction and paths that all of what is happening is for our benefit and is happening because we would not listen, hear nor understand our selfish and self-seeking ways and how we left the paths that God has given us. The prophet is reminding us that we have the gift of redemption being handed to us, we have the path to freedom and wholeness within our reach, and we have to take it in. We have to immerse ourselves in God’s paths, in God’s ways and let go of our stubbornness, our false gods, our lies and surrender. Surrender is the path to redemption-we surrender to negativity, to idols- let us surrender to God, our Redeemer and The One who loves us.
Only with following God’s paths do we negate the last sentence in this chapter. We know that there is no peace for the wicked. We have spent years wandering, worrying, restless when we are engaged in following paths other than God’s. Rabbi Heschel writes: “We measure manhood by the sword and are convinced that history is ultimately determined on the fields of battle. Righteousness and peace are interdependent.”(The Prophets pg. 161,162). When we realize the truth of his last statement then we will return and allow God to redeem us. We are in search of peace and we should instead be in search of righteousness that leads to peace. When we let go of our stubbornness, when we let go of our lies, our self-deception and we allow God’s teachings to penetrate our hearts, our minds and our souls, life changes and we find ourselves living as the righteous people God created us to be. We have to put down the sword, leave the battlefield and allow ourselves to be confronted and defeated by God so we are refined into the humanity that serves God and another(s).
In recovery, we surrender our stubbornness daily, hourly and sometimes minute by minute. We know we exile ourselves when we hold onto our stubbornness and our negative ways. We are grateful for the ways God has refined us, we rejoice in our afflictions as signs of God’s love and God’s desire for us to return to God. We know the pain of “no rest for the wicked” as we were unable to ever feel rested prior to our recovery. In recovery, we seek to heed God’s commands and to improve our relationship with God. In recovery, we know that God is home and we seek to make our home with God and another(s) humans.
I know stubbornness and I know when it has helped me and when it has harmed me. I am aware that I have been stubborn for God and stubborn against God. I have used my stubbornness to stay on the path that God has shown me, when another(s) have tried to lure me away. I have been stubborn in believing ‘my way or the highway’ and not heard God’s words nor direction. I have been exiled by my own actions, I had to spend time in prison to get purified and thanks to Rabbi Mel Silverman, I found God, God’s paths and a new heart, a new way of being. I have been exiled recently by an inappropriate behavior and the pain of being exiled without a hearing, without any input, being told my words mean nothing after years of service was very hard and painful to hear. I realize that, while the humans involved wanted to hurt me, God was showing my love, strength and a new path to follow. I am able to rest because I surrendered my evil ways 32+ years ago and today, I am blessed by God and you all. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark