ENTERING OUR ARK

Adonai said to Noach, “Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me.” Genesis 7:1

And Noah did follow Yahveh’s command; he and his family entered the ark and found respite from the fountains of water, which poured on the earth. And this, too, becomes a lesson for us, who wish to live our day in peace and tranquility.

Our ark is solitary time with Yahveh. When we come into prayer and meditation, at the beginning of our day, we enter into a space of peace and quiet, a time when our world is tranquil. We don’t find too many spaces like that throughout the day.

Prayer brings us closer to Yahveh and allows us to be within the shelter of His righteousness. These are times when we commune with Him; we share in the blessings He pours upon us and He hears the desires of our hearts.

Prayer is also a time for us to praise and worship our Creator, the One who fashioned us and made us in His image. What a better way to begin our day, than be in His presence, right at the centre of our hearts, in prayer.

Listen to His voice, as we read in Jeremiah 33:3, ‘Call out to me, and I will answer you — I will tell you great things, hidden things of which you are unaware’. In this verse Yahveh promises He will share with us and build our love and trust in and for Him.

And, then, when faced with struggles and hardships, Yahveh urges us to come to Him and share our burdens, as we read in Psalm 34:17 – The righteous cried out, and Adonai heard, and he saved them from all their troubles. What better way to relieve us of our struggles, than to give them to our God, who desires us to share with Him.

Meditation is a similar process to prayer, in that we are sitting, preferably, or lying down in a quiet pose. This is a way of being still in His presence, listening to His voice and He listening to our hearts and souls. The secular world calls this a period of mindfulness, which allows us to centre ourselves. However, believers focus our thoughts on Him and envision Him with us – sitting beside us, holding us, comforting us or just being with us, sitting beside us.. This allows us to speak with Him, through our hearts and souls. This is ‘spirit’ speaking with ‘spirit’.

In Isaiah 26:3, we read – A person whose desire rests on You, You preserve in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. Here we find a clear reference to meditating on Yahveh and finding peace within that period of time.

Rav Sha’ul. The Apostle Paul, also advocates for meditation in our lives, as he teaches us, in Philippians 4:8 – In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy. This is a very purposeful meditation process, in which we focus our thoughts on those behaviours and attitudes which are good and wholesome, those which we wish to develop within us and those which we know He wishes us to develop.

Beloved, we know God is never away from us; He is always with us, through His Ruach HaKadosh, His Holy Spirit. However, we may slip away from Him, through our behaviours and our thoughts. We can walk away from Him, whenever we stray from His Word. But we can come back, both through prayer and meditation. I urge all of us to engage in these two godly pursuits this day and begin to develop a regimen, which will bring us and keep us closer to our Beloved Yahveh. Remember King David’s words for us, as recorded in Psalm 19:14 – “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in your presence, Adonai, my Rock and Redeemer.”

May the God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you richly.

I would love to hear from you. Please send me your questions, comments and feedback. I will respond to every one.

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