July 29, 2009

• Much have they afflicted me

  Psalms 129:1-8  A Song of Ascents. ‘Much have they afflicted me from my youth up’, let Israel now say;  (2)  ‘Much have they afflicted me from my youth up; but they have not prevailed against me.  (3)  The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.  (4)  The LORD is righteous; He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.’  (5)  Let them be ashamed and turned backward, all they that hate Zion.  (6)  Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it springeth up;  (7)  Wherewith the reaper filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.  (8)  Neither do they that go by say: ‘The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.’

  Israel was afflicted in Egypt.

  Exo 1:8-14  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. {9} And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: {10} Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. {11} Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. {12} But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. {13} And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: {14} And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

  When you look at the nation of Israel, and all the persecution it has suffered over the years, you realize that the only reason it is still even in existence is because of the power of G-d upon them. No other nation has been without a homeland for 2,000 years, and remained a separate people. And G-d preserved them and brought them back into the land, even preserving the Hebrew language.

  When you look at the history of the church and see the persecution it has endured over the years, once again it stands by the power of G-d. Read Maryr’s Mirror and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and see what people went through for their faith in Yeshua (Jesus). Read today of the persecution that has come upon the church.

  The common greeting out in the field was “The blessing of the Lord be upon you”.
  But the people who hurt Israel won’t get the blessing.

  Shalom uv’racha

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