Tisha b’ Av-Call to reflection
On this day when Israel mourns the destruction of the Temple, let us remember that God is ready and willing to forgive and to bless. He is waiting for Israel to repent and return to Him.
August 7, 2022
On this day when Israel mourns the destruction of the Temple, let us remember that God is ready and willing to forgive and to bless. He is waiting for Israel to repent and return to Him.
The God of Israel so loves Israel; He calls her the “apple of His eye.” Try to imagine how His heart must break to watch His Beloved suffer. Like a loving parent who must discipline a child, He knows what is best despite His personal pain.
As these sad days of Tisha b’Av come to an end, we rejoice in God’s absolute promise to gather the Jewish and return them to Jerusalem to worship them in the beauty of holiness.
God designed His calendar to give Israel at least one day every week to rest and reflect on their lives in relationship to God. Today like then we are so busy we rarely take the time God has given us. As a result, we like Israel find ourselves moving farther and farther way from Him.
Only faith in God’s faithfulness is realistic and can bring hope. God is faithful to Himself, to His character and to His word. Hoping, believing in anything else or anyone else is futile.
-Cry for compassion and mercy Lamentations 5:1-3a Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach! Our inheritance has been turned
Often American educators talk about “the 3 R’s” meaning: reading, writing and arithmetic.”
Consider the “3 R’s” of relationship with God: rest, reflect and repent. If we observe these three “R’s” the result will be: restoration and rejoicing!
On this first Shabbat of the Hebrew month of Av the count down to the 9th begins with increasing mourning . This nine day count down culminates on the day when the forces of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia finally broke through the defensive walls surrounding Jerusalem, generally accepted as happening in 586 BCE — and ends with the public fast day of Tisha B’Av — when the Babylonians finally destroyed the First Temple in 597 BCE and when the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
As long as people refuse to hear the truth, there will be false prophets. God’s truth is usually inconvenient and often makes us uncomfortable requiring that we change our lives.
The ultimate devastation was the destruction and plunder of the Temple.
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