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This time of the year is notorious for people being busier than normal.
In USA the nation celebrates Thanksgiving on 27th November. It causes an increase in travel, preparations for visitors and buying food to feed the families that reunite every year. Decorations for the day are an added project, along with cooking and serving a large turkey meal.
In less than one month preparations for Christmas celebrations begin. This time with added expense of gifts which are exchanged. The debts begin to mount up along with the stress. Around the world where Christians remember and celebrate the birth of Messiah, Christmas is a big event; and yet it spawns the opposite of what part of the angels message in Luke 2:14 was …. “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth PEACE, goodwill toward men!”
For many families, shalom/peace is the last thing that describes this time of the year. The Holy Days have transitioned into simply holidays just like the word itself.
We are not to forget the original reason for these celebrations by getting caught up in gift giving and days of over eating, which seems to have expanded to include the New Year as well. For new readers it must be mentioned here that December 25th is probably not when Messiah was born; and Western New Year celebration is very pagan in origin, as the Gregorian calendar is not the same as the Hebrew one. We have looked at these subjects in previous posts. However back to the shalom/peace the angels spoke of, in context: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
This peace/shalom seems to be in short supply during these winter festivities, as the focus moves further and further away from the birth of our beloved Messiah.
The priest Zechariah saw in the birth of Messiah the coming of God’s light “to guide our feet into the path of peace”. Luke 1:79.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. / Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
He is the Prince of Peace the Sar Shalom and in the Hebrew word Shalom is the fullness of all that is missing from our lives. When two Jewish people meet, they greet each other with “Shalom,” and when they depart, they also say, “Shalom.” shalom – שׁלום comes from the root: sh-l-m, which means: to be complete, sound, or whole, denoting wholeness or completeness,
Along with peace, it means much more than the absence of war or other disturbances. The word carries the ideas of health, prosperity, safety, completeness, harmony, and fulfillment. It speaks of a full and satisfying life.
Shalom does not describe just the absence of something, (such as war or anxiety), but rather the presence of something. It’s a state of wholeness, harmony, and divine order. Shalom is what happens when everything is functioning according to our Heavenly Father’s design.
This one Hebrew word holds the key to understanding:
the heart of our Heavenly Father,
the mission of the Messiah,
and the kind of life we are called to build in partnership with Him.
Insert the full meaning of shalom/peace in the following scriptures for an amplified understanding.
Luke 19:38
Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Ephesians 2:14-18
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility / by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace / and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. …
Yeshua doesn’t just give shalom. HE iS shalom. His mission was to reconcile heaven and earth, Jew and Gentile, humanity and our Heavenly Father.
Colossians 1:19-20
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, / and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.
Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, / equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 57:19
bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal them.”
Psalm 29:11
The LORD gives His people strength; the LORD blesses His people with peace.
Micah 5:5
And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.
Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. / And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be broken. Then He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 1:2
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance
When Yeshua appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, His first words were “Shalom aleichem,” which means, “Peace be upon you.” He wasn’t just offering comfort; He was announcing victory because through His death and resurrection, the broken relationship and loss of shalom/peace between Father God and humanity was healed. The curse was reversed and true shalom had been made possible again.
When Yeshua speaks shalom/peace… He creates shalom/peace because the words that He speaks are always spirit – ruach and life- chaim.
We should ask ourselves have we ever truly received what Yeshua speaks?
My peace/shalom I GIVE to you ….. GIVE is in the present tense – NOT in a past or future tense…it’s Now. Now faith, today, this moment. This peace/shalom comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment in the fullness of its Hebrew meaning.
Reflecting His shalom/peace is proof that we are in right relationship with our Heavenly Father because we are exhibiting the freedom to turn our minds to Him. If we are not right with the Father we can never turn our mind anywhere but on ourselves. Allowing anything to hide the face of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus from us either causes us to become troubled, or gives us a false sense of security.
When we communicate with Yeshua confusion stops. We are troubled when we don’t take Him into account. In Him there is no confusion. We are to do as Hebrews 12:2 says: looking unto Jesus and receive His Peace/Shalom as He creates it for us. If we try to worry our way out of a problem we destroy His effectiveness in us. As He walks toward us on the waters of the sorrows of our lives, we will hear His voice calling our name above the sound of the storm saying: Peace/Shalom.. Be still…Be still and know that I am God. When we are tempted to despair or be anxious in a present difficult situation, when everything seems chaotic and the pressures of life seem to overwhelm us…we are to remember Phil. 4:6 and …. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace/shalom of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
It is all part of our Heavenly Fathers plan and He is working out the details of the circumstances so that He can bless us and reveal Himself to us in a new way.
This ‘busy-ness’ we tend to fall into, reminds us of the account of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:42 as Messiah asks us the same question:
What is most important to you?
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Psalm 119:165 says Those who love your Torah have great shalom/peace nothing makes them stumble.
Living in shalom/peace means much more than feeling calm during chaos. It’s a lifestyle of alignment with our Heavenly Father’s purposes in every area of life—spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical.
Some practical expressions of shalom:
In the area of reconciliation by repairing relationships and avoiding conflict.
In generosity by sharing resources so that no one lacks what they need.
For justice by standing against systems that oppress or devalue others.
On Shabbat/Sabbath by making time and space for rest and renewal which is the rhythm of creation itself.
By displaying integrity in living whole and being the same person in private and in public.
In the ancient world, when people greeted one another with shalom, they weren’t saying, ‘I hope you’re relaxed.’ They were declaring, ‘I desire for your life to be whole.’
Yeshua’s central message was the Kingdom of God. And His Kingdom is the ultimate expression of shalom/peace: The rule of our Heavenly Father bringing order and wholeness to a broken world.
In Hebrew thought, peace/shalom is never separated from justice. As Isaiah 32:17says,
“The work of righteousness will be peace (shalom), and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”
That’s why shalom -peace and tzedek – righteousness, always go together, hand in hand. When He reigns, peace and righteousness kiss. Psalm 85:10. For followers of Yeshua, pursuing shalom means joining His mission to bring heaven’s order into the chaos of earth.
“You keep him in perfect peace (shalom shalom) whose mind is stayed on You.”
That double expression, shalom shalom, suggests complete peace: peace with our Heavenly Father, within ourselves, and with others. It’s a reminder that divine wholeness begins in the heart and radiates outward.
During these ‘holydays,’ may the shalom/peace of our Heavenly Father replace all chaos, worry, anxiety and stress and fill our hearts and minds in Messiah with nothing missing, nothing broken, complete, wholeness in body, mind, and spirit.
Shalom, I give you, Shalom, I leave with you.
Shalom, Shalom ‘Mishpachah’
‘Family/Tribe’
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa,
friends, visitors and every reader…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His
and are truly born again from above.
Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is
your Redeemer, Savior, Lord
and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.
I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Last post we looked at how we are to
wait patiently for the Lord in all things…
There are many instances in the scriptures where individuals have asked the Lord to give them signs or to confirm direction, action and clear instruction on how to proceed along the Way. Some examples are: Gideon, David, Moses, Eliezer, etc.
This is not something they did all the time, only when they were not sure about a decision they had to make in a particular situation. The human mind and heart can be deceiving, and the blessing is that we can ask our Heavenly Father to confirm to us, if the decision we are about to make is the right one.
However, as general guidance for disciples of Messiah who are filled with His Holy Spirit, who walk by faith and not by sight, we should not need visual aids every time to confirm our leading from His Spirit. Yet sometimes we treat the Lord like some kind of game we play, ignoring His response until we get the answer we want. We think that blending our situation together with our prayers the Lord will somehow give us a sign, something on which to hang our hopes…
Why is that?
Is it because we are having difficulty in hearing Him?
In Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 we read the account of how Eliezer found a wife for Isaac by seemingly giving the Lord conditions and instructions for Him to make it obvious who was to be the bride for Isaac.
But was it Eliezer who made up this situation with its consequences, or was it all predetermined because His answer came immediately? In fact, the Creator of the Universe had prepared the answer even before it was requested because His plan was already in motion.
Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. Gen. 24:15.
There is a huge difference between snatching for answers in things that occur randomly or in self-fulfilling prophecies, and truly being directed by the Holy Spirit of our Heavenly Father. He can and does guide us by giving us specific signs to follow. The question is do we know Him well enough to recognize His signs when we see them? Do we have the wisdom to follow them? All her paths are peace. Proverbs 3:17
Following a sign from Fathers’ Holy Spirit is certainly important but how can we tell the difference between the guidance of the Lord and our own thinking?
In the case of Eliezer, it was easy, even before he had finished asking the Lord his prayers were answered.
We can miss the signs and directions from our Father for many reasons but the most likely reason is that we have already made up our minds about the way we think things should go!
We should probably allow our Heavenly Father to show us His way first, because it will without doubt be better than any plan we can formulate. When we ask Him for direction in our life and it seems like our prayers aren’t even being heard, let’s remember how easy it was for Eliezer, Abrahams’ servant.
In Matthew 6:7-8 it says that our Heavenly Father knows our request even before we ask it. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Also in Psalms 139:1-4 we read: O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Maybe the reason we have so much trouble discerning answers from the Lord is that we’re praying with pre-laid plans in our head. Isn’t it possible that the creator of the entire universe might have something else in mind? While it is wise to plan and prepare, we must recognize that God’s sovereignty ultimately guides our lives. Our plans should be made with humility and openness to His direction.
Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. NKJV.
Amplified Bible
A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the LORD directs his steps and establishes them.
When our prayers seem to go unanswered we are quick to grumble and complain, however, the times when our Heavenly Father answers clearly we are quick to thank and bless Him with worship and praise. We should be sure not to forget the Lord until the next time we want something from Him.
Answered prayer is one way that our loving Heavenly Father shows His provision, kindness and faithfulness toward us. It proves that He not only cares enough about the needs in our daily lives but He is both the directing compass and the hope of our final destination on this journey we call life. So when He faithfully responds to our prayer requests, let’s not forget to be faithful to Him in return.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
Psalm 37:23-24
The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey. / Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.
Lets bless His name because He alone is worthy of our worship and let’s ask Him to teach us to run to Him only in prayer when we are in need. As His servant let’s allow Him to show us His signs and teach us to know His ways.
James 4:13-15
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. /Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
Proverbs 19:21
Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
Maybe its time to ask our Heavenly Father to help us to not set our minds according to our own desires but to clearly see His hand of loving-kindness.
Ephesians 1:11
In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will..
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose…
And one thing we can be sure of is that His leading will always be in agreement with His written Word, because that will never be in opposition to the Fathers will; and is always final confirmation to any decision.
The Way of peace, true shalom is the final umpire of our hearts. Col.3:15. We need Him to show us His ways that we may follow Him all the days of our lives.
Shalom ‘Mishpachah’
‘Family/Tribe’
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa,
friends, visitors and every reader…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His
and are truly born again from above.
Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is
your Redeemer, Savior, Lord
and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.
I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Isaiah 5:18-19
Woe to those who draw out iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: 19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Usually when we think of patience it’s a patience tinted with ‘tolerance’.
Sometimes it’s not so much that we are patient with others but that we are ‘tolerant’ with their behavior, or lack of behavior and so we wait.
However Godly patience is very different. Why? Because it proceeds from its’ origin based in faith and obedience out of a heart that loves Him and it is part of His refining process in our lives. We are to let patience bring us through this process.
Love, faith, and patience are the marks of the believer’s maturity and that which He is working in our lives is designed to bring us into our place of blessing.
When we ‘wait‘ on our Heavenly Father it is not because we are tolerating His delays, it is because we trust in His faithfulness. When our Father says ‘Wait’, we know that His timing is best, no matter how long-suffering it may seem at the time. It is often said our Heavenly Father has 3 answers to our every question or request:
Yes, No and Wait;
and most of us will bear witness to that in our lives.
The length of time we have to wait is easier to endure when we wait with Godly patience. When we apply the principles given in His Word and draw on our past personal experiences, we are able to prophetically see our Heavenly Father’s deliverance coming at an appropriate time in the future. It is this kind of patience that will empower us to stand strong against temptations and not give in to distractions as we stay focused on Him, His Word and His promises. With Godly patience formed through relationship with Him, we can be prophetically certain of our Heavenly Father’s plans even before He reveals them to us.
Sadly, many times we don’t exercise this kind of patience. We want it to speed up, because we want to see it and we need it to hurry up, now…. today…. yesterday! Sometimes we even tell the Creator of all things in the universe that He is taking too long…..!
We see that in verse 19.
When we choose to live our lives without humble obedience and faith in our Heavenly Father’s timing for our futures, we are playing with sin.
We need to be wise because having a prophetic understanding of things in the future, does not give us an excuse to rush ahead in our own way, strength and timing.
There is a caveat here to warn us that if we can’t wait patiently when our Heavenly Father, by His Holy Spirit says, ‘wait’; then how much more will we not pay attention and be obedient when He says, ‘no stop’ or, ‘yes go’? And these instructions may have very serious consequences in the future, if we are not in the habit of hearing and obeying His instructions.
The Hebrew term for patience is
savlanut- סבלנות.
Linguistically it shares a root with ‘
sevel‘ which means:
suffering
and
‘sabal’
which means:
a porter, someone who carries something for another.
The root, s-v-l (ס-ב-ל), literally means:
‘to bear’ or ‘to suffer.’
Patience has been defined as:
“the ability to tolerate the pain of someone or something going against our will.”
So we understand that there is a kind of suffering in patience. If we are to be patient in traffic hold-ups, patient with a member of our families, or a friend who rejects and dismisses us; or patient with a health care professional who is not taking enough time with us. In a way we could say, ‘we are suffering,’ but we stop ourselves from lashing out at them and impatiently pushing against the situation.
However, patience does not mean being totally passive and just doing nothing.
We still need to make a concerted effort to maintain a forward motion and direction in our lives, but we don’t need to react to every delay or detour as if it were a denial; and that could mean a denial of ourselves or a denial by our Father. We live in the moment of the here and the now when we manage to be patient, because we aren’t straining against the reality of the current situation. This is not compromise but rather walking on a middle pathway, because we’re not leaning to the extreme of being inactive and just giving in to ‘fate’. If we do that, we deny the power of free will choice we have been given, and neither are we to change to the opposite direction, where impatience rules.
The essence of patience is to live in the present, the here and now, this moment. We are impatient because we want to be somewhere in the future faster than reality will get us there. The simple truth is that we will more than likely be in exactly the same place and situation whether we are patient or impatient; for this reason, it makes sense to choose to be patient. The times we see someone who is impatient, is an opportunity for us to learn patience because being impatient often appears quite silly. We wonder sometimes why a person is so impatient just because something is taking a few seconds longer than they want it to in our instant microwave world. When we see how impatience can look so ridiculous, hopefully it will increase our desire to make patience part of who we are, character-wise.
The Hebrew Scriptures have many words for patience, corresponding to the varied meanings of this complex virtue;
e.g., ‘erek af’ equal to our expression of ‘long-suffering’
which is the patience exhibited in:
the restraining of immediate action.
It has been said that:
Patience/Savlanut towards our Heavenly Father is Faith/emunah,
Patience towards ourselves is Hope/sabar,
and Patience towards others is Love/ahava.
Strong’s Hebrew: 7663. שָׂבַר sabar — hope … ‘}; a primitive root; to scrutinize; by implication (of watching) to expect (with hope and patience)- hope, tarry, view, wait.
sabar: To hope, to wait, to expect
Original Word: שָׂבַר
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: sabar
Pronunciation: sah-bar’
Phonetic Spelling: saw-bar’
KJV: hope, tarry, view, wait
Word Origin: [a primitive root]
1. to scrutinize
2. (by implication, of watching) to expect (with hope and patience)
Patience has another word in Hebrew which is also biblical:
E•rech Ru•ach – literally, ‘long breath’. This is sometimes what we will do before answering a situation, we take a long breath and hold it before speaking something we may later regret.
It appears once in the Bible as an important gift of the Fathers’ Holy Spirit to us.
When we learn Godly patience, we learn the ‘ways’ of of our Heavenly Father. Like the children in the wilderness recorded in Psalm 103:7, they knew His acts, His miracles, but not His ways.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Knowing someones ways takes relationship and relationship is only achieved by spending time with someone and getting to know them.…
This is the very nature of being prophetic … when we truly know Him, we learn to take our Heavenly Father at His every Word and because Yeshua/Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Revelation 19:10 tells us the testimony of Yeshua/Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, it is His prophetic messages to His people, given through His prophetic Word, which offers spiritual insight and guides His disciples today.
Through prophetic patience, we put our trust and faith into action as we submit to His present will for our lives. If we can only be patient, He will always, without fail, and at the perfect time, bring us to exactly where He wants us to be.
Right now tell Father that you trust in His timing because He has never fallen short or arrived too late. Thank Him for His leading and for letting you hear His voice, and for giving you boldness to stand on His promises. Tell Him that you believe He is Who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.. Praise Him and tell Him that your only desire is to see Him glorified because His plans will certainly all come to pass.
Shalom shalom
‘Mishpachah’
‘Family/Tribe’
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa,
friends, visitors and every reader…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His
and are truly born again from above.
Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is
your Redeemer, Savior, Lord
and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.
I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Watching the news reports can very easily make a person anxious, there doesn’t seem to be much good news anywhere in the world these days. All these negative sources of information can cause worry and make us wonder what is going to happen tomorrow. Although things were different in many ways in Messiah’s day, people had problems and worried just like they do today.
Messiah encouraged them with these words in Matthew 6:34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.
This passage rings true for us also, but is He implying that we are not to worry about tomorrow because we have enough worries today and to take on tomorrow’s worries will completely overwhelm us and cause extreme stress with such worry?
Furthermore is Messiah suggesting we just worry about today?
The last sentence of Matthew 6:34 in the King James Version
reads, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
In modern versions the translators try to put this into more up to date English, for example one version says:
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The word for evil is translated as trouble.
In the Greek language the word used is kakia
which refers to
an inherent evil meaning an evil that may not be expressed but which is always present.
2549 kakía (from 2554 /kakopoiéō, “a wicked disposition”) – properly, the underlying principle of evil (inherent evil) which is present, even if not outwardly expressed.
[2549 /kakía (“malice”) shares the same essential meaning as 2556 /kakós (“wretched evil,” its adjectival cognate).]
With this Greek meaning in mind Yeshua/Jesus was saying, that is just the nature of the world we live in, every day there is trouble so we may as well expect it get used to it as there and there is nothing you can do about it.
In the Peshitta/Aramaic Bible, the word used for trouble or evil is bisha and is likely the word that Messiah actually spoke.
This word is a noun and has an a, an Aleph at the end of it which tells us there is a definite article present, e.g. ‘the’.
Yeshua/Jesus is saying in other words:
Sufficient unto the day the evil one is present
Because the word evil/bisha
Old Aramaic באש
is often referring to our enemy the devil/satan and the bisha/ enemy is going to be just as present tomorrow as he is today.
Aramaic Sin-Khata and Evil–Bisha were archery terms In Aramaic, “evil” (bisha -בישׁא) is conceived in terms of an action which is unripe, of a fruit that is either immature or rotten. Sin and Evil in their original Aramaic context, are very similar to the Hebrew and Greek meanings, one being to miss the mark with an arrow. This calls us to be sensitive to the moment at hand, to carry out the right action at the right time.
To use the word bisha in this context, He is referring to the problems caused by someone we have no control over, in this case the enemy of our souls. Just as we get one attack by the enemy sorted out, then just we should brace ourselves for the one that will inevitably come next. We are warned that In this world we will have tribulation its not some strange thing that is happening to us, it’s the nature of the bisha, he comes to steal kill and destroy in every way he can.
“Sufficient unto the day” is an interesting turn of phrase.
In Aramaic, the word
sufficient is sephaq.
סָפֵק Samek Pei Qop
Sephaq means to be sufficient, adequate, fit or to satisfy fulfill needs without deficiency.
Sephaq has the exact same meaning as the Greek word arketon
that is used here and comes from the root arkeo which means:
to be sufficient or enough.
Strong’s Greek 713 highlights the idea of what is “enough” or “adequate.” In each inspired context the term presses believers to recognize God-appointed limits—whether in daily cares, expectations of discipleship, or time allotted to sin—and to respond with faith-filled contentment and resolve. In Matthew 6:34 the Lord Jesus assures His followers that each day’s “trouble” is bounded by the Father’s sovereign care. The term rebukes anxiety and commends confident dependence on our Heavenly Father’s daily grace. Embraced, it nurtures contented, holy, mission-focused disciples who rest in the adequacy of His daily grace, His divine provision. This notion of sufficiency extends beyond mere physical needs; it embodies a deeper philosophical and spiritual understanding of adequacy in the face of life’s challenges.
However the Pael form, (we would say tense), that sephaq is rendered here would indicate almost the opposite in meaning, that is: to be empty or lay bare. The word in Hebrew has the idea of waver or doubting because It’s taken from the Semitic root which has the idea of someone who is intoxicated and stumbles around. Messiah is explaining that we are not even able to handle today let alone tomorrow, so we are not to worry about it, we are to let Him take care of it.
At this point we should look at the scripture again and read the previous verses to put this in its context. Yeshua/Jesus is encouraging us to seek the kingdom of God and not the things of this world and the enemy rules this world. We know that because Messiah called him the prince of this world. Matthew 14:30.
If you seek the things of this world the enemy will fill you with sephaq or emptiness and you will wander around aimlessly like a drunkard, accomplishing nothing and end up with nothing. In contrast if we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness today, which is the day of salvation, we’ll establish an eternal victory and then we won’t need to worry about tomorrow.
In Matthew 6:34
He was saying don’t worry at all,
because worry is a useless waste of our time.
He has overcome the world and the devil and in His triumphant victory we are to trust in Him, placing our faith in Him and His power to redeem not only our lives but in the fact that He can sustain us through the every day assaults that we will experience. He is totally and completely saphaq/sufficient for each and every need that we may ever have.
After all He is El Shaddai!
Shalom shalom
‘Mishpachah’
‘Family/Tribe’
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa,
friends, visitors and every reader…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His
and are truly born again from above.
Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is
your Redeemer, Savior, Lord
and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.
I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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