Daily Renewal

Be quiet; and listen, Isra’el! Today you have become the people of Adonai your God (Deuteronomy 27:9).

Each day the sun rises.  Each evening the sun sets.  Does this mean each day is the same?  Clearly, each day is new, bringing with it fresh insights, as fresh dew coats the grass and flowers.  Each day is new, bringing with it new challenges, unique joys and sorrows.  Thus, it makes sense that, each day, we become the people of Yahweh, our God.

Renewal is an interesting word.  One of its meanings is the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down or broken.  Spiritually, renewal has a slightly different meaning.  It refers to revitalizing, recommitting our trust in our triune God.  I find this understanding to be deeper than the words seem to suggest.

How do we revitalize our trust in Yahweh?  This requires more than just singing praise and worship songs and gathering together in revival tent meetings.  Revitalizing our trust requires work. (Ah, that awful word so many of us hate.)  What is the work required by revitalizing?

Before continuing, I’d like to make one thing perfectly clear:  renewal and revitalizing can only be accomplished by Adonai Elohim Tz’vaot, the Lord God of Hosts.  We read in Paul’s letter to Titus, “For at one time, we too were foolish and disobedient, deceived and enslaved by a variety of passions and pleasures. We spent our lives in evil and envy; people hated us, and we hated each other.  But when the kindness and love for mankind of God our Deliverer was revealed, he delivered us. It was not on the ground of any righteous deeds we had done, but on the ground of his own mercy. He did it by means of the mikveh of rebirth and the renewal brought about by the Ruach HaKadosh, whom he poured out on us generously through Yeshua the Messiah, our Deliverer” (Titus 3:3-6 CJB).

So, then, what are the ways that may help prepare us for renewal?  First, we need to recommit ourselves each day to Yahweh.  Why?  A good chef knows he must use sharp knives.  Allowing a knife to dull will impede his craft.  Re-sharpening his knives each day is similar to a believer recommitting herself to God.  How do we do this?  Reading His Word from the whole Torah each day is important; it helps us reconnect to His Word, His Truth.  Recommitting ourselves to our Sovereign Adonai requires us to again surrender ourselves to Him, allowing Him to be our Leader, our Guide, our Director.  If we do this on a daily basis, when crises overwhelm us He will direct us away from focusing on the crisis and, instead, to focus on Him, the Protector and Author of our faith.

Second, we will benefit from cleansing ourselves each night and each day.  In ancient days, and still practiced today by Orthodox Messianic Jews, the priests would ceremoniously cleanse themselves by walking into the mikveh, a basin of flowing water.  We, who are the priests of His Kingdom, (Revelation 1:6, 5:10) cleanse ourselves, not ceremoniously, but spiritually through confession.  Yes, I know – we have been forgiven of our sins through the shed blood of our Messiah, Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus.  However, we still sin and there is still a need for us to confess our sins and to accept their consequences. 

Let us ask Adonai Elohim, the Lord God, each night to examine us and bring to our minds and hearts those sins we have committed.  Then, in the morning, we can begin our day by confessing those sins and receiving His renewal of grace. 

Beloved, we are now set to enter into His new day.