Yomim Nora’im - The Days of Awe
There are 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These are called “Yomin Nora’im” or the Days of Awe, and are the days we look inward, preparing ourselves for the Day of Atonement, continuing the work begun on Rosh Hashanah. If you knew for sure that your Lord was returning this Monday (without a doubt… Gabriel appeared before you and announced it and everything…) what would you be doing today? Would you still do all of the same things you had planned on, or would you spend some time looking at your heart making sure that you were ready for him? Remember, by the time Monday ends, you will have to face the judgment seat of God Almighty! Again I ask, “What would you be doing now?”
This is how we, the children of Israel (either physical or spiritual) are to behave as at this time. Those without knowledge of the Messiah have to hope that their prayers may be heard and their sins forgiven for another year. We “new covenant believers” have the “blessed assurance” that we may stand fast in the end…. as long as Adonai truly is Lord of all in our lives. This is the time for us to take a good long look at our hearts and make sure that He truly is above everything else in our lives. It makes me want to ask myself, when was the last time I put reading the Word as a top priority? If God truly is Lord of all, spending time with Him should be the most important part of my day, not there somewhere…. wherever I can fit it in.
What’s top priority in your life? What is that one thing that you do that gives you the most pleasure? If you could sneak away and do anything, what would it be? If the answer is not “spend time with the Lord” you might just have an idol in your life that needs to be addressed. We all know the Ten Commandments, right? I do believe that there is one command that says something about idols and that we are not to serve them.
‘You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Deuteronomy 5:9-10
At this time of the year we are called to repentance. We are called to look to God with the Awe He so rightly deserves. We are called to return to the Lord as the source of our very existence.
“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David. Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.”
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
“For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the LORD, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” Isaiah 55:1-13
It is time to stop wasting our time with those things that really don’t matter and instead focus on the only thing that really does… Adonai El Shaddai; the Lord God Almighty. We need to take the time, each year, to look over our lives, find part that may be filthy in His eyes and rid ourselves of these filthy garments. Forsaking our old ways, let us return to Him and His ways so that we can be holy as He is Holy. Only in so doing will we find the kind of joy we all long for. Only in the release of the bonds of sin can we truly rejoice with Him. And what is sin? Sin is the breaking of His laws, His commands, His statutes, and His ordinances.
In His abundant mercy, Adonai has given us this time, these Days of Awe, to review our lives and make the changes necessary before the Awesome and Terrible Day of the Lord. We need to take full advantage of this time, each year, so that when the Day comes when we all must stand before a Righteous Judge, we will be prepared for we have already washed our garments in the precious blood of the Lamb of God. If we make a habit of repentance now, while there is still time, how much easier will it be on us when time runs out?
What have we to lose? Just our sins. What have we to gain?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4