We have entered the final month on the Hebrew calendar in the year 5786. And quite a month it is because there is so much encouragement coming our way! Yet, it is also a time of preparation for the new year. The name of this month, Elul, is associated with the Hebrew letter YOD, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Its curved position depicts humility and means that mercy is appointed from the hand of God. The forty days from Elul 1 to Tishrei 10 (Yom Kippur) have been assigned as days of repentance and restoration.
 
The beauty of this month is that it is a time when God wants to meet us in a special way. He comes to help us prepare for being in His presence. The Jews say of Him: "The King is in the field." By making Himself more accessible, He helps in our everyday affairs. As we wait upon Him, He reminds us of His loving kindness. The forty days until Yom Kippur are called Teshuvah. The word essentially means we return, repent, and turn our faces toward the Lord.
 
Psalm 27 is a significant Psalm for the days of Teshuvah. The Jewish people believe that hidden within it are references to the festivals they will celebrate in the month of Tishrei. According to the Midrashim (Oral Torah), the words light and salvation in verse 1 refer to Rosh Hashana (The Festival of Lights) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Verse 1 - NKJ) The secret place of His tabernacle in verse 5 refers to the Feast of Tabernacles. "For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle, He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock."
 
The expressions of David in Psalm 27 are what every Christian needs to adopt. "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."  (Verse 4 - NKJ) "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies." (Verse 11 - NKJ) "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (Verses 13 and 14 - NKJ)
 
Waiting on the Lord is exactly what we want to do, especially during Elul when the barrier between heaven and earth becomes thinner. Let us embrace this time of reflection, redemption, and renewal as we prepare for a new year of walking with the King of kings. 

If you keep your eyes open to the edge of wooded areas in the northeast United States, you may see a fawn or two without its mother. Recently, I saw a mother deer walking with her twins. I watched her nuzzle each one of them and saw them lie down in the grass immediately. My research indicates that the mother will gently touch her babies with her nose, pressing down toward the ground. They instinctively know they are to stay low and wait while she goes to forage. Their spots and lack of scent help them stay safe from predators. The mother will return to her fawns a couple of times during the day to nurse them or if she hears them bleating. Even animals are told to wait for their own benefit.
 
In hindsight, as I remember several times when I have had to wait for the Lord's perfect timing to see something happen, I realize that He has His reasons for the waiting. Scripture is full of examples of people of faith who have had to wait. Abraham, the Father of Faith, waited until he was one hundred years old for his son Isaac to be born. He learned the lesson of faith over sight by looking at the stars and relying on God's word. Hannah desperately wanted a son. She learned to pour out her pain on the Lord and trust Him in the delay. Year after year she prayed and then made a vow to dedicate her son to the Lord's work after his birth. It appears that the timing of Samuel's birth occurred just at the right time when God was looking for a new priest at the Temple.
 
David, son of Jesse, was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king of Israel but waited for fifteen years until he was crowned King of Judah. Seven and one-half years later he was able to reign over all the tribes of Israel. By reading the story of David's life we can see that God had much to teach him before he would be ready to take the reigns as king. He must have learned that God does not deliver on His promises instantly. As he waited David learned to depend on the Lord, a practice he would need when he finally became king.
 
One of the Hebrew words for wait in the Bible is "quvah" (kaw-vah). It is defined as an active waiting that means one waits with hope or entwines oneself together with the Lord. This is what is used in Isaiah 40:31. Different translations of the verse use different English words. The New King James says, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." The New International Version says, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint."
 
The imagery for this word "quvah" is the twisting or binding of strands together to make a strong rope. It is an action word and implies that the intertwining represents trust. God loves this! He uses our waiting to draw us closer to Himself. This begs a question: What is our posture toward God as we wait? Knowing that the Lord has a perfect time for our desires to manifest, we should be encouraged that He will reward us for the waiting. This is what is says in Psalm 37:34. "Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land..." (NKJ) All of us have territory we desire to take. We should intertwine ourselves more tightly to our God, so we become even more like Him. 

​We can find a discourse on faith in Romans 4. The author is reminding us that "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness." (Verse 9) We are told that the promise Abraham believed in is for everyone. "The promise comes by faith, so that it may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is father of us all. As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not." (Verse 16, 17 - NIV) The NKJV says, "Calls those things which do not exist as though they did."
 
The key to Abraham's faith came as he gave God glory. Romans 4:19-21 in The Passion Translation explains it well: "In spite of being nearly one hundred years old when the promise of having a son was made, his faith was so strong that it could not be undermined by the fact that he and Sarah were incapable of conceiving a child. He never stopped believing God's promise, for he was made strong in his faith to father a child. And because he was mighty in faith and convinced that God had all the power needed to fulfill His promises, Abraham glorified God!" When we take action in the same way that Abrham did God will reward us." "And this declaration was not just spoken of Abraham, but also over us. For when we believe and embrace the one who brought our Lord Jesus back to life, perfect righteousness will be credited to our account as well." (Romans 4:23, 24 - TPT)
 
Romans 5:1 goes on to tell us that because of our faith in Jesus His righteousness is transferred to us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 confirms this by saying, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (NKJ) We must conclude that faith is an action word. The Hebrew word for faith is "emunah" (em-oo-new) which means to act with firmness according to the will of God. “So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
 
Real faith defies all contradictions in circumstances and stands on God's promises. It places God's promises before facts, because facts can change but "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) The prophet Habakkuk realized the importance of faith. He is the one who wrote, "The just shall live by his faith."  (Habakkuk 2:4 - NKJ) This was declared after he asked the Lord several questions: "...Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?" (Habakkuk 1:3) "Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13) He learned that a day of calamity would come to his people. Yet he made a declaration in faith: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:17, 18)
 
How many of us are waiting for the manifestation of a promise that God gave us? I imagine that this applies to us all. Here is our mandate: Stand on your promises and glorify God in the waiting. Share your faith and remember that righteousness will be credited to our accounts.

​A curse on the Jewish people has been able to take hold because of the doubt and unbelief of the first generation of Israelites when they were to cross over into the Promised Land. One of the first demonstrations of this came in the year 587 BC, on the ninth of Av. The beautiful temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians, and a multitude of the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the world. Many in the world today are denying that the Jewish people ever lived in Israel. However, God would not allow the evidence of the Israelite temple in Jerusalem to remain buried. Days before the ninth of Av the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University had personnel digging in the area where the First Temple had been built. They uncovered preserved wooden beams from Solomon's Temple. Heritage Minister, Amichai Eliyahu said this about the find: "Jerusalem's soil continues to provide tangible evidence of the City's ancient past. The wooden beams burned in the destruction of the First Temple stand as a powerful reminder of the Jewish people's presence in Jerusalem some 2,600 years ago. On the eve of Tisha B'Av (The 9th of Av), this discovery underscores that our connection to Jerusalem is rooted not only in faith, but also in history, archaeology, and collective memory."
 
What was found in this archeological dig confirms Scripture. "They (Babylonians) set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there." (2 Chronicles 36:19) The Excavation Director, Efrat Bocher, explained in greater detail about their discovery of the charred beams. "They appear to have served as the roof of the inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period. During the destruction, they collapsed on the floor. We believe that the plaster cladding of the building's walls, melted by the fire, covered the charred wooden beams, and ultimately enabled their exceptional preservation." Not only could the age of the beams be ascertained by the counting of the growth rings, but the archeologists were able to identify the wood used for the beams as coming from Sycamore Trees. Minister Eliya went on to say, "It is our responsibility to continue uncovering, preserving, and passing this heritage on to future generations."
 
God gave instructions to the children of Israel from the second generation to observe His commandments and "teach them diligently" to their children. (Deuteronomy 6:7) He made His intentions clear, saying, "...When the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—When you have eaten and are full—then beware, least you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him and shall take oaths in His name." (Deuteronomy 6:10-13 - NKJ)
 
From this passage, we can see that God wanted the presence of the Israelites to remain in the Promised Land to be a witness to His goodness and faithfulness. Because they did not obey the Lord's commandments, other people groups like the Babylonians, Romans, and Turks took over and destroyed much of the evidence of their existence. Today we hear from many people and organizations in the world that the Jews cannot claim the land that God gave to them. But God never forgets His promises and the covenant He made. He demonstrates His faithfulness through unexpected surprises that confirm truth. This amazing story of the charred beams of the First Temple speaks to all who would doubt God's promises to Israel. This should be an encouragement for us as well. Hold on to the promises God has made to you. He will be faithful to fulfill them.

​ 
There is significance in the coinciding of last week's Torah portion and the beginning of the month of Av. Last week's reading was the first three chapters of Deuteronomy. In it Moses is giving a second generation of Israelites a history lesson in the hope that they do not repeat the same mistakes as their parents. He reminds them of their journey through the wilderness, the consequences of fear and unbelief, and the faithfulness of God. The first generation of Israelites made many mistakes, but their major one, that still has ramifications today, was their sin of unbelief and fear instead of faith in the promises of God.
 
The book of Deuteronomy is about renewing God's covenant with Israel and preparing hearts to live by His covenant. Moses reminded his charges about God's promises and faithfulness. He was teaching the second generation to trust in God's covenant instead of their military power. The tragedy of the month of Av began when the Israelites sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to investigate. When they returned, ten of the spies gave a negative report to the community. Though they acknowledged that the land flowed with milk and honey and carried back a cluster of grapes on a pole, they focused on the fortified cities and the people who lived there who were descendants of Anak. Only Caleb and Joshua declared the voice of faith. On the ninth of Av the Israelite community made a decision and partnered with fear, doubt, and unbelief. They did not remember the faithfulness of God to bring them out of Egypt with plunder, to carry them through the wilderness, to help them win battles against warring nations, and to provide for all their needs. They forgot that God made a covenant with them and promised to guide and protect them all the days of their lives.
 
Because of their negative confession the Israelites placed themselves under a curse. They made an agreement with the kingdom of darkness and set into motion a cycle of destruction that can be seen by the events that have occurred throughout the years. Their history of unbelief was reinforced when the Jews refused to accept that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus told them He is the Son of God and demonstrated His Kingdom through miracles and words of life. The book of Hebrews explains that the Israelites could not enter God's rest because of unbelief. "...The word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it." (Hebrews 4:2 - NKJ) Because of their doubt in God's promises, the children of Israel were not permitted to enter the Promised Land and were condemned to wander in the desert for forty years until all the first generation died.
 
On the ninth of Av many Jews will spend the day fasting in sorrow for the way history has demonstrated the results of unbelief. If we look at a few of the events that occurred on the ninth of Av, we can feel the heaviness of the curse that has followed the Jews. Here are some of the manifestations of the curse:  Babylon destroyed the first temple (587 BC), the Romans destroyed the second temple (70 AD), thousands of Jews were killed during the Crusades launched on this day (1095 AD), Jews were expelled from England (1290 AD), Jews were expelled from Spain (1492 AD), Jews were deported to concentration camps (1942 AD), Jews were removed from their homes in Gaza (2005 AD).
 
The history of the Jews in this month should remind us to renew our faith in God and His promises to us. Remembering God's covenant with us and His faithfulness in our lives must be a priority. The truth is that every generation faces the same choice: Do we trust God when we make decisions or let fear and unbelief prevail? Our confession must be, "Doesn’t matter what I feel; doesn’t matter what I see. My hope will always be in Your promises to me.” (Song – “Your Promises” by Elevation Worship)

​Thursday morning, we were awakened to the sound of electric hedge trimmers buzzing below our second-story condo. We had noticed the "landscaping" crew working in our community and took note of their improper pruning habits. Every shrub in our area was cut into the shape of a ball, rectangle, or some sort of parallelogram. Flowers buds for next year or ripening stalks of berries for fall beauty were removed. Last year we planted a graceful Nandina that we did not want to fall prey to the undiscerning patterns of those who were cutting the bushes. My husband ran down the stairs and stood guard over our Nandina bush until the crew finished working in our area.
 
As a landscaper, I have great appreciation for the unique way that God designed every tree, bush, and flower. When designing a landscape, it is proper to use different plants with varying growth patterns to enhance the beauty of the places where they are planted. While contemplating all of this, God reminded me how He uniquely formed each of us. Isaiah 64:8 explains how God formed us individually and designed us for our own good and His glory. "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay; You are the potter; we are all the work of your hands."
 
God's plans and purposes for us are always being challenged by the world and the demonic realm. These entities want to shape us into their own image. Romans 12:2 speaks to this: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will." In the first six verses of Jeremiah 18, God gives us a picture of how He may rework the clay to shape it in the perfect way. He sent the prophet Jeremiah to the potter's house for a picture of His work. "...And I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so, the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 'Can I not do with you, Israel, as the potter does?' declares the Lord. 'Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.’” (Verses 3-6) The potter started over again because the clay was not cooperating with him. We, like the clay, need to be moldable and cooperative with God's transformative work in our lives.
 
Jesus is our perfect example of one being yielded to the hands of Father God. He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." (Philippians 2:7, 8 - NKJ) Father God engages in every intimate detail of the shaping of our character and destiny. We must submit to His will and trust that the design of our Sovereign God is for our good and His glory. Remember this: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

​As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation, I cannot think of a better Scripture to embrace than Psalm 33:12. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance." (NKJV) Our nation has been blessed by God. This is so because our Founding Fathers honored and sought God. If we want that blessing to continue, we will need to welcome His presence.
 
May I suggest that the freedoms we enjoy are God-given but do not come without expectations. In fact, the story of the Israelites and their freedom from Egypt became an inspiration for our Founding Fathers. We can find the Ten Commandments, Scripture quotes, and artwork depicting Biblical scenes in our United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, federal buildings, and in many of our State Capitols. Our United States Constitution was modeled after Old Testament concepts of covenant with an agreement between the people and our government.
 
The Bible was the most important book in the founding of our nation and was used as a textbook in schools from elementary to college level. I ran across an interesting story about a Bible shortage in America during the War for Independence. A committee from the Continental Congress saw that the "Bible is so universal and its importance so great” that they recommended that the Committee of Commerce import 20,000 Bibles. The order was given on September 11, 1777. The Bibles were delivered to America with most of them coming from Holland and Scotland.
 
The citizens of the United States have a similar mandate to the Israelites who were set free to be a nation that shared the love of God with the world. The formation of our nation is rooted in Christianity. We share a moral framework and cultural inheritance with the Jewish people. Our founders, George Washington and John Adams, understood that a free government requires a morally and religiously guided populace. The Declaration of Independence draws on Biblical principles of justice and human worth, and the United States Constitution was modeled on Old Testament concepts of covenant.
 
I must express my concern for the road on which our nation is traveling. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, authored an article on June 20 entitled "If we Forget our Story, we Lose our Identity.” Our nation is rooted in Christianity, and the Bible is the foundational document of America. Tony writes, “As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, we have an opportunity not merely to commemorate our history but to recover it.”
 
Benjamin Franklin made a statement that should make all of us stop and think about our heritage: "I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without His aid?" I think not. It is time for us to acknowledge our God-given heritage and to return to our Christian roots. The anti-Christian and anti-American sentiment that is rising in our nation will destroy it. Only God can restore us and set us back onto the right track. We must cry out to the Lord for national repentance and revival. 2 Chronicles 7:14 should be our mandate. "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Amen!

The Church may not realize this, but the fourth month on the Hebrew calendar, called Tammuz, is one of spiritual warfare where we must defend our souls. The enemy of our souls looks for weak spots or places where we or our ancestors compromised and attempts to take advantage of us. At sunset on June 15, we entered the month of Tammuz. Let us look back in history to see what was happening in Tammuz a few months after the Israelites came out of Egypt. After a long trek from Egypt to Mount Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God. Exodus 32 tells the story: "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me...' And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' So, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it..." (Exodus 32:1-5 - NKJV)
 
The building of the golden calf stemmed from a grievance rooted in the hearts of God's people. The bottom line is they did not trust Him although He demonstrated His faithfulness multiple times throughout their journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Here is the reason why God told the Israelites, many times, "Remember." Exodus 13:3 is an example. "Then Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the Lord brought you out from there by strength of hand.'" (ESV) Had the Israelites remembered the way they came out of Egypt, they may have rethought their sin of building the golden calf. Exodus 12:36 tells us that the Israelites "plundered the Egyptians." They simply asked for their gold and received it without a fight.
 
Here is the lesson from this story that we need to take to heart: When God gives us plunder as we are coming out of our own Egypt, we must not use it to make an idol for a lower form of worship. We were all made with a need to worship. God's desire is for us to worship Him alone because this fosters greater intimacy with Him. When we use the gifts He gives us to make idols for worship, He is greatly grieved. Tammuz is the month for heightened alertness. We cannot allow the enemy to entice us to take our eyes off the Lord and His promises. We must be patient and never settle for inferior forms of worship. When we build idols, they bring curses and desolation upon us and cause God's manifest presence to leave.
 
This call to "remember" is not only important for us as individuals, but also for our churches and our nation. We cannot forget the battles we fought, the blessings we have received, and the prophetic words spoken over us. We need to remember the snare of the golden calf so that we do not use the plunder God gave us to build an inferior idol to worship. God is faithful and will bring His promises to life at the perfect time and in the perfect way.
 
A segment of our society would like to erase the past so that they can alter the future. If we rewrite the past, we can rewrite the future. If the foundations of God are removed, then we can build on new and ungodly foundations. We cannot allow this to happen! We must "fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Our worship of the One True God will demonstrate our faithfulness to Him and our remembrance of His faithfulness to us. Let's make this month one of radical worship to Adonai, The Lord Our God! 

​Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, signed a resolution declaring that June will be "Nuclear Family Month" in his state. He says, "The Nuclear family is God's perfect design for humanity and is aligned with the long-held traditional values of Tennessee." The resolution commends those who seek to protect and strengthen traditional values. It also presents statistics documenting "the harm to children caused by being raised in fatherless homes." These children, it reports, are "ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances," and include "sixty percent of youth suicides, seventy-one percent of high school dropouts, and eighty-five percent of youths in prison."
 
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's June newsletter tells a story that illustrates the need for fathers in a family even in the animal kingdom. He reports that animal-care personnel at a wildlife preserve in Africa discovered rhinoceroses that had been killed by wild, young male elephants. Elephants are not known to be killers, so the park overseers began to research how the elephants grew up. It was discovered that they had grown up without fathers so had no one to model proper elephant behavior. They were drawn into violent behavior. The fascinating answer to their dilemma was to ship elephant father figures into the preserve who could demonstrate proper behavior to the juvenile delinquent elephants. Before long, the young elephants stopped attacking.
 
This elephant display of the need for fathers should be taken to heart by our own society. In a recent sermon at Bethel Church in California, Pastor Kris Vallaton talked about the deconstruction of the family in America. He quoted a staggering statistic that fifty-one percent of children in America are born without a dad. He claims that the United States is the most prominent fatherless nation in the world. Because of this orphan spirit, children are growing up with a mindset of abandonment, rejection, and emotional isolation. The feelings that come from a lack of a loving father on earth make it difficult for these children to connect with Father God, and instead of viewing Him as a loving father, they view Him as a distant and demanding god.
 
The Church must be involved in helping young people break free of an orphan spirit. I believe that the greatest curse on earth today is our fatherless generation. Romans 8:19-22 tells us that even creation groans as it waits for the manifestation of the mature children of God. Most definitely, the ills of our society can be traced to the feeling of alienation that children have from earthly fathers and Father God. We need a demonstration of Father’s love by the men of the Church who have received the Spirit of God and know their sonship so that they cry, "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15) To our fatherless generation, the Church must make available to them opportunities to develop a personal relationship with Father God through prayer and worship and studying the Word of God that defines their identity and declares the truth. The community of Believers must support and encourage those who have the orphan spirit so that they can replace the lies with truth.
 
Everything that God does is for love's sake as He is love! He loved the world so much that "He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) We have a promise in Malachi 4:6 that God "will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers." This verse is repeated in Luke 1:17. Let us pray it in!

​In Bucks County Pennsylvania it is wheat harvest time. I love looking across the rolling, expansive, golden-brown fields ready to be cut. The farmer determines if the crop is ready by pressing his fingernail into the kernel. If no mark is left, the grain is ideal for harvest. It is called winter wheat and would have been sown in the fall. Once the crop is inspected and ready for harvest, the farmer brings in a combine harvester. This one machine does several operations: It cuts the stalks, threshes the grain (by separating the grain from the husk), and blows out the waste (called winnowing). The next machine to come onto the field is a baler. It collects the wheat stems and compresses them into cylindrical or rectangular bales. Then they are transported to be used to feed livestock or as a fertilizer additive. In the meantime, the harvested grain is loaded onto trucks and taken to local farm buildings. There it is dropped into tall steel or concrete silos to be processed into flour.
 
Something I noticed about local harvesting is that it is done to the very edge of the field. Such a practice would have been unacceptable in Biblical days. Leviticus 19:22 says, "When you reap the harvest of your land do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God." This law of leftovers is repeated in Deuteronomy 24:19. "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for a foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." Verse 22 explains further: "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this."
 
The Jews call this tradition "Pe'ah" or "leaving the corners or edges." As we can see in the Deuteronomy Scripture, when we show compassion and generosity to those who are less fortunate than we are, it touches the heart of God, and He promises to bless us. This was also a way of preserving the dignity of the needy by allowing them to harvest the food for themselves. We can see this played out in the book of Ruth. "One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain. Maybe someone will be kind enough to let me gather the grain he leaves behind.' Naomi said to her, 'Go, my daughter.' So, Ruth went to the fields to gather the grain the reapers left behind..." (Ruth 2: 2, 3 - TPT)
 
Today, as we do not live in an agrarian society, how can we apply the principle of leaving the edges? First, we must not live a marginless life. When we use everything we have, including money, time, and energy, we open the door to exhaustion and fear, fear that we will not have enough. The root of living like this is lack of faith. We must believe that God will provide for our needs. As the Bible says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
(Matthew 6:19, 20 - NKJ) Second, a Christian has the obligation to take care of those in need in our communities. The underlying purpose of "leaving the edges" can be demonstrated through acts of charity or kindness.
 
We live in a society where people spend all that they have to satisfy their desires for the latest and greatest vehicle or computer or gadget of the day. The responsibility to live within their means has been forgotten. There is nothing left for a rainy day or to help others. Let us take Hebrew 13:5 to heart as it is a promise from God for us to embrace. "Don't be obsessed with money, but live content with what you have, for you always have God's presence. For hasn't He promised you, 'I will never leave you alone, never! And I will not loosen my grip on your life.” (TPT)