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This evening begins Simchat Torah, a day for Rejoicing with the Torah. Simchat Torah celebrates completing the parasha reading cycle, as we begin it once again. It is a day of sweet joy and so apples, honey, and candy are given to kids to celebrate the sweetness of the Torah. I remember my Mom telling me about the services she would attend as a kid for Simchat Torah and how they would all get apples with little Israeli flags. They were some of her favorite childhood memories at the synagogue.
Sadly, many followers of Messiah today do not have much joy for the Torah. They feel the Torah and by extension the Old Testament are no longer relevant. Teaching from the Torah and the Tanakh is rare and limited to only a few places and a few books. On the other extreme we have people unhealthily emotionally fixated on their personal interpretation of the Torah. An exacting and uncompromising legalism with a very narrow joy. Both approaches gut most of God’s Word and rob us of the joy found within.
But perhaps the saddest truth today is that so many of us keep our Bibles collecting dust. Back in 2014 the Pew Research Forum released a study on religion in America. In their report they found that only 63% of Evangelicals read their Bibles at least once a week, with 25% saying they only do so maybe a couple times a year or less. For Jewish people it was only 17% reading the Tanakh once a week, with over 65% saying they seldom or never read Scripture.
These are very sad truths that need to change. So, I have entitled my message for this morning, “Finding Simcha (Joy) In The Torah”. This morning I would like to look at how God’s Word brings us joy and encourage us all to let it pierce our hearts more.
When I think about why we should be in the Torah and the rest of Scripture, I am reminded of Psalm 19 written by King David. Especially Psalm 19:7-10:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Now we could spend a lot of time unpacking all these amazing reasons for diving into God’s Word, but I would like to only talk about two this morning. The first reason we are given for studying God’s Word is that His Law, His Torah, revives our souls. The Hebrew Word מְשִׁ֣יבַת (Meshivat) is only used in this verse and comes from the Root שׁוּב (Shuv) to turn or return.
One of the joys of God’s Word is how it transforms and revives us. Especially when we are spiritually dead or asleep. Personal transformation is a popular topic today with people making billions of dollars selling products and systems promising lasting change. They ask us if we want to be better versions of ourselves and promise that they have the secret that will make it happen. But all these human solutions are either outright lies or temporary fixes that fade quickly over time.
The fact is that only the Bible can revive our souls. Whatever stage of life you are in, whatever you are going through right now, God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation has something to say about it and real Truth to share. This includes addiction, loneliness, loss, illness, self-esteem, grief, marriage, growing up, or whatever other topic you are thinking about right now. In every season God’s Word has something to say to transform and revive the deepest parts of us. If we are willing to spend the effort to mine Scripture, there are endless gems to uncover. We are especially revived not by reading what we want to hear, but what we need to hear, timeless Truth that transforms us.
The second reason God’s Word brings us joy is how the commandments of the Lord enlighten our eyes, giving us light and meaning. We live in a world covered in darkness, in deep darkness and confusion. It is into this emptiness and chaos that the Lord first spoke light into existence. In the same way that the Lord instantaneously spoke physical light into endless darkness, He has done the same for us with spiritual light in our hearts.
Adonai’s Torah provides the light we need to clearly see and walk through this confusing and chaotic world. It gives us clear understanding not just about what is right and wrong, but also practical wisdom for living day by day.
Most importantly it gives us spiritual light, pointing us to our wonderful Messiah, the light of the World. I am reminded of one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Messiah.” That knowledge Rabbi Paul is referring to is only contained in one book. If we want to grow in our light, we must spend time in the source of that knowledge, God’s Word.
There are so many distractions from God’s light and so many poor substitutes that claim to be it. But when you are navigating in deep darkness, in darkness you can’t see anything in, you aren’t looking for a black light, or a disco light, or a strobe light. You want clear, clean, and constant light that will never fade. Only God’s Word can enlighten our eyes in this way. If we want to clearly see and understand we can only do so by putting on the lenses of Scripture.
So, as we enjoy the sweetness of Simchat Torah, I pray that we all would find and hold onto the joy of the Lord’s Torah. That meditating on the truths contained in our Bibles would not be a chore or last resort. May each of us find the Word of God to be sweeter than honey and more precious than Gold in our lives. May the Lord revive our souls, enlighten our eyes, and make the light of the Messiah shine in our hearts through His living and active Word.