Weekly D'rash Vayera

Everyone likes to be “in the know.” Has anyone ever shared information with you that makes you feel special because you have been entrusted with knowledge of a situation that only a few people have been made aware of? It feels good to be trusted!

In our Torah portion this week, God shares important information with Abraham about the impending judgement of Sodom. We read, “The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed’”? “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” (Gen. 18:17–19)

Abraham is in a covenant relationship with God. One aspect of this kind of relationship is being entrusted with revelation about God’s plans, the way of life that brings ultimate satisfaction, and the message of salvation that he wants us to share with humanity.

In the Scriptures, we read about God sharing important revelation to the prophets, the disciples of Yeshua, and all of us! “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Regarding the disciples, Yeshua said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11). “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God—so we might come to know the things freely given to us by God. These things we also speak—not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Ruach, explaining the spiritual to the spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:12–13).

God has entrusted all who embrace Yeshua with knowledge of His will and plans. Like in the lives of Abraham and the first disciples of Yeshua, knowledge comes with responsibility. Have we acted on the revelation of God that He has shared with us in the Scriptures, via our teachers, and via the Ruach directly? Like Abraham in our Torah portion, we have been chosen to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice so that the world may know the reality of God and Yeshua the Messiah. Also, like Abraham, we are called to pray for others. Let us intercede for people and nations who are undergoing severe persecution and horrible situations. What a blessing to know that God has shared such important truths with us. Let us rejoice in these truths and fulfill our call to act on them.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard