Parashat Vayeira (And He Appeared)
Beresheet (Genesis) 18:1 – 22:24
Haftarah: II Kings 4:1-37
When reading God’s Word, one can see that God has a plan. We all can agree that one of God’s main plans is reconciling the world back to Himself. Yet, God also has an individual plan for each of us.
While God may reveal His big plan through His Word, none of us really know how His entire plan will come to pass. This is also true of His individual plan for each of us. For this, we need faith to trust that He is faithful to accomplish His plan, regardless of our circumstances.
In the Parashah we read of God’s plan to bring judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin was so prolific and evil. With that in mind, we can see that God knew His plan and that which He was about to do; however, Abraham did not know of God’s plan until God chose to revel it to him. Despite Abraham’s great faith, and the fact that he was a prophet (Genesis 20:6-7), God hid his plan from Abraham until the appointed time:
The LORD said, “Shall I cover (hide) from Abraham what I am about to do…”
Genesis 18:17
It was only when God chose to reveal His plan to Abraham that Abraham knew it. I believe this is important to remember, since God’s story is all about God. Our human nature is to exalt people with certain gifts, forgetting that God is the one who bestows gifts and reveals the truth to them. We are to give glory to the gift giver and not the receiver.
In the Haftarah, we read of Elisha who was also a great prophet. In II Kings 4:8-37, we read that when Elishawent to Shunem, there was a woman who recognized that he was a man of God, fed him with bread and told her husband that they needed to build a small room for him to rest. As an act of gratitude, Elisha wanted to bless the woman who was barren and prophesied that she would give birth to a son. She miraculously ended up giving birth to a son, but he sadly died. The grieving woman went to Elisha and when she found him, she desperately tried to catch him by his feet. When Elisha's servant, Gehazi, tried to push her away, Elisha said:
Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has concealed it from me and has not informed me.
II Kings 4:27
One of the greatest takeaways that I believe we can learn from this story is that, even for men and women of God, God may not reveal everything to us, and therefore, I believe that we should not put our hopes in people, but rather in God Himself.
In Psalm 25:14 we read:
The secret of the LORD is for those who fear (revere) Him, and He will make them know His covenant.
I love this verse for many reasons. For one, I believe the reason that God reveals His mysteries to us is so that we revere Him. But the main reason here is that God’s ultimate mystery to mankind is being revealed through a new covenant that He made with us through His Son. For Israel and Judah, it is indeed a new covenant, and for the rest of the world, it comes through being grafted into that covenant:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Messiah Yeshua to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His gracewhich He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Messiah, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in theMessiah would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own inheritance, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14 (emphasis mine)
Just like in the days of old, so it is today; the Father chooses to whom He will make known the ultimate mystery of His will through the image of His Son, who He sent to do His will to reconcile us back to Him. I write this in hopes of encouraging you and to remind you that it is God who does the work of salvation; He alone should receive all glory and praise.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
Proverbs 25:2
Let us remember that when God reveals something to us, it is not for our glory, but rather to build His Kingdom and to glorify His name.
Shabbat Shalom,
Moran