Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. 

Genesis 21:1

God had promised Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son. However, by the time that promise was fulfilled, everything from a human point of view said that it was impossible. Abraham was one hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. There was nothing natural about what happened.

Yet, God had spoken, and neither the passing of time nor the circumstances of life changed what He had said. Abraham and Sarah becoming older did not make His promise less certain. The fact that they could not understand how it would happen did not prevent God from doing exactly what He had promised. I think this is something we often struggle with in our own walk with God. We read His promises, we pray, and we wait. When the answer does not come when we expect it, we can begin looking at our circumstances instead of looking to the One who made the promise.

Many years had passed since God first called Abraham, and from a human point of view, the possibility of Sarah giving birth became even more impossible as the years passed. Yet, the passing of time did not change what God had promised.

In the Haftarah, we read of Hannah, who had no children because the LORD had closed her womb, as we read in 1 Samuel 1:5. This caused her tremendous anger and pain. In her anger and distress, she went before the LORD and poured out her heart to Him. Afterward, Scripture tells us:

 And the LORD remembered her.

1 Samuel 1:19

The LORD had not forgotten Hannah during all those years. He had seen her pain and heard her prayer. The answer came according to His timing, and Hannah conceived and gave birth to Samuel.

This is what I find so powerful in the connection between Sarah and Hannah. In Sarah’s case, God had made a promise that seemed impossible from a human point of view. In Hannah’s case, she brought the deep desire of her heart before the LORD in prayer. Neither woman could bring about what she longed for on her own. Yet, in both accounts, God acted in His time and according to His purposes.

I believe these two accounts speak in a very meaningful way to where we are today as the people of Israel. The past few years have brought tremendous loss, war, uncertainty, and pain. There are many things that we still do not understand, and there are questions for which we simply do not have answers. Yet, one thing we should never question is whether God has forgotten Israel. He has not.

The God who made His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has not changed. He has preserved our people through generations of exile, persecution, and repeated attempts to destroy us. Today, we are living in the land that He promised to our forefathers, speaking the language of the Scriptures, and seeing things that generations before us longed to see.

None of this means that Israel does not need to return to God. We do need to return to Him. God’s faithfulness should never cause us to become proud or to believe that being the descendants of Abraham removes our responsibility before Him. Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly called Israel back to Himself, and that call is just as relevant today.

His faithfulness should lead us to repentance, not pride, and I believe Yom Teruah carries such an important message for us.

Numbers 29:1 tells us:

Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets.

Today, this day is widely celebrated as Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. However, in the Scriptures, the emphasis is on Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets.

Throughout Scripture, trumpets called the people to gather, warned of danger, accompanied battle, and marked significant moments that God had appointed. Here in Israel, the sound of the shofar becomes especially familiar during this season. We hear it in synagogues and in communities throughout the country, reminding us that this is a time to stop and consider where we stand before God.

I think that this is something we desperately need today. There is so much noise around us, and there are so many voices telling us what to fear, what to believe, and where to place our hope. Yom Teruah reminds us to turn back to the God of Israel and to what He has spoken.

For those of us who believe in Yeshua, the sound of the trumpet also reminds us of something that is still ahead. Rav Shaul, the Apostle Paul, writes:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16

There is still a trumpet that will sound, and I believe this should remind us that God is not finished with His work.

I do not believe that we need to speculate about dates or try to make every detail of Yom Teruah into an end-times prediction. Scripture does not ask us to do that. It does, however, give us a reason to live with expectation, knowing that God is still working and that everything He has spoken will ultimately come to pass.

When I look at Israel and at the world around us today, there are many things that I do not understand, and there are also things that deeply concern me. However, what we see today does not determine whether God will fulfill His Word.

Sarah was ninety years old, and everything about her circumstances said that having a child was impossible. Yet, God had spoken, and He fulfilled what He had promised. Hannah carried anger and pain that she could not change herself. She brought it before the LORD, and He heard her.

We also do not know exactly how everything God has spoken concerning Israel, the nations, and the return of Messiah Yeshua will unfold. We do not need to know every detail in order to trust the One who does.

Perhaps there is something in your own life that you have brought before God for a long time. Perhaps circumstances look completely different from what you hoped they would look like. The temptation is to allow what we see to determine what we believe about God.

The Scripture readings this Shabbat remind us to do the opposite. We are called to allow what we know about God to shape how we see our circumstances. The sound of the trumpet should also cause us to examine our own hearts. We should ask ourselves whether we are walking with God, whether we are listening to His voice, whether we are trusting His Word, and whether we are willing to return to Him in the areas where we have wandered away.

As we observe this Biblical Appointed Time, my prayer is that we will hear more than the sound of the trumpet. My prayer is that we will remember who the God of Israel is and turn our hearts fully toward Him.

What God has promised, He has not forgotten; what He has spoken, He will fulfill in His appointed time.

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tova,

Moran