Genesis 14:14-16 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
Abraham’s rescue of Lot and his household from the four Mesopotamian Kings in the middle of the night was an act of holy chutzpah! Israel’s first patriarch demonstrated great faith, courage, family loyalty, and military strategy during this successful rescue operation.
This story of Abraham reminded me of another story in modern Israeli history. It was on June 27, 1976, when a jetliner was hijacked by a Palestinian Liberation group and taken to Uganda.
In an astounding rescue, 100 elite Israeli commandos led by Yoni Netanyahu, (Benjamin Netanyahu’s older brother) traveled over 2,500 miles to Kampala, Uganda and liberated scores of passengers taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists from a hijacked airplane. “Operation Thunderbolt” took place on July 4, 1976, whereby 103 hostages were saved, while only three died. Yoni Netanyahu was the one Israeli who sacrificed his life for this mission. The seemingly impossible rescue, which also took place at night, required a week of planning and lasted just 90 minutes. It was totally unexpected and unprecedented in modern history and became a model for rescue team training in the US military.
These two examples of courage and daring ought to inspire us in certain situations where evil should be boldly and radically confronted. There are times when we, too, can and should operate with holy chutzpah, surprising the enemy with fearless courage, faith-filled action, and laser-sharp strategy. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” [Luke 10:19]
There is a time to wage war with holy chutzpah. When our cause is righteous and the goal is rescue and deliverance from evil then we ought not to be passive. In these situations, we need the Lord’s strategy and the courage which comes with true righteousness. Perhaps it will require a strong word spoken in love; perhaps a day or a week of serious fasting and prayer. It may even involve addressing an evil spirit as the Apostle Paul did in Philippi [Acts 16:18]. There are times for radical action without fear that it can’t be done. Our Lord, on the cross, exemplified tremendous courage and heroism to rescue us from our sins and the devil’s power. In the power of His Spirit, we also can be instruments of dramatic deliverance – with Holy chutzpah!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]This one of several theophanies found in the Old Testament of the “preincarnate” Yeshua (Jesus). In this story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three men refused to bow and worship another God besides the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. While they knew that God was able to deliver them, they also knew that He might choose not to do so–and whether He delivered them or not had no influence on their loyalty to Him. These three faithful Hebrews were convinced that idolatry was a non-starter for them, no matter what! Their unquestionable loyalty brought wrath upon their heads. Nebuchadnezzar’s violent rage moved him to increase the furnace fires seven times!
The word “midst”, in the Greek, is ‘meros’ which literally means “the middle”. In the ‘meros’ of the throne in heaven is the Lamb of God. The very focus of heaven — the center of attention — is the Lamb of God!
Judges 6 begins with an angel talking to Gideon saying, “thou mighty man of valor!” However, in this passage Gideon isn’t feeling very valiant — he’s consumed with his circumstances — how poor his family is and how he’s the least of his fathers’ house. He doesn’t feel he’s done anything worthy of being called valiant, yet the angel still addresses him “mighty man of valor!”
Every time I turn on the news it seems the new buzzword is – CHANGE! So how can we just shift gears and change? Let’s learn a lesson about basic automotive mechanics. Generally a car has between 4 and 5 gears. The first gear maximizes power in exchange for speed. As you move through the gears, you can continue to go faster, yet without using any more power, and before you know it – you have to look at the speedometer – cause nobody wants a speeding ticket!
One thing I absolutely love about Israel is that fruit grows everywhere in abundance. Delicious citrus fruit, mango, pomegranate, grapes, cactus fruit, avocado — and much much more! It’s common to see people people pick and eat it as they walk by. And it doesn’t taste like your average western fruit either. It seems to be especially sweet. It must be because God has blessed the land it’s grown upon!
Sometimes it’s very difficult to rejoice in trials – especially when the trials affect ministry! Last week, one of our servers had a database server collapse, but after several days of work, the server is now back online. Although the damage was minimal, the time needed to spend researching the issue and then rebuilding the databases took days.
Reading the gospels I find myself considering and identifying with the very human experiences and emotions of the Apostles, especially as the pace and intensity of the events of their lives with Yeshua were unprecedented. I have to wonder if the pace and intensity of the days of our lives can compete with theirs. Witnessing His miracles, His authoritative and concise way of teaching, His inevitable rejection, torture and crucifixion, His astounding exuberant resurrection, and eventual returning flight to Heaven from whence He came…all this must have had a rather relentless effect upon those who walked in any way closely with Him. Would it be fair to compare our present day scientific and technical accomplishments, political gymnastics, information explosion, pandemics, media magic, and the plethora of personal events, encounters and challenges, with their apostolic roller coaster ride?