Song of Solomon 6:3 I am my beloved’s, And my beloved is mine. He feeds his flock among the lilies.
This begins a very special season on God’s calendar — the month of preparation before the Fall Feasts. The month of Elul is unique: it is the 12th month on the civil calendar and the 6th month on the prophetic/biblical calendar. Each day of Elul is marked by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet call that awakens the soul. These daily blasts prepare our hearts for Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah) and ultimately for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
In Jewish tradition, there are two calendars that run side by side. The civil calendar begins in the fall with the month of Tishrei, making Elul the 12th month — the close of a yearly cycle. The prophetic or biblical calendar, however, begins in the spring with Nisan (the month of Passover), which makes Elul the 6th month — the number often associated with man and preparation. In this way, Elul stands at the crossroads of ending and beginning: the closing of one cycle and the preparation for the new.
This devotional is the first in a multi-part series on the significance of Elul — its connection to repentance, the preparation of the Bride, and the mercy of God. In the weeks ahead, we’ll take a deeper dive into each of these themes.
Even the very name Elul carries this meaning. In Hebrew, it is spelled Aleph-Lamed-Vav-Lamed (אלול), which the rabbis saw as an acronym for “Ani L’dodi v’dodi li” — “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). Elul, then, is not only a season of repentance, but of covenant intimacy — a month where the Bride turns her heart toward the Bridegroom.
Historically, Elul is also tied to Moses’ second 40 days on Mount Sinai after Israel’s sin with the golden calf (Exodus 34). During that time, God revealed His mercy and renewed the covenant. That season of intercession and forgiveness has marked Elul ever since as a time of second chances and restored relationship with God.
So as we begin this biblical month, let us heed the sound of the shofar blast. It is a call to awaken from slumber, to return to the Lord, and to prepare our hearts for the days to come. The Bridegroom is preparing us to be spotless and without wrinkle. Let us enter this season with hearts set on intimacy with God, ready for His appearing, and asking for a fresh anointing to draw us ever closer as we seek His face.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]We arrived at the airport late Thursday night with our bags and our kiddos only to find out that our flight was canceled because of a freak accident — a tractor ran into the plane, of all things! So we repacked our ourselves tightly into a small rental car to make the two hour drive to get back home to Arad in the middle of the night. Our flight was postponed till Sunday.
The Hebrew letter mem, equivalent to our English letter “M,” has a fascinating characteristic: it has two forms. The “open mem” appears at the beginning or middle of a word, with a small opening in its design. The “closed mem,” however, is used exclusively as the final letter in a word, fully sealed in its appearance. This distinction is consistent throughout the Hebrew language—except for one extraordinary exception found in the Bible.
Yeshua (Jesus) gave a remarkable parenthetic instruction in the middle of His Olivet discourse on the time of His coming and the end of the age. While it is unlikely that He himself said this, He certainly inspired Matthew to insert, “..let the reader understand”, concerning this critical event prophesied by Daniel, the Abomination of Desolation. His exhortation intended us (the readers of Matthew’s gospel) to learn what this means.
In John Bunyan’s best-selling book, Pilgrim’s Progress, the central character, Christian, begins his journey leaving the city of Destruction and ventures on his way toward the Celestial City. Early on his journey, Christian decides to depart from the narrow path onto an easier one which leads him to the territory of Despair and its stronghold, Doubting Castle.
The United States is currently experiencing a polar vortex—a surge of frigid air from the Arctic circle that blankets the country, bringing massive winter storms in its wake. As of now, over 350,000 people are without power. This sudden and unexpected cold snap brought to mind a story I’d like to share.
During this frigid weather across the United States and the devastating fires in California, millions have been grappling with widespread electricity blackouts. Thousands of people across the country remain without power. Across the United States, many teens are experiencing life without electricity for the first time—an adjustment that also means living without their cell phones. Can you imagine?
Mount Ibu, a volcano on Halmahera island in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, erupted on Saturday, spewing hot lava and sending a column of smoke and ash soaring over three miles into the sky. It’s a reminder of how volatile Indonesia can be as it has nearly 130 active volcanoes. All of this volcanic activity reminded me of another explosion that took place in 1991.