Welcome to the season of Elul 5785. On August 25, 2026 after sundown comes the new moon. Our minds turn to ponder this new moon for Elul. We are leaving the Hebraic calendar’s month of Av. Now we are coming into the Hebraic calendar’s month of Elul. Elul means “Teshuvah” which means “repentance”, or “returning.”
By reaching Elul we are encouraged. God is still with us. He still loves us very much. He is even willing to help us develop better ways to live. Elul is about restoring the brokenness of the world. As we watch for the new moon, we begin to see how God is slowly repairing the world. He works with one heart at a time.
ELUL IS RESTORATION FROM BROKENESS
The first day of Elul is when Moses descended Mt. Sinai for the third time. He pleaded with God for the broken people after the tragic incident of the Golden Calf. On this trip up the mountain, Moses was given the complete Law of God. He was instructed to share it with the people. Having the written law helps people to recognize the definition of sin. In order to overcome something one must first recognize its existence.
God didn’t give us the law to bind us. He gave the law to help us. It wasn’t something God did to control us. The Law was something God did to love us.
This fact made me think back on lessons from last July when we visited Ivy Green with our grandchildren. We saw the play called The Miracle Worker. The play portrayed the amazing story of Helen Keller. Helen, being deaf and blind could not learn to talk. Her teacher spoke to her in sign language. It was a long time before she was able to truly comprehend what was being said. First, Helen had to realize and understand that the sign language held meaning for her life.
UNDERSTANDING RESTORATION
This is similar to how the law of God manifests to a Christian. At first we walk through life paying no attention to the law. We know it is there. The evidence of its presence is all around us. We are aware of The Law and know that it exists. However, before we know Messiah, we hardly notice God’s laws. We rarely slow down enough to ponder or think about them. Until we realize and understand the law’s concepts, they hold no meaning. Thus, we continue to walk in sin. Basically we live in chaos similar to how Helen Keller lived before she comprehended sign-language.
Like Helen discovering the magic of a new language, we come to the discovery that knowing and understanding the law helps us to communicate better with God. This discovery gives us a breakthrough to a much better life. This is the point where the usefulness of the law takes on new meaning. That was the way sign language worked for Helen Keller. Yet, it was totally useless to her until she finally grasped it carried useful meaning.
When Helen Keller grasped the usefulness of language, it changed every aspect of her life. The Laws of God work the same way for Christians. Ann Sullivan sacrificed much of her own life to help Helen to understand how to communicate with the world. Yeshua sacrificed all of His own life to help us to understand how to communicate with God.
THE NEED FOR SALVATION
Thus, understanding and keeping God’s laws becomes the way for Christians to learn how to move into holiness by overcoming sin. Of course, humanity could not do this very well for very long. All through the ages, our humanity has continued to dictate the desires of the lowest part of our souls. We humans are champion sinners. The beastly nature of our souls always wants to rule. Typically we are not so great at overcoming sin. Thus, the need for Our Messiah’s gift of salvation.
In the season of Elul we meditate on how we can better honor that sacred sacrifice of Jesus. We do so by learning how to keep God’s laws. The learning method is to follow Jesus. We should lean on and follow Jesus just as Helen Keller followed Ann Sullivan. She often imitated what she knew from Ann’s examples and teachings. We should be following Jesus in the same way.
When we keep the law properly, it happens not out of duty, but straight from the heart. Ann Sullivan first had to capture the heart of Hellen before she could communicate with her mind and intellect. Jesus wins our hearts, then in time our higher spiritual nature takes control of our lower, animal-like nature. That is when we begin to truly follow the law. This isn’t because we have to, it is because we want to.
The person who manages to keep the physical laws for spiritual reasons has gained true wisdom. True wisdom is life changing. It gives you the ability to live life on a higher, spiritual level instead of by lower animal instincts. The law keeps our head over our heels. Elul is the month for those who wish to live in God’s true wisdom. It is a time for growth, development and restoration.
Since Elul is a season as well as a month, we will be discussing this month a bit more than we have discussed many other months. Look forward to many Elul topics as the new moon turns through its stages this month. This is an interesting and encouraging time to be a child of God. There is much to think about. The IN SEASON Lifestyle wants to meditate on each and every relevant subject. We know that joy waits at the end of this season of observance. It is full if we pay attention to the details and the little things along the way.