OBSERVING GOD’S CALENDAR
The IN SEASON Lifestyle basically follows the Jewish calendar every year; not because this community is Jewish (we are Christians); but because we are followers of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps that sounds a bit like an oxymoron to many; but Christians should imitate the works of Jesus in their lives; and Jesus was a Hebrew, thus what we now call a “Jewish” person. Growing up with His earthly family; He most likely observed these same days that are called Elul on the Hebrew calendar.
Technically; Elul is simply the Hebraic name for the sixth month. Once we knew more about Hebraic thinking though; we came to think of it as not only being the name of a month; but also the name of a 40 day season, with the last ten days of the season running into the month of Tishri (the seventh month.)
This growing season is typically a time for renewal and considering all the ways that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. Following Jesus makes us want to imitate Him and do the same things that He did when He walked the earth. Since Jesus was a Hebrew; he would have used the Hebraic calendar and followed its days and seasons.
It is the author’s personal belief that all Christians are called to keep the calendar that God chose to set in motion from the very beginning of time. God’s chosen people have been diligent to keep these days that God has set aside faithfully for generations and generations.
So it is, that through following the sacred calendar of God others too (though Christians) have come to celebrate the season of Elul annually.
APPROACHING THE SEASON OF ELUL
Now this ancient Hebraic season of time called Elul is already underway for this year, but we are only at the beginning.
It is one of my favorite times of the year.
Understanding Elul and going through the traditional processes of the season is a very special period of time to be observed every Fall. This is not an officially commanded time; but it is more like a suggested time to prepare for the commanded times.
If God created it, I’m all for it. There are no more decisions for me to make once I understand that fact. This decision to have a month in time called Elul was not based on MY intelligence, but the Mind of God, which puts my feeble little brain to shame. He is the One who gave us this amaing gift of time. History shows that God’s people kept this season every Fall. It was how they prepared for the Fall Holy Days of God.
I can rest in the fact that His ways are higher than my ways and His decisions for my life and the seasons of my life are so much better than mine.
With all humility, I accept what I know is from the mind of God and try to be “mindful” of these things in my daily life, not out of a sense of duty or dread, but out of a sense of love and obedience and honor.
If you study the facts, the people of God have been keeping these days since the time of The Garden of Eden and Creation. Yet; so many people of today are ignorant of most of the meaning and purpose for Elul.
FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE
I do not observe for the sake of keeping rules (that might be legalistic); but I observe these days for the sake of loving and honoring God.
A new word to add to your vocabulary today is “love-a-listic.” I’m a writer and I love words, so I invented “love-a-listic” for hard-headed modern-day Pharisees, or certain people who keep repeating the same things over and over; yet they aren’t really listening to the heart of God.
I’m very proud to be “love-a-listic” instead of “legalistic.”
Also; I want to say that I do not judge those who do not believe the truth of this special observance/season of worship. I hope that they do not judge me. The bible tells us that we must all work out our own salvation. Everyone must answer to God for the truth that He has revealed to them.
As for me and my house, I love all the things that My Father teaches me throughout the year with His special occasions called feasts and festivals. I also enjoy the times of meditation that lead to repentance and coming clean before God.
Since I’ve loved keeping these days for many years now, I can’t imagine life otherwise!
RICHES FOR THE JOURNEY
There is a richness in following the scriptures through these days; a deep richness that cannot be described in words; something that cannot be found anywhere else in the course of one’s life journey.
So here at the end of August and the beginning of September, I am paying close attention to the turning of the pages of the sacred calendar.
I’ve done this observance of God’s Calendar for a long time now; but for many years before that I did not know to observe the month of Elul.
After the process of discovering this sacred time, (yet another present from God wrapped inside of time;) I never want to miss another season of Elul observations.
Holy days are wonderful worship times; but seasonal meditations with repentance are life-changing. They help to keep our days of living in complete balance with God’s purposes.
God tells time much different than we do.
He taught His way of telling time (using the phases of the moon) to the Hebrew people. Using the Jewish calendar you will note that the month of Elul comes at the end of the sacred year. It usually falls sometime around America’s calendar dates of August and September.
This year (2023) Elul starts at sunset on August 16th. Elul lasts for 40 days (the Hebraic month of Elul being 29 days plus the ten Days of Awe that follow.) Does the math bother you? I wouldn’t if you understood that Rosh Hashanah has a “hidden day” and it makes the count equal one more day when you total them.
Elul has jokingly been called “Jewish Lent” in that many of the customs are similar in nature to the Catholic practice of Lent.
A THEOLOGY OF A LOVING, MERCIFUL AND FORGIVING GOD
This month/season called Elul highlights God’s grace so beautifully.
If you pay attention, you will quickly note that these next 40 days are very special days.
Just a few years ago, the days right before the time period of Elul were even underscored by a total eclipse of the sun. Perhaps this was one way of God saying “get prepared for what is to come.” Many other past seasons have also presented different signs in the heavens.
If you pay close attention to history you will notice that MANY astounding occurrences have happened within this little window of time.
For instance the beginning of Elul for 2019 brought a hurricane into history. The past is dotted with other such supernatural occurrences that have happened; all of them during the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Awe.
A TIME FOR MEDITATION
Many people try to enjoy a special meditation for each day during Elul. Some express themselves through art, song, dance and poetry after such meditations. This isn’t required at all; but it surely helps to get our thoughts in order.
There is abundant comfort and peace in hearing the truth of the ancient teachings in relation to God’s grace. The truth comes out during our prayers and meditations before God in this special time and it paints such a beautiful canvas of amazing theology.
We see the theology of a loving, merciful and forgiving God and we see it so much clearer in this time when our hearts are focused on turning toward God’s ways instead of our own ways.
A HISTORICAL SEASON
You can trace Elul all the way back to the time of Moses, to the first year that the Jewish people left Egypt.
It was only seven weeks after they had crossed the Red Sea and made a covenant with God to be His people forever that they violated this covenant, and sinned by worshiping a golden calf in the desert.
Moses saw this terrible sin taking place when he returned to the camp with the 10 Commandments that God had personally inscribed on stone with His Own finger.
In frustration at what was going on with the people upon his return; Moses smashed these first stone tablets.
After he had led them in repentance and corrected the ways of the people, Moses went back up on the Mountain to plead with God and to ask for mercy.
It took another 40 days before Moses received a second set of the commandments.
This time God made Moses write them down with his own hands.
FORTY DAYS OF WRITING DOWN GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
I always wondered if this was God’s way of making Moses memorize the commandments. How many people today can repeat them; much less observe them?
Have you ever had your child write things down on paper when it seemed that they just could not remember what you told them to do?
Well, this time God dictated the law to Moses, and Moses inscribed them himself on the stone tablets.
It must have taken a lot of time and a lot of hard work on the part of Moses to do this.
What comes easy to us is sometimes easy to forget.
When we have to work hard for something, we are usually more diligent to maintain what we’ve worked for.
In Elul we are like Moses during this 40 day period of time on the mountain with God.
The time of Elul is like re-writing the commandments over and over again only upon our hearts instead of upon tablets of stone.
As we write them on our hearts we are searching for the meaning in each commandment and we are examining our lives to see if we are truly keeping the ways of God in our lives. If not; we repent and turn.
LOOKING AT GOD’S BACK
While Moses was on the mountain with God during these 40 days, he was allowed to glimpse at God’s back.
Have you ever noticed that when you quarrel with someone and they turn their back on you that you are looking at their back instead of their face?
This is what “returning” is like; it is like spending a long time of looking at God’s back instead of His face. It is a time of yearning for God to forgive us and turn His Face toward us.
We cannot see God’s face until we have truly done all that we must do to return to His best ways to live.
Elul is all about returning to God.
Do you desire to see the face of God?
Then why not return to the things He has taught you?
13 ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY
God also taught Moses the 13 attributes of mercy while he was up there on that mountain, repenting for the people, recording the law to memory and turning toward God.
It occurs to me that mercy and forgiveness take more effort than simply doing things right in the first place.
God only gave 10 summarized commandments, yet he gave 13 summarized ways to forgive and have mercy.
Interesting set of numbers; huh?
WHEN WE GET TO THE PLACE AND TIME OF SEEING GOD CLEARLY
God turning his back around was a way of showing mercy instead of the righteous anger that would have led to Him destroying His own people.
Instead of manifesting His anger and destroying them in their sins; He turned His back away for a while.
He still does this for all of us.
We provoke God’s anger every day by disobeying His instructions for life; yet He continues to love us and waits patiently for us to change.
When our hearts change He is able to turn to face us!
LOVING AND FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER TAKES TIME AND EFFORT
Moses remained on the Mountain for 40 days learning from God starting on the 1st of Elul and lasting through the 10th of Tishri on the Jewish calendar.
Today we are still benefiting from the blessings that God bestowed to Moses on that mountain!
One of those blessings was that we are now taught from the scriptures to love and to forgive one another.
We have the 10 best ways to show love written down in writing, and when we mess up and forget them, we have 13 ways to show mercy, compassion and forgiveness. This not only reconciles us to one another, it also reconciles us to God.
So it is that the time of Elul has become known for getting our hearts ready for the beginning of the time for the turning to a new and sacred year; a time for remembering to meditate on obtaining God’s whole-hearted mercy and forgiveness, both individually and corporately with other Christians.
Sometimes this also involves obtaining the whole-hearted mercy and forgiveness of those around us.
It is always a season that involves learning how to love.
ELUL IS A WAY NOT TO FORGET WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Of course, it goes without saying that we should be doing these acts all through the year, and not just during the season of Elul.
However; if we get too busy and forget (being humans like we are), Elul is designed to give us a deliberate and clear focus on the subject of being obedient to God and loving our fellowmen. Elul keeps us from forgetting.
It was and still is a time of people being reconciled with God as well as one another.
CLOSING OUT THE BOOKS OF HEAVEN FOR THE YEAR
I find it interesting that this season of time is always noted on the Jewish calendar right before the end of their sacred year. It seemed to imply that God was saying, “I know you’ve made mistakes this year, so let’s work them out before we close out the books for the year.”
How wonderful it is to know that God has set aside a special time for showing divine mercy and forgiveness.
I can see some similarities that tie in with the Catholic Feast of Divine Mercy on this day. The Roman Catholics celebrate a day of Divine Mercy sometime in April, which is a totally different season than Elul, but with a very similar focus.
I prefer using the Hebraic calendar for this observance because I prefer ending the sacred year with divine mercy and beginning the new sacred year with a clean fresh slate.
In a perfect world we would have need of neither calendar period, because we would all be mindful of what we do EVERY day, and we would all be constantly seeking God’s mercy immediately after we made mistakes or sinned.
Of course in a perfect world; there would be no sin. We definitely are not there yet!
You may have noticed already that the present world is far from perfect.
At least this time and season of Elul is a reminder for those things of which we tend to forget to pay attention. It calls us to stop and meditate and pray about whatever things we have missed or left out all year instead of constantly seeking God’s mercy immediately after we have made mistakes or sinned.
A TIME FOR PAUSE
It is also said that this is a time to pause.
When I put my DVD player on pause, I find myself stopping to think about the latest part of the movie that just played out.
That is how the season of Elul is; we are pausing to think of the last year that just played out in our lives.
We are looking back at scenes from our daily lives and we are paying closer attention to the details of how we were living.
When I hit that pause button the second time, the movie begins to move forward again.
Whatever happened last is now fresh on my mind. I am equipped with the solid facts.
In taking that long pause for Elul, we are better equipped and able to begin to move forward into the new sacred year that lies before us.
We all need to be forced to pause and reflect often.
Life is too important to be just another random accident in time.
We must value the time we have and treasure the gift of life and not treat it lightly.
A BEGINNING AND AN ENDING
To get the full meaning of the period of time called Elul, you must look at both the beginning and the end of this interesting season and then step back to see the whole picture.
It is very similar to remembering the details of a trip.
As mentioned above, the beginning is symbolic of Moses on the mountain for 40 days receiving God’s forgiveness and mercy for the people’s sins and reconciling the nation back to God.
Today with the observance of the season of Elul, those of us who are committed to staying on God’s Sacred Calendar are going through all the same motions; just in a different time while living in a different type of wilderness. From the wilderness of the modern-day world we are all constantly seeking God’s reconciliation for our past and God’s hope for our future.
Then comes the process of actually living out what has been learned.
We like to call this “a time of turning around.”
At the end of the sacred year we are now looking back to see what we have been doing with this gift of our lives.
We are asking forgiveness and mercy for all that was wrong and we are turning around toward the new direction of all that is right.
10 VERY IMPORTANT DAYS OF AWE
At the end of the period of time called Elul there are 10 very important days.
We often refer to these days as “the days of awe.”
The first day of those 10 days is called Rosh Hashanah, which lasts for 2 days actually (although it is counted as one long day.)
Among many other things, Rosh Hashanah is known as a time for renewing, for waking up, for paying attention, for getting prepared and ready for new things.
The next 7 days after Rosh Hashanah take us to Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the sacred year, the day that is so symbolic of Jesus’ precious blood bringing atonement for our sins. It is The Day of Atonement.
UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ATONEMENT
The Jewish people know and understand the need for and the significance of atonement. They spend time at the end of each year praying for mercy and forgiveness during these 10 days leading up to Yom Kippur, also called The Day of Atonement.
Those of us who have received the gift of the covering of the blood of Christ should be even more diligent in observing this season.
It is as if we have crossed over to a new place and the journey becomes much more interesting. We must be listening to The One who is conducting the journey in order to know the way.
Elul is a time for constant listening. Can you not hear the sound of the shofar in the distance?
How could anyone take such a gift for granted?
The meditations we do during Elul honor Christ’s gift of His life for us. They bring us to a humble place where we realize that the work of the cross is all that truly reconciles us to God.
As Christians we focus on this and we meditate on the ways of how to better live out God’s plan for our lives.
The Day of Atonement clearly spells out the work of the cross.
The purpose is to reach this Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) being reconciled with God, or to attain At-one-ment, or a spiritual state of being at-one with God, joining ourselves to Him through His loving kindness of mercy and forgiveness of our sins.
These days of Elul help our hearts and minds to come fully into this season of mercy and forgiveness.
AUTOMATIC ANNUAL REVIVAL
As a funny side note here; you might have noticed that Jewish people never have revivals. It isn’t necessary for them to do so. The whole sacred calendar is all about examining your heart before God.
They see so much; and yet they haven’t yet seen Jesus as Messiah. Let’s continue to pray for God’s plan for them to come into the fold. We owe them a lot for the knowledge to the way of Salvation. Our constant prayer is that these precious people are able to open their eyes to Jesus as Messiah.
As Christians we consider that our Messiah died for us. We confess our sins and we focus on turning around and coming closer to God. Then we pray, like Moses to see God’s Face.
Have you ever taken a long train ride and had a lot of time to think about things as you gazed out the window at the landscape passing before you?
Most times people arrive at astounding conclusions if just given enough time to sit and think things through in such a fashion.
Elul is a lot like that type of train ride.
You arrive at your destination with a whole new determination and a clear new perspective on life.
Your understanding has been increased.
What could be more beautiful?
THE BLESSINGS OF BEING MINDFUL OF THE SEASON
I never want to miss these days called Elul.
There are so many lessons to grasp here in this wonderful season.
So please join me in being mindful of the fact that the last days of summer and the first days of fall are taking us into the season of the 40 days of Elul, a time of careful examination, and a time to prepare for the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur.
As Christians going through the time of Elul and approaching the day of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) we must always be examining our lives and trying with cheerful hearts to keep the commandments we have received from The One Holy God.
In the times that we fail to do so; we must be diligently asking forgiveness and receiving God’s divine mercy.
This is what happens during Elul.