Dear Readers,
Welcome to 2020 Special Edition – The 9th of Av Revisited.
It has now been nine years (August 2011) since I wrote two posts (links at end) concerning the importance of the 9th of Av – commemorated every year by the Jews as a day of mourning and fasting.
This year, Wednesday July 29 sundown to Thursday July 30 nightfall is the 9th of Av 2020 on the Jewish calendar. It is a 25-hour period of mourning and repentance in the Jewish tradition.
Those of us who are not Jewish do not often consider the import of the Jewish calendar. However, when I was writing Desert Days nearly a decade ago, my study led me to a message in God’s Word that has great significance not only to the Jews, but also to believers grafted into the Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have not made an annual habit of resharing the following two posts surrounding the significance of the 9th of Av. The last time I did was six years ago in 2014, three years after the original Desert Days posts.
Frankly, I do not always remember the 9th of Av (which yearly moves between July and August dates) unless something jogs my memory. This past week, my website stats indicated a click on the post about the Eye of the Needle. Hello! Of course, the 9th of Av must be approaching, so I approached the internet. Sure enough, with a week’s notice because of a post click, I discovered that here we are again.
Having just written Warfare and the Mercy Seat on my teaching website (nancybentz.com), I was again grateful and in awe of how the Lord epitomizes Mercy over and over … for us to both receive and walk in.
With thoughts already percolating toward writing the Mercy overview, I can’t help but chuckle at Holy Spirit’s connectivity with Caleb and Joshua from back in Desert Days posts to my current assignment. Only the Lord can bring forward the appropriate threads for this sometimes Dense Bentz to see the pattern He has been weaving all along as we write together. I am humbled and stirred at the same time.
Please, make some reading time to click on and refresh yourself in God’s kind intent in this, His window, for you and your loved ones. I pray these posts will confirm what He may already be speaking to you.
Desert Days – Standing at the Border begins the content about the 9th of Av,
followed by Desert Days – The Eye of the Needle
Shared in the same Spirit that inspired Joshua and Caleb ~
Nancy – Gracefully Free
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