You Shall Make for Yourselves Tassels

Tzitzit

Numbers 15:37-41 

 ³⁷ YHVH also spoke to Moses, saying,
 ³⁸"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.
 ³⁹"It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of YHVH, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,
 ⁴⁰so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your Elohim.
 ⁴¹"I am YHVH your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your Elohim; I am YHVH your Elohim."

Deuteronomy 22:12

¹²"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.




While walking this pathway of obedience to YHVH, some things have been easier to obey than others. Not eating pork was a no brainer...pig=ick=don't eat it. Sure, I can do that. The food laws were the first things we started obeying, but in the beginning it did test us. We would just pick the sausage off pizza, or push the pork aside in soup, etc. I wouldn't even think about doing those things now, but we did do it at one time. Next came Sabbath, but even that tested our obedience. It seemed like every Sabbath, something would come up. We would just "have" to go to the store. Or I would compromise on my "no electronics" rule. Eventually we came into a place where  honoring the Sabbath made us feel set apart. It effected so much of our spiritual lives. We can say we are set apart, but what is there that is different about us? How can you tell that we are the children of Israel? How can you tell that we belong to YHVH? Each Sabbath we feel it. We see it in each other. It is truly a sign between YHVH and us, that we are His people. But we had to come into a place of obedience in order to get the blessing from it.


Well, tzitzit have been a place of disobedience for me. In turn I have caused my husband and children to be disobedient as well. I've been asked to make tzitzit, asked to wear them by my husband, and my children have asked if they could wear them. I made my husband a set, since he was the one convicted about wearing them, but I would not wear them myself. Why? I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't understand the point. Maybe it was because I didn't want to look weird or have to give an account to others as to why I wore these strange looking fringes and what they meant and what it was I truly believed in. Maybe I am just rebellious and stiff necked. I think all of those things are true about why I find myself in a constant state of disobedience. Most of all, I am rebellious and I need an answer as to "why" I need to do what I'm being told to do, before I actually do it.


I tell my children a story about a boy and his father who were fishing down by the river. The father forgot something in the truck, and had to run back up the hill to fetch it. The father told the son to stay put, don't go near the river, and that he would be right back. The son waited patiently, moving slowly up the hill in anticipation of the father's return. When the father rounded the hill and started down the path, he froze, with a terrified look on his face. He told the son calmly to NOT move, not even an inch, and that he would be right back. The father left, and returned with his shot gun. The son was obedient and had not moved at all. He stayed put even when the father raised his gun and shot the poisonous snake that was poised behind the child, ready to strike the child. Had the child moved, he would have been bitten, and he would have died.


That child's immediate obedience was the key to his life being saved. Had he questioned the father's command to stop, don't move, and stay there, and actually looked around to see why the father was giving the command, he would have died. It was through his obedience that he was kept safe.


I am not like that boy, but oh how I wish I were. I question everything, which at times is a good thing, but not when it comes to our Heavenly Father's commandments. He knows what is best for us. He knows exactly what we need. Like a weekly sabbath in order to stay healthy, refreshed, and always focused on what is important. But do we need to know the reason behind a command before we obey it? We do not. Our immediate obedience is required. THAT is faith. Obeying the father even when we don't understand why.


So, last night I made my entire family tzitzits. Today I will wear them, and each day after. I understand that they are there so I do not forget to obey the commands of my Father, but I shouldn't need to know that in order to just do what He says.


 "Wear the tzitzit, Monica"..."Yes, Father".