It should come as no surprise that there would be some internet radio stations broadcasting all day, every day, with Christian music and teaching. I've seen/ heard those for decades on regular radio stations, both FM and AM, in Australia and around the world. And there were a couple Jewish stations I've found over the years, as well. Wonderful and ethnically comforting to be sure.
But today I found a station of Messianic Jewish music which self-identifies as having both messianic and non-messianic Jewish music. I hope this one really goes, makes a go of it, that is. I enjoyed the 30 minutes or so of music I heard this afternoon. Give a listen, if you can, www.soundsofshalom.com.
Their promo says, "Messianic Jewish songs praise and worship Yeshua (Jesus)...evoking glimpses of a biblical Israel...fragrance of roses blooming in the desert...joyfulness before God!" I'm not sure about roses blooming in the desert, but it certainly blessed me today. I'm equally not sure about glimpses of a biblical Israel, especially when they link this to the desert Jewish people, who were anything but biblical.
Of course, it's hard to ponder Israel's history without turning to a time/place of sin. Maybe that's what Elul does to me every year. As I ready for Rosh Hashanah and the commensurate apples and honey, I ponder my own sin and the sin of my people. I'm ashamed of all I do wrong. I'm annoyed with myself for the lack of love and the indifference I demonstrate all too often when God presents me with opportunities to love others.
This is no excuse, but I'm just like desert Israel. Our people fell in the wilderness, unbelieving that God would continue to be God. We tested Him again and again, and He was ever faithful to His own purposes and His own nature.
King David said in Psalm 95: "Come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness; When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” (verses 6-11)
Ouch, there's no way out of that one... we are in trouble if we are like desert Israel. Again the writer of Hebrews follows this OT quotation with
"Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (3.12-13)
There was a 'today' in Moses' day [when the event in question occurred], in David's day [when he wrote the Psalm], in Y'shua's day [when the writer of Hebrews wrote] and in our days [you and I must apply it to our lives]. Wow, one verse can pack a lot of punch, to get 4 days in one 'today', you know?
That said, this 24/7 radio station might be a blessing to you, to build up your faith and to encourage you to stay faithful to the Messiah who loves us.
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