Court in Session

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During High Holy Days, God’s court room is in session.

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The time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is open court for God’s people.

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It is a time of judgment and decision.

God comes in and we rise to our feet.

He opens His Book for the next year.

He examines the evidence for and against us.

There must be righteous judgment.

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Who will be poor and who will prosper?

Who will have famine and who will have food to eat?

Who will be sick and who will be healthy?

Who will have war and who will have peace?

Who will suffer persecution, and who will be safe from persecution?

Who will die and who will live?

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We know our fate is in His hands.

We know the power of His judgments.

We know our weaknesses as we stand before Him.

We know He is all just and all holy.

We know we fail before Him.

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We also know He is our Father.

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We know our relationship with Him.

We know how we have failed, and that He never fails.

We appeal to this relationship and plead for blessings and forgiveness.

We promise to correct our mistakes, if He will only help us.

We cannot do this on our own.

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It is important to repent.

To truly be sorry for our sins, and our shortcomings.

It is important to be honest.

He has everything about us in front of Him in His book.

We must not hold back anything, because He knows it all, already.

We cannot escape the truth of even one thing we have done wrong.

He will review everything with us, and expect a response.

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This time of judgment and appeal goes on for 10 days.

It is also this time that we review our relationship with others as well.

God is aware of this also, and it is written in His Book.

We must ask forgiveness, and seek to restore what we have damaged.

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Have we worked for peace, in order to ask for it?

Have we relieved others who suffer, in order to ask for safety from persecution?

Have we helped the poor, in order to ask for God’s provision?

Have we helped others, in order to ask for help ourselves?

Have we forgiven others, in order to deserve forgiveness?

Have we fed the poor, in order to be spared from famine?

Have we shown mercy, in order to receive mercy?

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How will He decide this next year for us?

Will He head our pleadings?

Have we restored the relationship between Him and us, and between others and ourselves?

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During this time of 10 days, we must seek God and His will, and obey, showing repentance and willingness to turn away from our selfish ways.

At the end of Yom Kippur, in the evening, God’s book closes for another year.

He has decided.

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