Considering that teshuvah or repentance is a Christian/Messianic lifestyle, it shouldn't surprise us that forty days are set aside annually in order to concentrate on this very important subject. As we have seen, it is not something negative, to be feared, or to be forced. A believer making daily teshuvah is more like a spaceship making daily course corrections to ensure it arrives at its goal. And given the consequences of missing the target - being lost in space/eternity - this seems to me to be a highly desirable and worthwhile activity. Just as a space ship has limited fuel, so we have limited time - one earth-life, to be precise, of unknown length but almost guaranteed to be less than a century, if not much shorter. We just don't know when Yahweh is going to take us home. Friends I once had died in their 20's, 30's and 40's. The children of people I have known have died after only a few weeks or months. We have no guaranteed lifespan so it is foolish to postpone teshuvah

One of the reasons people refuse to repent is because they have been given a false picture of who God is and what He is really like. Most sensible people recognise that we need government and rulership for a stable and harmonious society even if we are somewhat disillusioned by the dishonesty and corruption of pretty well every government on the earth today. Just as we want governments that have integrity and who have the peoples' best interests at heart (and not their own selfish ambitions), so many people are desperate to find a God who is righteous and will meet their needs and serve their best interests. King David certainly expresses this desire:

"Rule me rightly, O Elohim (God), and plead my cause against a nation without kindness. Oh, deliver me from a man of deceit and unrighteousness!" (Tehelim/Psalm 43:1, ISRV).

'Rule me rightly' is the plea of every citizen of every nation and to protect us against those who lack in kindness, who are deceitful and who show no righteousness. This is the plea of every child, of every wife, and of every employee. Treat me right, please! When we are treated right, we are much more inclined to trust and follow.

Unfortunately, each man's idea of what is 'right' seems to be different when he is not steered by God. This is because we have been brought up and educated wrongly. The true Elohim (God) cannot be found unless we trust Him to be who He says He is and to trust His mishpatim or judgments. He has to set the standard or bar. He has to establish the law or torah. If not, we will simply end up following ourselves in circles and getting nowhere fast. Like a dog chasing its tail until it either sees the futility of it and stops, or simply trips up on himself and comes tumbling down, we have to find the correct target. That target is Yahweh, our Heavenly Father and Elohim (God). And access to Him is only through His Son, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

Repentance is not, as most unbelievers would have you believe, a manipulative guilt-trip to get you trapped into some wicked, enslaving religion. Repentance leads to freedom - freedom from error, freedom from getting lost, freedom from fear, freedom from hopelessness, freedom from hate, freedom from doubt, freedom from uncertainty about the future....indeed, freedom from anything and everything that would make of man a slave to darkness and despair. So choose teshuvah and find shalom (peace)!

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