Elul: The Journey of Teshuvah Begins…

ELUL DAY 1:

THE JOURNEY OF TESHUVAH BEGINS

The Bride makes herself ready…

Today on Gods calendar is Elul 1.

This date marks the beginning of a 40-day period of divine favor and mercy that concludes on Yom Kippur(the 10th of Tishrei), when Moses came back down with the new tablets.

On the 1st of Elul in biblical history, Moses ascended Mt. Sinai for the third and final 40-day period to receive the second set of stone tablets and secure God's ultimate forgiveness for the sin of the Golden Calf.

Because God showed grace and reconciled with Israel during this timeframe, Elul 1 is celebrated as the start of the annual spiritual season for teshuvah (repentance) and the daily sounding of the shofar.

Exodus 34:1-2

“The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain…”

There’s something deeply prophetic about the way Moses begins this ascent back up the mountain.

The first tablets had been shattered. Covenant had been violated. Israel had failed. Something sacred lay broken at the foot of the mountain.

And yet God said:

“Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones… and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai.”

The Hebrew word teshuvah תְּשׁוּבָה comes from שׁוּב shuv, meaning: to turn, return, come back, restore.

Teshuvah doesn’t begin with perfection. It begins with turning.

God didn’t tell Moses, “Come back when everything looks like it did before.” Or come back when you’ve got yourself together.”

He called him back in the ‘aftermath’ of what had been broken.

And that to me is one of the most beautiful invitations of Elul:

“Bring the broken pieces with you…”

You see in Deuteronomy 10, God tells Moses:

“Make for yourself an ark of wood… Then I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.”- Deuteronomy 10:1–2

Before God rewrites anything, He commands Moses to prepare a place capable of carrying what He is about to restore.

And the broken tablets weren’t thrown away as if they had no value. They were preserved right alongside the whole ones.

What a picture of grace!

God doesn’t waste the places where we broke.

Teshuvah isn’t pretending the fracture never happened. It’s allowing God to bring even our broken places back under the covering of covenant.

Because Moses isn’t returning to Sinai as though nothing happened…

There’s been a golden calf.

There’s been covenant violation.

There are shattered tablets lying at the foot of the mountain.

There’s been failure.

But God doesn’t say, “Clean this entire mess up and then I’ll meet you again.”

He says: “Make an ark. Cut two more tablets. And come back up.”

In other words:

Prepare to carry again what I originally purposed for you to carry.

That is the heart of teshuvah.❤️‍🔥

Moses climbs again.

Same mountain. Same God.

And that’s Elul. ⛰️

It’s the invitation to ascend again.

To pray again. To listen again.

To surrender again. To return again…

Not because we’ve finally gotten ourselves together, but because The One waiting on the mountain is full of mercy and grace.

And this time, Moses ascends carrying the evidence of what has happened.

Man that speaks so deeply to me!❤️‍🔥

We think returning to God means cleaning ourselves up first…fixing our inconsistencies, overcoming every weakness, resolving every failure…

and then approaching Him.

But teshuvah reverses that order.

You don’t get whole so you can return. You return so He can make you whole…

Bring the disappointment.

Bring the places where you know you missed Him. Bring the prayer life that hasn’t been what it once was.

Bring the affection that has cooled.

Bring the questions.

Bring the fragments.

Just turn toward Him.

Because the miracle of the second ascent is that God was willing to write again…❤️‍🔥

The first tablets were broken, but the Word of God concerning His people wasn’t finished.

Failure interrupted the story, but it didn’t have authority to write the ending.

God said: Bring Me another stone…

There are things God desires to rewrite upon surrendered hearts during this season.

And for me, that’s why Elul is such a beautiful picture of bridal preparation.

The Bride makes herself ready not by pretending she’s never been broken, but by continually turning toward her Bridegroom.

Teshuvah is burning bridal language.

It’s the heart hearing the Voice of the Beloved and saying:

“I’m coming back…”

Back to my First love.

Back to His voice.

Back to His presence.

Back to His ways.

Back under His government.

Back to the place where He can write upon my heart again.

So on this first day of Elul, maybe the invitation isn’t: “Get yourself together.”

Maybe, it’s: “Come up to Me again.”

Come, carrying whatever this last season has produced.

Come with the whole pieces.

Come with the broken pieces.

Come as you are.

Because teshuvah isn’t the journey of perfect people toward God.

Teshuvah is the journey of a heart that has heard His invitation and decided to turn back toward Home.

And the beautiful thing about returning to God is this:

While we’re turning toward Him, we discover He has already turned His face toward us.

The journey of teshuvah begins.

The mountain is calling.

The King is near.

And the Bride is making herself ready…❤️‍🔥🕊️