Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is forty eight days, which is six weeks and six days of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 20:4-6
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Devotional
As we are but a step and a day away from our encounter with God, we must not confuse God with anything that we have seen along the way. Compare Exodus 20 with Deuteronomy 4 and you will find a correlation with the reverse of creation with idolatry. Idolatry is the confusion of things that are made with God who made them. When we give to things that are made what only belongs to God. This is what we do when we rival and fight with each other. When we engage in idolatry when we give the desire that belongs to God to others. God becomes our rival, because we have stolen what belongs to Him. We have stolen the attention, affection and time that is reserved for God. Adam stole from the tree that was God’s exclusively. It was not that God could not give him fruit from His tree. But rather God wanted to be the object of his desire and the source of His wisdom exemplified by Adam’s obedience to his commandment. As we have ascended into heaven, God reminds us not to confuse the power of the heavens, the sun, moon and stars with His power to tell us what time is it and what is to come. God reminds us how the history of humanity is one of harsh experiences and great favor. Now that we have drawn close to God his hands are revealed to us. His right hand of favor and His left hand of judgment. We are not far and not long from seeing Him face to face.