Leviticus 24-25, Promised Provision

 ““You are to keep my statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land.  Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat, be satisfied, and live securely in the land. If you wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce? ’ I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭25‬:‭18‬-‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Gods promise of provision is amazing here.  It is dependent on following Gods instruction, but results in supernatural harvest that will carry them through obedience to sabbath the land.

When we worry about living the way God commands we are demonstrating our trust in our own abilities rather than trusting what He says.  Whatever He calls us to, He will provide sufficiently.

Lord, help me to follow You without fear, knowing that You will provide for all of my needs!

Leviticus 22-23, Restful Provision

 ““These are the Lord’s appointed times that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting food offerings to the Lord, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated day. These are in addition to the offerings for the Lord’s Sabbaths, your gifts, all your vow offerings, and all your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭37‬-‭38‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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I love how God wants His people to stop the daily grind and celebrate what He has done.  It is definitely once a week, plus several week long celebrations to focus on Gods provision, community and food.  When He talks about these times of celebration, I would think that the warnings have to be about not taking it to an extreme…but they are reminders not to do our normal daily tasks.  We must exhibit self control to not work!

This seems crazy, but it is exactly the thing I am tempted to do…keep working, get ahead a bit so that the next few weeks can be a little easier… but I think God is asking that we trust Him for providing enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

Lord, help me to rest in Your provision!  Thank You for giving me opportunity to rest,..help me to sacrifice those days to You!

Leviticus 19-21, Foreigner Policy

 ““When an alien resides with you in your land, you must not oppress  him. You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself,  for you were aliens in the land of Egypt;  I am the Lord your God.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭19‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Interesting how the Lord instructs his people how to deal with immigrants and people who are not originally born as Israelites.  If this was Gods intention thousands of years ago, why do we not all agree that we should still treat immigrants in the same way?

Lord, help my friendliness toward immigrants and foreigners be shaped by Your perspective, rather than that of my culture.  I pray that my heart and attitude would help others to think critically about what You would call them to do.

Leviticus 16-18, Critical Confession

 “Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess  over it all the Israelites’ iniquities  and rebellious acts #— #all their sins.  He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness  by the man appointed for the task. ”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭16‬:‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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The value of confessing sin is undervalued in our culture.  But I believe there is a reason the priest has to confess all of Israel’s sin out loud before setting the scapegoat free.  The act of confession roots those sins in reality.  They are no longer nebulous ideas that we feel bad about, but they are real, disgusting acts, thoughts or words that hold weight…completely different that when it is an internal struggle.  Internally it is uncomfortable, and we feel some guilt, but only when it is spoken does it carry the full meaning and weight that it truly is.  Confession to a brother is critical to freedom from our sin.

James 5:17 says, “therefore confess your sin to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.”

The Christian life is a team sport, and if we want to walk in victory, we will link arms with other men of God and confess our sin and regularly pray for each other!

Leviticus 14-15, Holiness Permeates

 “He must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons on the eighth day, come before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest. The priest is to sacrifice them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.  In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the Lord because of his discharge.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭15‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Gods concern about holiness goes beyond sin and covers even natural conditions of humanity…even things we have zero control over.  He is serious about how we approach each other, our belongings and His house of worship.

Lord, give me eyes to see where in my own life, Your demands for holiness still need to penetrate!

Leviticus 11-13, Set Apart

 “For I am the Lord your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not defile yourselves by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy. ”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭11‬:‭44‬-‭45‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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God gives all these laws to help us to be more like Him.  Set apart from anything bad, any sin, anything that will contaminate.  He desires that we be transformed into Holy people who can live lives that demonstrate that we are different than the rest of humanity.  Living set apart is a tough thing to do, because culturally we are taught to fit into most situations.

Lord, help me to live like You are calling me…set apart for righteousness.

Leviticus 8-10, Beyond Obedience

 “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and presented unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. Then fire came from the Lord   and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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I have am sure there are people who have a clear understanding of why these men’s creativity got them toasted, I don’t fully understand it, but they were going beyond what God instructed.  And that is dangerous…honestly it was likely exposing their pride.  They appear to be showing off or highlighting themselves rather than the Glory of God.

Lord, help me to follow Your instructions rather than take it to the next level.  Keep my pride from bringing glory to myself.