Hidden Idols

Leviticus 26:1-6  "Do not make idols or set up carved images, sacred pillars, or shaped stones to be worshiped in your land. I, the LORD, am your God.  You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.  "If you keep my laws and are careful to obey my commands,  I will send the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees will produce their fruit.  Your threshing season will extend until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will extend until it is time to plant grain again. You will eat your fill and live securely in your land.  "I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep without fear. I will remove the wild animals from your land and protect you from your enemies.

 

God has almost finished giving the directions to Moses for his people….and like the good teacher that he is…. his words to Moses start to repeat themselves…as a sort of closing.  But this closing is really special…because it names the blessings we can look forward to is we follow all that he has directed us in the great book of rules. I can just see Moses…listening…wide-eyed…drinking it all in one more time.

 

The no idols rule was the first thing he repeats….as if it were the main ingredient in a product we were thinking of buying. I remembered seeing this one repeated already….so I had to look it up. My you version ap on my blackberry brought up 202 scriptures that contain the words ‘no idols.’  Starting in Exodus 20:4…and going all the way to Revelation 9:20…God allowed his anointed writers to keep reminding us that nothing should ever take the place of him.

 

Their idols were pieces of gold…or silver…or wood…or even stone...that had been carved to resemble ‘a God’  they felt the need to pray to and worship. They took objects and crafted them into objects of worship…bowed before them…even prayed to them. They broke his heart with another love…sadly…one that would never be able to truly comfort them or listen to their prayers.

 

Our idols…they are not so noticeable…on the outside. I haven’t walked in many homes and seen shrines to other Gods. So I fear that Satan has become more creative in the ways he tricks us into worshiping other Gods.  If you are thinking that worship is too strong a term here….lets insert adore…love…… give time to…or admire.  These are all merely words with similar meaning…words that allow our heart to justify the material wealth we seem to thrive on…the prideful drive that tells us we must be successful at the cost of our families…think that a bottle of pills or beer will ease our pain and stress…or that the way we alter our faces with cosmetics and body altering surgeries will help us fit in better in this world that seems to scream that normal is some thin beauty queen image.

 

Our security should be placed in God alone…and his rules are what will help us guard against Satan’s lies. This wonderful chapter even contains his promise of blessing and peace…if we can keep them all…and honor only him with our time…our resources…and our hearts. I love verse 6….  "I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep without fear. I will remove the wild animals from your land and protect you from your enemies.” It gives me hope….a positive thing to look forward to. And I even see it coming to pass in small ways every day…for God’s blessings far outweigh the things that cause stress in my life.

 

So it makes me think once again about the reason God put this rule first in his conclusion to Moses….and why it will be repeated many more times before his Bible ends.  Maybe we don’t pray to any stones or carved images….but the Webster’s definition of ‘idol’….  “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing” …. should expand a believer’s understanding of an idol as anything that replaces the one, true God…or pulls our time and energies away from seeking him continually every day.

 

Father…I thank you even again that you have placed this reminder to search my heart constantly for things that I have given too much importance. Help me to identify the idols that still take my valuable time away from learning about you…from spending time listening to your directions for my life….that distract me from doing the work you placed me here to do.  Never let me get to a point where I think that I have gotten rid of them all…so I will constantly guard against Satan’s lies and tricks to infiltrate your influence on my heart. Help me spend even more time with you…praying for directions and guidance...to be the vessel you want me to be. Amen.

Just Tenants

Leviticus 25:21-23 - The answer is, 'I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a bumper crop, enough to support you for three years.  As you plant the seed in the eighth year, you will still be eating the produce of the previous year. In fact, you will eat from the old crop until the new harvest comes in the ninth year.'  And remember, the land must never be sold on a permanent basis because it really belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenants living with me.

 

More great words from the Lord…for Moses to deliver to these people who were learning to worship what was true and real. He told them to let the land rest….every 7 years…just like we should rest on the Sabbath...or every seventh day of work. He told them to depend on God for all they needed in that full year of not harvesting crops…not pruning any grapes. He told them to trust God for even an abundance of what they would need in that time of rest. He even reminded them that all they had belonged to God…that land could be traded and sold …but they should never trade it permanently.

 

And after 7 of these great years of rest had passed…they were to have a great jubilee.  On the 50^th year they were not just to rest…they were to forgive all debt….give back land that was sold…restore what had been lost by life’s craziness…so that all people would have a sort of do-over.  The anticipation of this year was to control the price of anything sold….so that fairness would rule in all transactions.

 

One commentator said that this seventh year policy…and the 50 year celebration God had ordered would have eradicated poverty if it had been adhered to. But no evidence that it was ever carried out can be found in the Bible. Just a random thought…but I fear that our world has become so greedy that it could never really be carried out in these days either.

 

What caught my eye and heart last night…as I was reading…were the words… “it really belongs to me”…and  “you are only foreigners and tenants”…in verse 23.  I wonder if I truly believe that everything I have belongs to God….do I really consider everything I have a true blessing…that he just gave me because he loves me?  Do I really give everything I own back to him to use the way he wants?  The answer has to be no….if I am honest…for God sees straight down into my soul and knows the things I cling to as mine.  The greed of this world slaps us in the face every moment of every day…and I am reminded this day that I am still basically selfish inside…and need to rearrange some thought patterns about what is truly mine…if I take to heart this scripture.

 

Father…as the tears begin to flow…I thank you that you just won’t be satisfied with the selfishness I try to cling to in my heart.  You keep speaking to my heart and trying to remove all the bits of me that keep me from understanding how you truly love us.  Help me father to let go of these last bits of me…and begin to consider everything you have placed in my reach a thing you have simply lent to me…to use to get to know you better…to use to help others understand your love. Let these tears of conviction wash clean my soul…and bring to my conscious all the things I have never offered back to you.  Let my days here on your Earth be used to shine a bright light on the love you have given to all. Amen.

Burn with Passion

Leviticus 24:1-4 -  The LORD said to Moses,  "Command the people of Israel to provide you with pure olive oil for the lampstand, so it can be kept burning continually.  Aaron will set it up outside the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle and must arrange to have the lamps tended continually, from evening until morning, before the LORD. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations.  The lamps on the pure gold lampstand must be tended continually in the LORD's presence.

 

The tabernacle had been built for God…so he would have a place to live among them. God’s presence was always there…hidden from their sight by a mere veil. He commanded them to keep a continual flame of fire burning in the pure gold lamp they had been told to place on the table that sat just outside the veil. It was to be tended continually….the olive oil changed…the wick trimmed…the light kept bright with life. 

 

This is one rule that definitely needs to be kept today…but not in the lampstand of old. When that veil was torn…and God opened up a way for all of us to experience God’s presence….he sent his son to Earth to make a way for God to live inside each of us. He made a way for the flame in the gold lampstand to be lit within our own hearts. He means for all of us who have accepted him as our Lord to tend the flame he placed inside us…to trim it…and keep it burning bright.

 

Leviticus 6:13 said, Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out……but I have to admit that in my own life …I have not been very passionate about trimming the wick of God’s flame in me…or even keeping my mind stayed on him…so the flame he placed in me at 14 has at times become just a flicker. And I bet I am not alone when I say that I almost let my lamp go completely out a few times since then.

 

I need to renew my passion…trim my wick with more study of his word and prayer.   I need to walk along a dusty road and listen to him teach me the true meaning of all the words I try and digest each evening and morning.  I need to feel God’s word ‘burn within me’ as it did for those disciples that had the privilege to walk the Emmaus road with Jesus after his resurrection.  Luke 24:32 sums up what I believe he wants for all Christians ….for…. They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"  …that warmth was their flames being lit.

 

It is up to each of us now to keep the flame he placed inside us burning with passion.  His love can stay a small ember that rests inside and never reaches the world….or we can do what Paul wrote to his sweet brother in Christ Timothy…when he penned the words in 2 Timothy 1:6-7… “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

 

Father….I thank you for the reminder this morning that I need to renew my passion.  Take the small ember you placed inside me and fan it into a flame bright with your love.  Give me all the wisdom I need from your great Bible to trim my wick exactly as you need it ….to use me to do your work. Provide for me as you did the Israelites wandering in a desert land…all the pure oil I need to keep it burning continually before you. Amen

Building Traditions of Worship and Atonement

Leviticus 23:1-3 - The Lord said to Moses,  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.”

 

God has given his people another rule…one that required them to party.  This rule required the people to celebrate God’s love… blessings…mercy… and forgiveness by keeping 7 festivals. Five of the festivals called them to joyous jubilation over the blessings they received from him…and two required quiet confession and repentance of any sin that had crept into their lives.  God wanted them to come together in a corporate congregation and give thanks to the God who had made a covenant of faith with them…and confess their sins to him …to make an atonement for them…to be freed form the heaviness of their burdens on their lives.

 

Those of us that accept Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross see these celebrations from the window of history. The dates and exact way they celebrated each one lost to the veil that was torn in that tabernacle…but the lesson God was trying to instill in his people still ringing in our hearts and lives. The pompous following of a mere rule has been transformed into a new way of life…best explained to me in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 -  Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

Let’s face it…not many of us were raised to even remember the names of all the festivals…let alone keep the traditions as explicitly laid out here in Leviticus.  I know I have read this chapter at least one time before….but I sure couldn’t have named all 7 without looking.  Maybe God had them included in his Bible so that we would consider the reason each one was required of the Israelites…God’s first nation of believers….to see if the lesson God wanted them to learn is still applicable for us today. I believe that we should retain some of the concepts of these festivals in our modern worship of Christ….whatever denomination we feel Christ has led us to honor him.

 

Passover….they celebrated the passing of the death angel as God delivered them from Egypt. We should  take time at Easter to celebrate his death on the cross…and the resurrection that gave us all victory over death from his sacrifice. We should corporately take his holy communion …whether in routine rituals…or in random times that just remind us throughout the year of the body that was broken for us…and the blood that was shed for our sins.

 

The Festivals of First Fruits…and Pentecost...or weeks….celebrated the harvest.  The people gave thanks for the crops that God had blessed them with…to remind them that God was in control of the fruits of their labor. We should take our tithes to our respective churches…to show our thanks to God for his blessings.  We should give freely and joyfully and always give our tithes before we spend any monies on other things.  We should pray about what fellowship and other offerings we should give…and support his work.  We should always remember who is in control of our material wealth…and offer the first of all we receive back to him to be blessed and used to support our local churches.

The festivals of Trumpets and atonement called for remembrance of what Christ did to save them…and gave them a specific time to offer atonement for their sins. We should still take time to ask God’s forgiveness and remember what he brought each one of us out of. They were required to spend a whole day in this mode…we are offered a chance to kneel for a few minutes at an altar anytime we feel particularly convicted of a sin in our life.

 

God also called them to keep the Sabbath…and interspersed extra Sabbaths …like the festival of the tabernacles to teach them to worship continually….they spent a full 8 days worshiping God. They celebrated his goodness….his mercy…and his forgiveness of their stubborn ways. And even though our modern Sabbath is not always on the original Saturday…we are called to meet together in worship as many times as we are able. And I love a good week long revival! I love that many new churches and worship centers are opening this definition of ‘when’ we worship into more flexible times. The world we live in does not stop still on Sunday like the camps of the Israelites. And even if more restaurants…factories…and other business closed on this traditional American day of worship….hospitals …law enforcement and other emergency services would still be on 24 hour call.

 

So even though all these festivals might be obsolete in the modern Christian’s eyes…the concepts they taught the first nation of God are still valid and needed to teach God’s ways to our children. We need times of celebration and times of repentance regularly worked into our busy schedules.  We need to concentrate on the joy of our salvation and renew ourselves in routine ways that build these concepts in our children. We need to take time to thank God…to worship him….to give him offerings…to just bask in his presence and let his peace wash over our battered souls…weary from the demands of this busy world we live.

 

Father…I thank you for waking me so early this morning and allowing me to process such a great amount of wisdom from your word. I thank you that you have led me to such a wonderful place to worship you each Sunday.  I thank you for the blessings you have showered on me so freely…and I celebrate the goodness of your love that allows me to give it all back to you…to do with as you need. Help me to be more aware of how I celebrate your love for me…and not limit myself to Sundays…but seek ways to honor and worship you all through the week…all through the year….all through the life you grant me here on the great Earth you allow me to live. Amen.

Faithful and Holy

Leviticus 22-31-33 -  "You must faithfully keep all my commands by obeying them, for I am the LORD.  Do not treat my holy name as common and ordinary. I must be treated as holy by the people of Israel. It is I, the LORD, who makes you holy.  It was I who rescued you from Egypt, that I might be your very own God. I am the LORD."

 

So many rules God gave Moses…rules that teach us that Jehovah is special….the God of Jacob was to be revered…set apart as holy. God wanted his priests to be holy too…and recognize when they had defiled themselves with things that were ordinary. He wanted his priests to recognize that they were unclean and wash themselves…and bathe …and purify their bodies before they came into his presence….to offer the sacrifices that would erase the sins of the people that came to offer sacrifices to God.

 

Just as God rescued these captives from Egypt…he wants to free us from the load of our sins as well. He wants us to recognize that we have defiled our relationship with him and seek ways to purify our whole self….so we can be restored in our relationship to him.  He wants to be our very own God…a God that will be for us everything we need…exactly when we need it.

 

His very presence should evoke a passion in our hearts to be faithful to every rule he gave Moses…so that he can make us holy. But even as I write those words…God knows my heart is saying I could never be truly holy…for the stains of my many sins…and the mistakes I make every day…and the rules I struggle every day just to understand …let alone to keep…tell me that I will never be perfect like the savior who died on the cross for me.

 

But that is the beauty of why he died for me. His sacrifice on the cross makes a way for any person who is defiled by their sins to be washed clean in his saving grace.  Once I accept his great gift and begin to study and pray for his guidance….once I begin to seek his will and notice the things that are wrong in my life…his love can come and wash all that sin right out of my heart.  God can even take the stains of the past…and use their testimony to speak his message to others.

 

Oh father…the words of my living bible ring sweetly in my ears this morning as I prepare to go and worship you this beautiful Sunday morning with all my friends.  You are telling me …..do not treat me as common and ordinary…revere me…for I am holy. Help me father to truly understand just how holy you are.  Help me to prepare my heart to truly revere you and praise you…and worship you for the gift of grace you gave me.  Help me to let go of the past by letting you wash me clean of all the things that defile me…and hold me back from knowing the fullness of your love.  Oh God help me to see your holiness clothed about my imperfect existence….so I too can resemble and model your love to others.Amen.

Perfection Found in His Blood

Leviticus 21:21-24 - No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.' "  So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

 

Just as the lambs…and goats….and bulls….and…birds chosen to be sacrificed to God had to be perfect…so did the priest that stepped close to God’s presence to offer it to him. Anyone with a defect was not to come near to God’s…. presence or do the holy work of sacrifice. They were to marry virgin women…and keep their families as holy and pure as possible. They were set apart by God to do the most special work of the camp…therefore they had to keep their hair uncut….and never do the common work of burying one who had died…unless it was a close relative.

 

There might have been many reasons for this order from God.  One is that the people around them practiced many of the things that God told them not to do.  He wanted his priests to understand that his worship rituals were different….he was a jealous God…that accepted only the best we have to offer. The priests had also been consecrated and anointed to do the special work of handling the people’s offerings.  Maybe this work was so important and time consuming that they would not have time to deal with the other needs of the people….like who would bury the dead.

 

My head immediately started thinking how sad those children might have been…that were born with defects…who never got to fulfill the family job…but were cared for and fed just the same.  But maybe they had great parents that filled their day with other jobs to do…and they never noticed that they were defective. Maybe they were taught to just accept it as the way God intended…and never went into pity part mode….like I seem to do so often. The priests set themselves apart to do what God gave them to do…and everybody else took care of the other tasks in the camp. Maybe the message here is more for those of us that fall into that ‘imperfect’ category…and see ourselves as unneeded …unusable by God.

 

And if you think about it….the whole way we worship changed when Jesus was born and began to help us understand the real reason for all these rules we find in Leviticus. The rules were meant to set us apart…not limit us.  The rules were meant to help us understand our purpose on Earth…to spread his love and help others understand the truth in his word. If we really love him… the rules we read become a part of our lifestyle…just because. We know in our hearts when something we do is for ourselves instead of our Lord….when something we do is done out of selfishness…or powered by the love we have for God.

 

I wrote in my journal how glad I am that Jesus came and paid the high price for my sins….shedding his blood for me and allowing me to be my own high priest. For I am one of the ones that allows the ‘imperfections’ the world identifies…to hold me back from being a powerful Christian like Paul…or John the Baptist…who gave everything they had to his control and let his love consume them to the point that they did nothing except preach his word.  I am so glad that he allowed the veil to be torn that dark day…as he made a way for all of us that feel inferior…unusable … to consider that we would want Jesus to be our personal savior…and become our own high priest….able to talk with him….worship him…and pray to him anytime we need. His perfect love comes into our imperfect sinful body and washes all the defects away.  His perfect blood can give us the strength and courage we need to be confident at his altar…and offer up our own sacrifices of time….money….in service to him.

 

Oh father…how grateful I am that you came to save our world from the sin we live in.  Help me to see that you can wash away all my imperfections…and empower me to do anything you ask me to do. Give me the positive mind of Joshua…the prayer strength of Moses…the faith of the woman with the issue of blood…and the courage of Paul.  Help me to change the way I see myself….as imperfect and unusable….into the woman you have planned for me to be.  Keep Satan from tricking me with his lies…and help me to place scriptures in my head that will fight the confusion he tries to trick me with. Amen.

Worthy...Only in Christ's Love

Leviticus 20:7-8;22-24 and 26 -  " 'Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.  Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy………  " 'Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.  You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.  But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations……….. You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

 

The Lord repeated many of the rules he had already given to Moses…and then he tagged on some of the punishments that would result when they were broken. God knew what they would encounter in the land that he was sending them…people were burning their children to a God named Molech…being intimate with anyone they so pleased…even animals…and God found it all detestable.  He wanted Moses to tell them that he had set them apart…and wanted them to be different...even holy.

 

The word holy seems so out of reach for me…..for I know that I am truly not….anywhere close to achieving true holiness. I will never be a God …or divine in any sense of the word. I am not worthy to be revered by anyone…I feel like the Centurion who wanted his servant healed in Matthew 8:8….or John the Baptist in John 1:27…when Jesus sought him to be baptized…or even Jacob….as he pronounced his unworthiness in Genesis 32. I see my past sins…even though they are forgiven…. the vision and memory of what I did…blocks me from accepting that I could ever truly be holy to God.

 

But if we look closely at the definition of holiness….it also says that we only have to belong to a divine power….be made for it…merely associated with the sacredness of God. If we love him…and consider ourselves made for his purpose…we were created to be holy…..set apart to him for his service.  And because we sought him….and believed in him like the centurion…..like John the Baptist….like Jacob…..we finally understand that we can strive to be holy…because we follow his rules.

 

I am also reminded that the penalty for many of the behaviors listed in this chapter was death….or complete separation form God and his people. And since Jesus paid that death penalty for us….the stoning…putting too death of ….the or excommunication…. doesn’t take place immediately like then.  But choosing not to revere God…and keep his laws….all of them…will eventually separate us from his love… and we will die without him owithout his forgiveness and mercy.

 

Father…help me to understand that I can be holy to you.  Help me to place your laws in my heart…so that they become who I am…and not just a rule to follow.  Help me to be obedient to all that you ask me to do. Replace my feelings of unworthiness with your powerful love that brings confidence and power to complete the task you sent me here to do. Place in my heart your holiness….and allow me to worship and love you for all that you do to bless me…even in my many sins. Forgive me for every rule that I have broken….and show me how to make it right. Amen.