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A contrite heart…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:28 The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.

Commentary posits that the absence of a sacrifice when atoning “detracts from the divine character” of God. The God that I believe in is loving and compassionate, not some Volcano god, demanding a sacrifice to keep from erupting.

Leviticus 16:29 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—

To my way of thinking, that makes Him more holy, not less. I think our broken and contrite hearts are what God wants (Ps 51:17).

Leviticus 16:30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.

Precious Savior, I am the first to admit that there is so much I do not know about you. Help me to understand You better and know You more every day. Amen.

Leviticus 16:31 It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

Have a blessed day. 

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God’s word…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:24 He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people. 

The commentary that I read as I go through these verses has often bothered me in its subtle poking at other religions and other denominations. I think I intentionally read it so that I don’t get lost in an echo chamber of my own thoughts, but the jabs still bother me.

Leviticus 16:25 He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

I don’t think that’s what God ever intended for His word. I don’t think He is threatened by other denominations or other religions. He is the one true sovereign God. He encourages us to love Him and love each other, pointing others to Him. No where does it say ridicule and shame are part of His philosophy.

Leviticus 16:26 “The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. 

Precious Savior, We live in a world where it is shockingly easy to tear other people down in order to build ourselves up. I just don’t think that’s necessary or preferred. Help me to love You above all and love others as myself. Help me to shine Your light for all to see. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 16:27 The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh and intestines are to be burned up.

Have a blessed day. 

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The glow of God’s hope…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 

Commentary talks in today’s verses about folks wanting certainty about this act of atonement with the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat. I am reminded that in this life there is no certainty, there is only hope, which brings to mind Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” 

Leviticus 16:21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 

For me, the absence of hope is dangerous and leads me to some really scary places. To combat this tendency, I lean heavily on Psalm 71:14, “As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.” Do I know any of this for certain? No. Do I hope with all of my being? Absolutely.

Leviticus 16:22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

Precious Savior, This life is impossible without hope as by the time I get to see You face-to-face to ask all the questions I have, either I will already know the answers or I won’t care any more. I believe in You with my whole heart, that You are good, that You are sovereign, that You are holy and loving and compassionate. Help me to live, always, in the glow of Your hope. Amen.

Leviticus 16:23 “Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there.

Have a blessed day. 

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God’s loving presence…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:15 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 

Again I am struggling with making this scripture relevant. It feels very distant from my daily life. So this morning, I again turned to Google AI to see if it could cut through the clutter and help me latch onto these verses in a way I couldn’t perceive. 

Leviticus 16:16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 

Once again, the goodness of God’s word, the specificity of my prompt, and the assist of AI helped me connect by reminding me that “there is no amount of human messiness, internal chaos, or spiritual distance that God is unwilling to work through to get to you”. It is an important reminder, no matter how I get there.

Leviticus 16:17 No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.

Precious Savior, Thank You for the ability to use tools to help me understand Your word and make it relevant. Help me not to take Your word out of context or spin it to my worldview but to simply recognize Your loving presence and to draw closer to You. Amen.

Leviticus 16:18-19 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

Have a blessed day. 

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Things have changed…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:11 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 

I did some AI Googling for today’s verses as they are just not sticking. One sentence jumped out at me about the ritual performed by the priest during this time and that sentence dealt with “the heavy cost of bridging the gap between a holy God and a broken people”. 

Leviticus 16:12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 

Again I find myself thinking of priests in a modern context with their crisp, clean white chasuble over a black cassock. But the reality of priests during the time of Leviticus was that they dealt daily with a lot of blood and gore. 

Leviticus 16:13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. 

Precious Savior, I’m honestly not sure what to do with this observation other than to remember that things have changed substantially, both in the role of priests in worship and in the barriers to You, especially for individuals. Thank You that we now have a smoother path to You. Help me to walk that path often, to sit at Your feet, to soak in Your presence. Amen.

Leviticus 16:14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.

Have a blessed day. 

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Scapegoats…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 

I’m sure I knew that the term scapegoat was originally used in this context and meant, quite literally, the goat that escaped death and was sent into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins of the community, but when I read this passage, all I can see is the modern meaning, which, according to Google means: “a person or group unfairly blamed for the mistakes, problems, or misdeeds of others”.

Leviticus 16:7-8 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 

And I can’t help but think that a lot of people who use the Bible to blame and hate and ostracize are using the Bible as a scapegoat, unfairly blaming the words in the Bible for the way the person chooses to interpret and use those words. It is imperative that we remember God’s heart.

Leviticus 16:9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 

Precious Savior, You are the epitome of love. You left the 99 to find the one lost soul. It hurts my heart that people use Your word to justify hatred and ostracization of Your children. Help us to be honest with ourselves about how we use Your Word. Help us to be true to Your heart when we do so. Help us, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 16:10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

Have a blessed day. 

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Rest for my soul…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 16:1-2 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

Once again I am reminded that context matters when reading scripture. In Leviticus, God is laying down rules (through Moses) to help the Israelites see what’s acceptable and preferred in worship because they spent 400 years in captivity in Egypt where everything was different and where many unacceptable things to God were acceptable when worshipping Egyptian gods. 

Leviticus 16:3 “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 

Leviticus is a period of retraining, “If you want to worship Me, here is how you gain access.” But Jesus opened wide the door to God, giving us free, unrestricted access. Through Jesus, God says, “Come to Me, no matter Your worries or burdens or sins. Come to Me, and I will give you rest, a rest so deep that it reaches your soul” (my paraphrase of Matt 11:28). 

Leviticus 16:4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. 

Precious Savior, You know how I love some rules. They make things easy as I know exactly what to do and when and how. But I am so very thankful for the fact that even if I break all the rules, even if I have messed up 50 ways from Sunday, I can still come to You, dragging all my fears and burdens, and You will still give me rest. Thank You. Amen. 

Leviticus 16:5 From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

Have a blessed day. 

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Drawing closer…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 15:28-29 “ ‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Commentary provided two essential reminders today. One is that sex with temple prostitutes used to be a thing, so the Israelites needed the reminder that that was not ok.

Leviticus 15:30 The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.

The second reminder was that the rules and laws in Leviticus were intended to help the Israelites to remain ceremonially clean so they could worship. “[T]hey were never intended as the way to be right with God.”

Leviticus 15:31 “ ‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,  which is among them.’ ”

Precious Savior, Thank You for allowing me to see first hand this week that Your word is alive and active (Heb 4:12) and that, even though so much has changed in this world, I can still draw closer to Your heart by reading and studying Your word. Amen.

Leviticus 15:32-33 These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

Have a blessed day. 

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Cultural shame and embarrassment…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 15:19 “ ‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

Talk about cultural shame and embarrassment, women’s monthly cycles have been surrounded with shame and embarrassment for a long, long time.

Leviticus 15:20 “ ‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean.

Commentary spins it as “at least she gets a break from housework, kids, and sex” for a week (paraphrase), but the bottom line it that a natural bodily function is stigmatized. That’s not ok.

Leviticus 15:21 Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

Precious Savior, I’ve spent a lot of time hating my body for not living up to ideals and for functions that are normal. That’s not ok. Thank You for this body, Lord. Help me love my body exactly as it is. Amen.

Leviticus 15:22-23 Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

Have a blessed day. 

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These beautiful bodies of ours…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 15:15 The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.

My first thought when I read today’s scripture was, “No wonder I associated sex, even between husband and wife, as shameful and embarrassing growing up. Commentary even insinuates that God is watching, even the married bed.

Leviticus 15:16 “ ‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

I’ll be the first to admit that there’s so much cultural shame and embarrassment tied to sexuality and sexual pleasure that it is rarely discussed, but shame is definitely not the road to healthy sexuality.

Leviticus 15:17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.

Precious Savior, You created these beautiful bodies of ours, knit them together in our mother’s wombs (Ps 139:13), I know You don’t want us out there showing everything to the world, but I also don’t think You want us to be embarrassed or ashamed. Help us to have a healthy outlook in all areas. Amen.

Leviticus 15:18 When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

Have a blessed day.