A Work in Progress….

Leviticus 8:26 And from the basket of bread made without yeast, which was before the Lord, he took one thick loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf, and he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh. 

Today’s verses brought to mind Amy Grant’s “Better than a Hallelujah,” a song I’ve always had some issue with. “God loves the soldier’s plea not to let him die,” on the surface, is really hard for me to take. But the pomp and ceremony of today’s verses help me to understand the truth of the song’s refrain about “The honest cries of breaking hearts….” 

Leviticus 8:27 He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and they waved them before the Lord as a wave offering. 

Pomp and ceremony absolutely have their place in worship, but that is not all God needs or wants of us. We are His deeply loved children. He wants us, all of us, warts and all, all the time. He wants us to reach out to Him–in pomp and ceremony as well as in the honest cries of our breaking hearts. 

Leviticus 8:28 Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. 

Precious Savior, Thank You–for wanting every piece of us, the good, the bad, the messy, the ridiculous, the anxious, the lovely. Thank You that we are Your deeply, fiercely, completely loved children. Always. Thank You. Amen.

Leviticus 8:29 Moses also took the breast, which was his share of the ordination ram, and waved it before the Lord as a wave offering, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 8:22 He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.  

Take a moment and google “The fat belongs to the Lord.” When results come in, click on IMAGES and have a good chuckle. I’ll wait. … 

Leviticus 8:23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

I think God uses levity just as much as He uses seriousness. Leviticus has been difficult for me with all the sacrificial killing and blood splashing, so when this iteration of Leviticus 3:16 came onto my radar a few days ago, I got a good laugh out of it…and that levity helped renew my ability to plow through the bloody, sacrificial verses of Leviticus.

Leviticus 8:24 Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that laughter is important, too, that You are in the laughter just as firmly as You are in the seriousness. Help me, especially when things are heavy, chaotic, and dark, to find the levity and to remember that laughter is from You, too. Amen.

Leviticus 8:25 After that, he took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat and the right thigh.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 8:18 He then presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 

The bloodiness and violence of these images are incredibly difficult for me. I am not a hunter, not a sportsman, so I can’t fall back on the seasonal cleaning of deer after a hunt to normalize these images. But I wonder, if this type of sacrifice was the norm in this culture, did the penitents get used to the slaughter and blood? Did the sacrifice ever lose its visceral punch?

Leviticus 8:19 Then Moses slaughtered the ram and splashed the blood against the sides of the altar. 

I would think that the visceral punch was part of the process–live better so that a guiltless animal does not have to suffer in this way. But any time something becomes routine, the visceral punch lessens. That’s just how life works. Personally, I’m just thankful we don’t require this type of sacrifice any more. 

Leviticus 8:20 He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces and the fat. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for Your eternal sacrifice for my sins. I don’t deserve it, could never earn it, but You gave Yourself anyway. Thank You is wholly inadequate. Help me to live as the deeply, fiercely loved child of God that I am. Help me to quiet the voices that whisper that I am not enough and listen only to Your still small voice of love, grace, mercy and compassion. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 8:21 He washed the internal organs and the legs with water and burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 8:14 He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 

I’m still thinking about, essentially, the opposite of today’s verses. These verses are about consecration and making holy. Since yesterday, I’ve had the song “Holy Now” stuck in my head, especially the line, “So the challenging thing becomes Not to look for miracles, But finding where there isn’t one.”

Leviticus 8:15 Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it. 

For me, it’s not about discounting the need for holiness and consecration. It’s about the fact that by virtue of God’s sovereignty and Jesus’s sacrifice, everywhere I look, everything I see is holy. God’s there. Jesus is present. I just have to look closely.

Leviticus 8:16 Moses also took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar. 

Precious Savior, The world is not always good, but You are. Thank You for the mindset of holiness, for the promise that if I look for You, I will always find You, always see Your presence. And if I can’t see You, let me take that as my sign to be Your hands and feet, to be Your light, where I am. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 8:17 But the bull with its hide and its flesh and its intestines he burned up outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 8:10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. 

Today’s scripture is about consecrating the priests and the tabernacle, making them holy, setting them aside for God. And I agree that it is important to consecrate things as holy in service to the Lord. 

Leviticus 8:11 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. 

However, I also think that the ordinary can be and become holy if we just open our eyes and our hearts to His presence and grace. That mountaintop sunrise? Holy indeed. The Red Eft, whose orange skin pops on the forest floor? That’s God’s workmanship. Rain on a tin roof? Sounds like God’s handiwork to me.

Leviticus 8:12 He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that when we seek to draw closer to You, You show Yourself everywhere, in everything. Thank You for the ability to see You in the ordinary of life. Help us today to see Your presence, Your grace, Your love everywhere we look. Amen.

Leviticus 8:13 Then he brought Aaron’s sons forward, put tunics on them, tied sashes around them and fastened caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Have a blessed day. 

Leviticus 7:27 Anyone who eats blood must be cut off from their people.’ ”

Just as I was thinking “Good grief! There are sooooo many rules!”, it occurred to me that if your world has gone sideways, having these very specific rules to cling to can be a lifeline.

Leviticus 7:28-29 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. 

When you don’t know which way is up, knowing specifically what is expected can be such a blessing.

Leviticus 7:30 With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering. 

Precious Savior, Thank You that in the middle of my frustration over more rules and more specificity, You remind me why having so many rules that you can count on can be a blessing. It’s not about me. It’s about drawing closer to You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 7:31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.

Have a blessed day.