Leviticus Leschmidicus

So as many of you know that after listening to most of the bible last year I am trying to read it from start to finish. I am now where I always get hung up-Leviticus. It was easier to "listen" to Leviticus while I biked through the mountains in Utah, because I could just tune it out, but reading it is another story. Finally, I feel like I get and appreciate Leviticus to enough of a level that I can read it and "listen" to what God and Moses are trying to say.

I have give credit to Eugene H. Peterson. He not only writes the bible in a way that is easier to understand, but his chapters intros are perfect at setting the stage and motivating me to read the chapters in the bible.

So this is my takeaway from his intro:

God's people were moving out of Egypt and settling in Canaan, which is full of god and goddess worship. This will make it hard for God's people to not be distracted away from the worship of Him. Leviticus is god's way of showing us that he cares enough about us to be engaged in regular people's everyday lives, not just the lives of nobles, and that we do not need these day to day gods and goddesses to guide us and help us make it through each day. Also, unlike the gods and goddesses of Canaan, God is not a tool, an appliance or credit card that we can bend to do our will (well, it seems like Moses had SOME luck in influencing God at times-though not without consequences), but that God lives on His terms, not ours.

So what seems to be God's micro-managing of their lives is really his attempt to help us stay on His path, not the path of the culture they are surrounded by (I know-"dangling preposition").

It seems to me that grace is a big focus of Leviticus. The first 6 chapters God says over and over again "When you sin...", only a few times with a specific type of sin does he say "If you sin...". It seems to me that this is indicative of the fact that God doesn't think we are capable of NOT sinning, but that when we do, He is there to love us and accept us back into His life.

There is also a lot of "When we realize" we have sinned statements. Which I also find interesting. How often we are blind to fact the "hows" and whats of our "sins", and yet He loves us and is there for us even though we sin-and He knows we are incapable of not sinning.

The other statement used often in the first 6 chapters is "When a person unintentionally sins...". Indicating that intentionality plays a factor in our sin somehow, but I don't have time to dissect that right now.

So now I will read the chapter from a new prospective, and while I will not be sacrificing my first born sheep of goats, I can see God's heart and grace through the book. I also see confirmed how He does want to be involved in every aspect of my life.

Anyway-those are my thoughts this week.

Feedback, prayers, anything you can "give" is welcome. Of course, let me know if you need anything from me.

Specifically, prayer I need is that I can stay focused on what God wants from me, because this world we live in is not much different Canaan-and the distractions are everywhere.

Now as soon as I find some first born female sheep or goats, I can get on with my day...