Thoughts on Leviticus - Unchanging God, Only Reality, Holiness

Leviticus is one of the most impacting books of SBS for me! I loved learning to look deeper as to why God set up these laws for holy living and the sacrificial system. I believe that it has opened up so much more of God’s character to me. I see through my own life that if people only read the New Testament they are not getting the full story – that the Old Testament also IS most essential to the story and is over 75% of the Bible! I hope that others make this same discovery! There is so much more that God desires to reveal about His character, love, and relationship with His people, not only to Israel but to His people today.

Below is a small portion of what I do in SBS - my final theme summary for Leviticus on holiness.

The holiness of God is displayed throughout Leviticus. God shows that His way for the Israelites to follow is DIFFERENT than that of the other nations, Egypt and Canaan. The offerings are specific and detailed, and each animal is perfect and the best. The priest is sanctified and atoned as also the people have to be atoned for. This process and atonement are defined by God and no one else. There are health laws regarding clean and unclean, from food to bodily functions and births, physical diseases and the state of houses and clothing. Uncleanness is not to be spread but eradicated and never near God. God defines the various aspects of society for the Israelites, economy, government, religion, and family. God defines laws for how to live holy for the priests and the common people. None are exempt. Some things such as blasphemy and idolatry have the punishment of death. God sets aside feasts and observances to remember Him, what He has done, and how He has provided. God who is holy gives a warning of blessing if they follow Him and of curses if they do not.

The Israelites are SET APART from the other nations, and chosen by God. This is the definition of holy, to be set apart. Through all of these laws and the sacrificial system, we see that God desires to dwell with His people. So the sacrifices and laws to be clean bring the people into God’s defined holiness and sanctification so that they can have relationship. Through the offerings and even the cleansing of daily life, Israel is reminded of their sin and their need for atonement. They CANNOT do this. God does this alone. This brings them into great reliance on God, in their thoughts and actions every day. As they enter into humility through God does and His dwelling with them, the Israelites are so thankful and worshipful towards God! So their holiness is fully reliant on the act and mercy of God, so also Israel’s holiness is also reliant on being upheld by the community. That is why they have sometimes seemingly harsh laws and thoroughly, painstaking laws! What they do affects one another, and a nation can downward spiral so easily if something is brushed over as permissible, even by omission. Also, God is setting Himself apart from the other nations! He is the only reality they are to know – He is defining true reality, which they do not know, as they only knew pagans gods and cultural practices before, as from Egypt - where they came from. God is holy, and the other nations are not! For God’s people to be holy, they need to fully reject everything of the pagan nations, even so that they do not fall into idolatry again. God is setting up an example to the nations of how to live for and with God, and He is setting them apart to use Israel to bring the full and true sacrifice that makes them holy – the better covenant that stands before the throne of God (from the book of Hebrews).

How could a list of laws, of sacrifices, blood spilt, killing of animals, waving of fat, burning of flesh (animal), do’s and don’t’s, and clean and unclean that we don’t understand be relevant today?! It SO is. Because what I learned this week is that it points to knowing God. It is defining His awesome and Holy character to new depths. He is so beautiful – His care, His desire for His people to know Him, and for Himself to dwell with them. “Jesus is coming but not yet,” He points out, “but you can know me,” He shouts! This God of Leviticus is the same God today – He didn’t change. He was taking care of His people in a rotten world – He was showing by their example, the true way for even the other nations to live. This is still God’s love for His people today! Bringing the healing of Jesus to make an unholy people holy. Only the holy can stand in the Presence of the Holy. I would encourage Christians today to study the Old Testament. Yes, God is God of the New, but He is God of the Old too. Pray for a deeper revelation of the character and nature of God – of who God is! And through that, He will show you how much He desires to dwell among you. (written Feb. 10, 2011)

The Inspiration of Melodious Words

 Writing has been a journey for me. When I was in grade school, I remember being encouraged with my writing. In 2nd and 3rd grade class we wrote and illustrated books. But I also remember the difficulty of getting past my mental block (and maybe the emotional one too) of writing well. I think I put too much pressure on myself (do you remember that, Jo?) I also journaled from a young age, and still do today, though I go in spurts sometimes. Over the past 6 years, I've experienced intermittent inspirations to write, including poems. Embarking on missions has brought more writing in the form of newsletters. This has been a chore at times, but also a wonderful process of sculpting my experiences and my heart so that you, the reader and friend, can maybe taste, see, and feel a bit of my journey. 

So for my study of the Bible I write everyday but mostly in formulaic form as in facts, and in observe, interpret, and apply. But the part my brain thrives on is the summaries, whether it is a theme summary or the final application for that book of the Bible. This is where my brain and emotions have the freedom to fly - to process down the winding paths of exploration, to paint the picture, and to describe the texture of the inner workings - of me. And with my weekly Psalms assignments I am able to creatively process, which is so life-giving. Even though this school is rigorous study (and I can't emphasize RIGOROUS enough), I believe God is opening up more of what I love, that is, expression through writing. Prose has been escaping from me more often than ever. I thank God for this privilege to play with wonderful words.

"Words are like a melody to me, like music, like good mouth-watering chocolate, like beauty, to name a few. Words crafted together are an attempt to describe sometimes the unexplainable like a breathtaking vista or the emotional depths of the soul." SM

Click below for a link to a Slate article about what I love - the sounds of words:

Keener Sounds How can poetry that doesn't rhyme be so pleasing to the ear? By Robert Pinsky 

A Nonsensical Poem About Words

Did I ever say I love my Psalms assignments? It's the one creative outlet I get each week. This is a poem inspired by Psalm 104. As God is glorified in the creation, I thank God for words, even ones strung together with no purpose and no need to make any sense.

A Celebration of Words

(2^nd title: An Ode to the Word-Maker)

The fabric of my being,

The melody of my soul,

Plucked, prodded, and pulled

By some unknown whole.

Unsure of who dictates

What – within.

Is the edge of reason the brink of the gale?

Or really just the prime place to begin?

Hackysacks, hamper knacks,

Timing, and shrew –

Gibberish to most

But delight to the few.

A novelty of percussion,

A story of rhyme,

Nonsense is not no sense –

But joy found sublime.

And fashioned after You,

I don’t know where to begin.

You’re the Word that created design

And invented the rhyme.

You captured imagination

On the voice of the wind.

You inspired communication

From Your deity of Three.

You imprinted meaning on words.

You breathed life that gave breath,

So that I might send out a tantalizing tale,

But not for my ears only,

But for others to share.

So gaming and flaming

To crisp for the taming

Is not just noise to You either

And gives no need to decipher.

But that is enough to trouble your mind

As you might consider,

“What’s wrong with this girl?

A poem that makes sense,

Can’t she just deliver?”

So I’ll let you alone

From my first attempts

At the profoundly un-profound world

Of nonsense poems.

This is where delight

Is given in the sheer presence,

The God-given gift –

Of words.

A Letter To A Broken Heart

This is my School of Biblical Studies assignment for Psalm 23, to write a letter capturing the characteristics of God in that psalm. I took some poetic and heart license, of course. :)

A Letter To A Broken Heart

Dear Friend,

I am so sorry for the hurt you are going through. I have been through pain, and I know what I have experienced is not the same as you, but the only thing that truly comforted me, to the deepest places of my pain, was God coming alongside me and just being there, saying, “I hurt for what you are going through. Can I help bear the hurt for you and walk with you?”

His question didn’t leave me speechless but dumbfounded. Now he wanted to get involved in my life!?!? Here was GOD “acting” like he cared!?!

The torrential dam of my anger, frustration, and pain broke lose, plummeting him like a flash flood – destructive and dirty were my waters, but still he stood – unmoving against my deluge. I expected a backwash of “I know-it-alls” in return, and instead of the verbal rebuke of God, I heard no words but saw bright yet soft eyes that seemed to soak up my spill like a sponge. I saw his body once “holy” and unmarked become riddled with shrapnel and seeping with sores. His scarlet stains eerily reflected mine.

My storm did not abate, but I raged and I pounded his existence until I contained – nothing – but brokenness on the flooded floor.

My wreckage was spent. I could not meet his gaze and look into… was it Understanding that I saw? I felt his gentle hands lift my deflated body into his arms and whisper, “I am pierced by your pain, your sins, your sorrows. I take on your hurts, your hostilities, your desperations. My wounds are the only thing that heals the deep woundedness in you.” As he carried my brokenness, his brokenness became evident. As he carried my punctured heart, he shared his whole heart with mine.

I cannot tell you that I was all better from that day on, nor can I tell you that I was all bad either. But I will tell you this, that I have found the Hospital that Heals. He can handle my wreckage. He can stand in my storm. And He can heal my heart.

There is no true comfort or healing that I can give, but I can tell you of his and what he did for me. I care, and I am here for you. I will pray for you because I know God desires to heal your heart and carry you. Ask, and he will meet you.

Love, Your Friend,

Shannon

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” 

~ Isaiah 53:4-6 (NIV) ~

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (ESV)

My Prayer of Psalm 13 – In my own words

Each week we have a Psalm assignment in SBS. Here is last week's.

My Prayer of Psalm 13 – In my own words

“How long, O Lord?” How long, will I struggle so, to see truth but through a fog that is too heavy to cut and too far to reach?

How long will I feel too much and have the plight of purposelessness permeate my being?

How long will lies saturate my soul?

Will you listen and answer? I’m not asking for removal from struggle but joy in suffering.

I’m asking for understanding of purpose, for renewal to continue, for fog to lift and Truth to Light –

“To light up my eyes” so that lies fall flat against impenetrable armor. Those already defeated cannot claim victory.

Your love is unfailing and never ceasing. It never tires not fades.

I remember your promises in the night and the day that you graciously saved me to dance in your presence. I am undeserving, but your gift is for me.

The Plight of the Cinder-Ash Girl

As part of our assignment for Psalms in the School of Biblical Studies I have a creative assignment each week, and this week's assignment was to write a poem in the same type as one of Psalms 1-10. I want to explain my poem below because it is written by the heart of me but not about me. This is the plight of one of the oppressed that God is pursuing and desperately loving, the heart of the sex-trafficked, little girl. The prince is Satan. So this poem is a combination of my influences today: Psalm 10, Revelation, and a dream I had when I slept. I can’t remember all of my dream, nor was it about sex-trafficking, but there was a little girl who needed help. So in my processing-the dream and processing the Psalm assignment and thinking about what to write, out this came. (1/10/11 SM)

Helpless,

A Heart no longer encased by a shield, vainly attempted to block bloodthirsty blows.

Thought to be crushed,

Physical bones, dutiful, responded as if feeling

Only feeling was no more emotion but instinct--

Warring, was it possible, with a sliver of spirit?

The question defied reality: survival was death or death was survival?

Vultures circled overhead

Ravaging their prey.

The talons of sharper weapons of destruction had already feasted.

Ownership claimed but not their claims to own.

The goal-satisfaction. The finality-hunger never quenched.

The victor-deception. The truth-to be reckoned.

The clock struck mid-night.

The fair maiden’s frock-beyond stained and torn.

All claims laid threadbare

As the prince was found out for his evil lair.

Piles of clean-picked bones displayed as his sculptures of pleasure.

Piles of snuffed-out souls-discarded as worthless to a dirty corner.

This tale is grim, for no fairy tales are here.

This is Life, and this is Death. But one with an Answer.

The prince got his picking of fury’s fair fight.

Rather his bones stoked the eternal fire.

And what is the plight of her strangled soul?

Beyond recognition of this earth’s ear came the faint pulse-the cry

Of this Cinderella.

To his ear it came – the Rescuer. So he wailed, broken, at the plight of his Daughter.

You see, the Cinder Maiden was never far off from the heart of her Father.

He was seeking and searching-calling to the Princess her name

As he waited for the day he would hear in response the truth of his name.

Lifeless and brittle, he found her in the pile of bones.

And not finding her soul, he restored to her life anew-whole.

Replacing her rags for clothes fit for a queen,

He fashioned her crown and said,

“I loved you in the destruction of the cinder ash.

I love you in new life that my death has bought.”

And they entered the chamber of the throne of Light, hands together,

Because of the love of one rescuer Father for the heart of his cinder ash Daughter.

Sometimes Fiction Is My Greatest Teacher: Learning How to Reflect God in the World

Below I included an example of part of the schoolwork I do for the School of Biblical Studies. This is my Final Application for 1 Peter.

My final timeless truth for 1 Peter is: “Christians are to be holy.” This comes from 1 Peter 1:15, which says, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” My significance to the contemporary reader is: “Journal: How can I reflect who God is in this world (that is meaning, set apart)?” I know I can never attain perfection, not sinning, in this life. I’ve struggled with perfectionism most of my life, but boy, is it being worked on in the last year before SBS and currently! But God calls me to be holy. Though, number one, I need to remember that I am holy, set apart by God, because of God’s gift of grace. I am made righteous! I am like Him. I think the hard part comes in really believing that and learning how to live that in this present world.

I think the person who has most impacted me in my pursuit to live out this question is really not a person at all but a fictional character in a book! Hadassah was a Christian Jew living 2,000 years ago at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. She was sold into slavery and bought to serve a Roman household in Rome. For a long time she thought herself weak in comparison to her father who gave his life for the sake of the gospel and as she believed she failed as a witness for Christ to her Roman masters. But Hadassah was not weak at all. Through all the things mentioned in the letter of 1 Peter she demonstrated true servanthood to Christ and to the family she served, a character of humility and submission, and a pursuit of holiness. After much time, perseverance, and suffering, she was a witness of Christ to them.

I know I am not as meek, kind, or compassionate as Hadassah and certainly not patient, but I am a bit more fiery, opinionated, and abrupt, but I am challenged in a good way. If God can use an imagined character to speak to me and inspire my life (and other people’s too), how much more can He shape my character and my testimony after Himself? I am chosen by God and “His own possession” that I “may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called [me] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). (The “Marvelous Light” song by Charlie Hall should really begin playing in the background right about now.)

What am I going to do now in response to my question, “How can I reflect God now?”  It’s not in an attempt of “doing things” that I reflect God, but I seek to reflect Him. So I desire to spend time with my Father, to know Him deeper and more intimately, to see His heart for others, and to respond to His heart.

*If you are interested in the character Hadassah who I described above, I recommend for anyone to read the Mark of the Lion trilogy, A Voice in the Wind, Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure as the Dawn, by Francine Rivers. They would be valuable for anyone interested in being impacted and challenged in their own Christian walk and/or in the history of the New Testament and early Christianity during the Roman Empire. Click here to read more about Francine Rivers' books: http://francinerivers.com/