February 21st One Year Bible Readings

Leviticus 11:1-12:8 ~ Mark 5:21-43 ~ Psalm 38:1-22 ~ Proverbs 10:8-9
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Old Testament - Today in Leviticus chapter 11 we read about ceremonially clean and unclean animals for the Israelites.  The One Year Bible Companion commentary on this chapter today states that "there were several reasons for this restricted diet - 1. to ensure the health of the nation.  The forbidden foods were usually scavenging animals that fed on dead animals; thus disease could be transmitted through them.  2. to visibly distinguish Israel from other nations. The pig, for example, was a common sacrifice of pagan religions. 3. To avoid objectionable associations.  The creatures that move about on the ground, for example, were reminiscent of serpents, which often symbolized sin."

Verses 20-22 mention of eating locusts reminded me of John the Baptist: "You are to consider detestable all swarming insects that walk along the ground. However, there are some exceptions that you may eat. These include insects that jump with their hind legs: locusts of all varieties, crickets, bald locusts, and grasshoppers. All these may be eaten."  Commentary at bible.org on "The Clean & the Unclean" from Leviticus chapter 11 is at this link, and from chapter 12 is at this link.  And yes, in theory, this is a grasshopper in the image below.  It's clean! :)

Today in chapter 11 verse 44 we read: “After all, I, the LORD, am your God. You must be holy because I am holy.” How does this verse speak to you? Do you think about being holy? Do you want to be holy? Zondervan shares the following commentary on this verse – “Holiness is the key theme of Leviticus, ringing like a refrain in various forms throughout the book. The word “holy” appears more often in Leviticus than in any other book of the Bible. Israel was to be totally consecrated to God. Her holiness was to be expressed in every aspect of her life, to the extent that all of life had a certain ceremonial quality. Because of who God is and what he has done, his people must dedicate themselves fully to him.” Check out Peter quoting from this Leviticus verse in 1 Peter 1 verses 13-16 – “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”” How do these verses speak to you? Do you think about being holy? Do you want to be holy?

New Testament - The structure of today's readings in Mark chapter 5 are amazing!  The narrative starts with Jairus asking Jesus to heal his daughter who is about to die - but, then, in the middle of the narrative Jesus' journey is stopped by a woman who simply wants to touch Jesus' robe so that she will be healed from a 12-year suffering.  And verse 34 in this portion is just so beautiful as Jesus says to the now healed woman: ""Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed."" 

Then, the narrative cuts back to Jairus, but it sounds like it's too late for Jesus to come to the house.  Messengers report that the little girl has died.   Jesus simply tells Jairus in verse 36 - "Just trust me."  (which is something so powerful that I believe Jesus says to you and me today too - "Just trust me."  Don't worry about anything else in this passing life.  "Just trust me.")  And then in verses 40 & 41 we read: "Then he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, he said to her, "Get up, little girl!" 

Commentary from Bob Deffinbaugh at bible.org on today's readings in Mark chapter 5 entitled "Where there is Death there is Hope" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 38 is powerful.  Verses 4 & 5 speak so much to our human condition - "My guilt overwhelms me--it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins."  Does this verse speak to you in any way, shape or form?   If so, please consider then verse 18 - "But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done." Will you confess your sins to God today?  Will you admit that you are truly sorry for your sins?  Will you pray for healing from your sins?  Will you make confession of your sins to God a regular practice?

Proverbs - Proverbs chapter 10 verse 8 is a good reminder to consider how much and how often and how meaningful our words are when we speak: "The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces."

Worship God: Based on our Leviticus readings today about holiness, here's an amazing live worship performance by Chris Tomlin of the song "Holy is the Lord."  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jbSNwvMDz8

Do you often cry "Holy?" Click here for Holiness!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy." Leviticus 11:45 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray for holiness in your life.

Comments from you & Question of the Day: Related to this Proverb above, I read an article recently about how "small talk" is getting more prevalent in our world today.  And as a society we are speaking less often about sincere or meaningful matters.  Instead we prefer to talk a lot about the weather or sports or celebrities.  It does make me wonder - is some of this small talk just babbling?  I don't know. I guess I just pray that when we speak we will speak sincerely in truth and love.  And not just talk to hear ourselves talk.  Do you think that some of our small talk is simply babbling?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Love, Trust, and Obey Jesus,
Mike

Comments

[Ramona]

Leviticus 11-12:8 (Mark 5:21-43)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. … And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. …. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:1-31 KJV)

O.K. So what happened that now there are clean and unclean animals? (Rhetorical question). As we search for why the laws, the setting apart of clean and unclean, holy and secular/profane some of the explanations do not satisfy me. I’m not saying they are wrong, I’m just saying I’m still “thirsty” for understanding. I want to know the why and wherefores. If everything was created “good” and “very good” what has sin done to corrupt God’s creation? Or has each created things purpose just been thrown out of wack because of sin? (Again Rhetorical) Man sinned, not the plants, not the animals, not the bugs, what did our sin set into motion that we now read about this separation and division? (Rhetorical).

I stated this previously but it bears repeating, everything we read about in the Old Testament points to the New, everything that God inspired man to write in the Old points to Jesus Christ. Life is all about choices and God gave the church in the wilderness something to choose, life or death, blessing or curses, holiness or the profane. It is all about choice. He commands Israel, to “be perfect because I am perfect.” Israel was given 600 plus laws, and the deal was, You break one you break them all. The only way you could do this was definitely not in your own strength because no one could keep the law. That is why the altar in the Tabernacle has to be busy from sun up to sun down. This could only be done by faith under the Old Covenant (Habakkuk2:4), as well as under the New (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38). So to be Perfect like God, back then and now, one must walk with God and your perfection comes by way of identification with God/Christ.

One of the things I think that point toward Christ are the consumption of the animals that have split hooves and chew the cud. (Yes, I know I am probably going off on the deep end but here goes). Split hooves, at least to me, points to separation, choosing one thing over the other, not melding the sacred with the profane. They are close enough to be seen but with enough distance to be separated. Along with the split hooves, there must be constant chewing, digesting what was eaten and bringing it back up again to be chewed on some more, this speaks to me of “meditating” on God’s Word. The nutrients in the “grass” are not exhausted in the first swallow, but must be “chewed” over and over again. I believe it is akin to mediating on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and we know that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1)

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. (Joshua 1:8 AMP)

Also we can take note that Jesus “appears” to have broken or subverted Levitical Laws in today’s New Testament readings. He has been touched by a woman with an issue of blood, thus by the Law is unclean (We will read this in the days to come), he has not only been in the same room with the dead but touched the body making Him unclean. Could the statement He made to the “mourners,” “…She is sleeping” been said to not “offend” the people who knew she was dead? (Yes, again Rhetorical) Whatever the reason, death, sickness could not stay when Jesus showed up.

And another thing: In this passage there are a lot of twelve’s. Jesus is walking with his twelve disciples and is stopped by a man with a sick daughter who is twelve years old. He is then touched with an intentional touch by a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. Is twelve the number for “God’s Purpose? (There are 12 sons of Jacob; 12 tribes of Israel, Hmmm). I am reading a secular book written by the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, Realm of Numbers. It is non-fiction and it gives the history of our number system and mathematics in general. On page 45 he discusses that there was a challenger to our base 10 numbering system, it was the number 12.

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Joanne]

Like it

[dee]

Ramona made a good commentary about the number 12.Numbers are always so significant in the Bible. The number 7 being the number of days of creation and of course 7th day being completion, the woman being ceremonially unclean or not to touch anything holy for 7 days after having a male child, then on the 8th day going and getting circumsized. The number 3 being on the third day Jesus rose from the dead, the third son (Seth) being the child promised to Adam and Eve as a promise to bring salv ation, brought about Noah, who had 3 sons, (maybe triplets) not sure... 33 days being when a woman is made able to go back into the tabernacle again after having a male and the number 14 days being if the woman is unclean from having a daughter and 66 days waiting on purification and made able to go to the tabernacle afterwards from having a girl..basically, numbers go on an on Amen!! in the Bible, so the Lord uses numbers to accomplish His completion and His power and to teach us that everything and everyone has a purpose and Word given in due season to all the Hear and Do the Word..

In the Psalm today, where David is crying out to the Lord in Chapter 38. I use the Life Application, the NLT, and I am kind of thinking on line of Ramona, reading some scripture and my Bible has some commentary notes at the bottom illustrating and in align with the chapter notes..In 38:2-4 says Your arrows have struck deep, and you blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me--it is a burden too heavy to bear. Well in my notes in the footnotes, it says that David saw his anguish as judgment from God for his sins. Although God does not always send physical illness to punish us for sin, this verse and others in Scripture(Acts 12:21-23; 1 Corinthians 11:30-32) indicate that he does in certain circumstances. Our sin can have physical or mental side effects that can cause great suffering. Sometimes God has to punish his children in order to bring them back to himself (Hebrews 12:5-11). First of all I am going to stop there on the footnotes. GOD DOES NOT bring sin upon us..sin is prevelant in our lives through the decisions we make. God says I put before you life and death, blessings and curses, therefore choose LIFE!! Deut 30:19. Even reading the footnotes and commentary, we have to watch out for connotations and inuindo's that indicate that God punishes us in order to bring us back to himself. He doesn't do that! God is Good! Remember back in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned and then they tried to hide from God. God already knew what they had done but He couldn't look upon them because they sinned! He can't look up the sin we have on us because if His goodness and His light were to look upon us in our sin, we would all be burned up because Light can't look upon Darkness because it would destroy the Darkness..our sins our actions are what steers our course! Always know to be careful.. watch and read the Word so that You will not stumble.

~~be blessed!deedee

[Jenniffer Hosler]

Death is life. Christ said to the women, because of your faith you are healed. She acted out of faith in her healing. Christ reassured Jarius "trust me". Death to ourselves through our faith in Christs action in our lives is life giving and healing. However, faith requires action. you cannot hide like the women wanted to do, but tell others and proclaim your faith.

[Steve T]

Leviticus 11:44 (The new 2011 NIV) I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.

It’s pure pleasure to jump into God’s word each morning and search for treasure. I chose this verse because I wanted to know more about holiness. As I ponder what it is to be holy, the first thing that comes to mind is that being holy is being willing to give up sin and the second thing that comes to mind is that being holy is being fruitful. When we come to the point in our walk that we truly want to give up sin then and only then does the Lord begin to stuff tools in our quiver that we can use to gain victory over the sins which have easily entangled us in the past. Holiness is becoming mature.

In the time of Leviticus, God was teaching the Israelites the difference between good and evil, the same way we as Christians today are taught by the Holy Spirit and by studying God’s word. I know it sounds over simplified but today it seems that many don’t understand the difference between good and evil as they have been somewhat merged. Separating good from evil is the first step in our walk as Christians. I read a commentary that describes the process of separating good from evil similar to the way a pathologist peers through a microscope and is able to tell which cells are normal and which are cancerous. The way a musician is able to tell the difference between the right note and the almost right note. The way an expert writer knows the difference between any word and the right word.

The desire for Holiness is reached when we have gone through the desert and come to the conclusion that we are utterly incapable of helping ourselves and running the show. We must come to that conclusion before wisdom will enter us. Holiness is laying down our will and yielding to the Holy Spirit every step we take this day.

[Molly]

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 15:

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”

I have went on diets before and kept a record of everything that I eat, but how many of us write down or keep a record of everything that comes OUT of our mouth? Our Father in heaven does.

I agree that there are a lot of idle words being spoken today. Matthew chapter 12 records what Jesus said about us giving an account for all these words:

35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

[Heart]

What a great comment. Molly! I have the feeling I would be much more convicted of my true sin if I kept a record of the words out of my mouth as faithfully as I do the food that goes in to it! Wow. That is a powerful comment.

Also appreciate your comment Steve about discernment between cancer cells/normal and musical notes. Isn't it funny that some of the most "off" notes are the ones that are closest to the correct ones? Sin that is not obvious ("smalltalk" in this context) can be the most harmful sometimes.

I am a very talkative person by nature, but both my husband and my best friend are more reserved...or at least are more thoughtful about what they say. This lesson today ( a day late, by the way!) has a lot of good things in it for me, but none so much as the exhortion to avoid smalltalk. I am convicted of how many times people may have wanted to tell me something, or just had me avidly listen, but I put up a barrage of words....