The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

Proverbs 30-31

The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.” Proverbs 30:15-16

I continue my study of Proverbs - starting week 10 from my study workbook, which focuses on Proverbs 30-31:9.  My focus for today is questions #4-6 from my workbook.  These three questions examine (1) the insatiable desires of Satan and sin (Proverbs 30:15, Philippians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Hebrews 13:5); (2) the role of our conscience plays in not just our journey with Christ but also in the journey of others (Proverbs 30:20, Romans 14:1-12, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, 10:23-30, 1 Timothy 1:18-20, Hebrews 10:19-22); and (3) how humility and a righteous life contrasts with that of a sinful, foolish life (Proverbs 30:21-23 and 24-28).

Certainly, we must be careful falling prey to any kind of sin as it feeds on itself towards ruin and destruction. 

Paul encourages us that God provides a "way out" from sin and that is of course Jesus Christ:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Another text from Proverbs reinforces how God is the way: 

For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord,but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

 

Comment and discuss this post.

 

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - You ARE the way, and You protect me by giving me Your Son Jesus Christ so that I can protect myself from sin and the insatiable desires of sin that lead to destruction.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of my salvation.  I know this.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses....Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around....And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

Leviticus 16

 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses....Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around....And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. Leviticus 16:16, 18, and 20

This morning, I continued my study of Leviticus using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary for this book - starting chapter fourteen - God Forgives and Removes Sin - covering Leviticus 16:1-34, looking specifically at the first theme for the chapter - Sin Defiles Us and Our Environment.  Here, in this chapter of Leviticus, which the commentary refers to as perhaps "the central chapter of [Leviticus]," we see a description of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement for the Jewish religion. The commentary describes how "[o]n that day, the most sacred person entered the most sacred space and performed the most sacred worship ceremonies."  Looking at the theme specifically for today, the commentary focuses on v16, 18, and 20 and God's commands to Moses and Aaron to make atonement for the holy place itself. The commentary responds to the question we might have on our minds: if the holy place - an inanimate object - did not sin, then why is atonement required for the holy place.  The commentary writes that sometimes when we sin in a place, "we associate wrong with that place...and every time we go back to back to the place where we committed that wrong or every time we even think of that place, we feel the guilt all over again....The tabernacle had done nothing wrong.  Nevertheless, the people came there all year with their sins and offered sacrifices in that space to atone for them.  They associated that place with their sin.  It was supposed to be a holy place, but their sin made it dirty....Sin defiles us and our environment."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God, worthy of full surrender, submission, and white-hot worship.  You died on the cross for me so that I could have not just atonement, but life to the full now and eternal life!  Thank You Jesus!  Yet I am completely undeserving of this and the grace You pour out for me daily. I worry and I have other sins.  Please forgive me.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

[B]ut your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God[.]...Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

Leviticus 13-15

[B]ut your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God[.]...Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. Isaiah 59:2, Psalm 24:3-4

This morning, I continued my study of Leviticus using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary for this book - continuing chapter thirteen - Unclean! - covering Leviticus 13-15, looking specifically at the second theme - Sin Separates Us from God.  Here, the commentary starts by making it clear that "these chapters in Leviticus state people were declared unclean and excluded [from worship] because of a skin disease [and bodily discharge], not because of sin." At the same time, the commentary states "skin disease [and bodily discharge are] an external reminder of sin and the physical deterioration sin causes" (see also post yesterday). The commentary then pivots to an examination of why God focused on skin diseases such as leprosy in Leviticus 13-14; while we don't know for certain, once again (see also post from a few days ago regarding how there are no imperfect laws), we are exhorted to avoid questioning the the validity of any of God's laws as although "[w]e may be unable to understand the reason for every law because God did not supply us with a reason....However, if for some reason we reject God's law or decide it is incorrect, we are least being impertinent, if not blasphemous.  God had a reason for the laws He gave, even though those reasons may not be clear to us.  So when we encounter things in the Bible that don't make sense to us, our impulse should be to give God the right to be God.  Skin disease symbolized sin and separation from God because that is the symbol God chose."  Finally, the commentary postulates that leprosy was as apt a symbol of sin as any as this particular skin disease, at least at the time of the writing of Leviticus, was incurable, visible and progressive - all dimensions of sin we of which believers should be aware. The commentary writes: "[b]oth leprosy and sin are incurable.  Also, leprosy affects the nervous system so that infected people become progressively desensitized to pain.  Most forms of sickness cause suffering by making us hurt; leprosy cause suffering by making its victims incapable of hurting.  Sin affects us in the same way.  The more we sin, the more we are desensitized to sin and its pain." Ultimately, the connection is drawn between not only original sin and the subsequent presence of sickness, pain and death, but also between sin and how it separates us from God as God did not allow anyone unclean to worship as described in these chapters in Leviticus. The commentary wraps by pointing us to scriptural examples of these applications, referring us to Isaiah 59:2 and Psalm 24:3-4.  

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who gives me a path to cleanse myself of my sin - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You forgive and how You bless me.  I worry and I have other sins.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my fatih.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Leviticus 10

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Leviticus 10:1-2 

This morning, I continued my study of Leviticus using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary for this book - continuing with chapter ten - Our Response to God's Holiness - covering Leviticus 10:1-20, looking specifically at the theme - God's People Acknowledge God as Judge.  Here, the commentary focuses on God's judgement of sin - a topic not often discussed in church and certainly discussed less so in our larger culture here in the U.S. (or even tolerated). In v10:2 Nadab and Abihu were swiftly and harshly judged by God for their "unauthorized fire." We are urged to the the larger context in Leviticus 10 where it describes the Israelites' inaugural worship service - in the previous chapters God lays out the commandments for the sacrificial system and the role of the priests. As I posted Sunday, we are to approach God as Holy and set apart; hence we are to treat our time of worship with a level of seriousness and reverence - we should not be flippant about how we approach God.  On the same note, we must also look at sin as a serious matter; while sin is unavoidable as that is our nature and we cannot claim to be without sin (see 1 John 1:8), we must do what we can to avoid patterns of sin.  The commentary writes how "[s]in destroys.  It destroys not only the one who sins, but others.  Sin is not stagnant, so that we sin and that's the end of it.  When we sin, sin becomes easier the next time--easier for us, and easier for those who see us sin and get away with it.  Before long sin has proliferated and more and more people are being hurt by it."  The commentary pushes us to see how the Israelites were at a pivotal moment in their history - the inaugural corporate worship led by the priests God anointed.  We are to imagine how God's tolerance of Nadab and Abihu's sin could have led to even greater and greater sin - God had to deal with it severely lest it become a much bigger problem in Israel's development as God's people.  The commentary wraps by having us look at other scriptural examples where God dealt severely with sin.  One such example is from 2 Samuel 6:1-7 where a man named Uzzah was struck down for touching the ark - a Holy thing not be to be touched by anyone other than the priests, and only touched/used in the prescribed manner directed by God.  In this scriptural example, it should also be noted that the ark should never have been put on a cart as God had already prescribed that it was to be carried by the Levites on poles on their shoulders.   A second example comes from the New Testament, where in Acts 5:1-11, a husband and wife hold back financial offerings to the church and lie about it - and both are struck down.  RC Sproul, writing on DesiringGod.com, uses the same examples in this great post about God's Holiness and justice. The key takeaway from the commentary this morning is that we are avoid sin, confront it in our own lives so as to arrest it from growing into something more dangerous than it already is.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are Holy and You desire for Your children to be Holy - You call us and You have chosen the elect to be Your ambassadors to spread Your Word.  I am beyond humbled that You would choose me and die for me. I am not deserving.  I am full of anger, harshness, and worry.  Please forgive me.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.