February 5, 2025 - Leviticus 11-15

Animals clean and unclean, purification after childbirth, laws about leprosy and the cleansing of lepers, instructions for cleansing houses, and laws about bodily discharges.  Sometimes, the religion of the Bible is depicted as some foolish, wishful, one-day-pie-in-the-sky thing.  Of course, our great hope is that which Jesus spoke of:  “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).  But in the meantime, we live in a real world with real concerns and real physical needs.  And God is not unaware of or uncaring about these everyday matters.  The book of Leviticus is not just a book of rules; rather, it is a picture of a loving and caring God taking care of his people and instructing them in the ways of righteousness and blessing.  That’s who our God is!

For the Lord who clothes the lilies

Greater care shall have for me;

Tho' a thousand fall beside me,

From destruction I am free.

He shall cover thee with his feathers

And under his wings shalt thou trust;

He shall cover thee with his feathers

And under his wings shalt thou trust.   --C. Austin Miles (1904)