January 25 - Leviticus 11-14
It is wonderful to me that God is so loving and personal that He even cares about what I eat. When I read the list of clean and unclean animals, I can't say that I understand the reason for each one being classified as it is, but it seems that it has to do with health. The unclean animals are unhealthy for people to eat, while the clean animals are healthy food. I wonder if we could do away with a lot of the diet plans, if we would follow God's plan here. I am not talking about being legalistic. I am talking about using these guidelines because of God's warning to us. In any case God wants His people to be holy, and these food laws fall into that, too. The word holy in its basic sense means "different."His people are to even be different in how we eat.
The emphasis on staying away from blood is similar. There are many diseases that can be spread through contact with blood. Therefore, God said to stay away from it, and if a person comes in contact with blood, he or she is unclean. Even after the normal birth of a baby, there is a cleansing time because of the blood, and there is the need for an atonement offering. That seems strange to me, because birth is a natural process. However, again it seems that God cares for our health, which comes from cleanliness.
It would be a terrible thing to come down with leprosy in the Old Testament times. I would have hated to have been a priest and had to pronounce someone unclean from this disease. Then, that unclean person would have to live "outside the camp" until healing came. Of course, the reason for this separation was so that the disease would not spread to others. It must have been a lonely existence to be a leper. They must have prayed and longed for healing, so they could be included in the group again. I am sure God still extended His grace to them. I am sure they could have a good relationship with Him, but they were cut off from other people. We live in a world where many people are cut off from others for a variety of reasons. They feel left out, rejected. They long for the day they will be included. We need to reach out to them with the love of Christ. We need to tell them about the spiritual cleansing that is available in Jesus. We need to tell them about the loving fellowship of the family of God.
The emphasis on staying away from blood is similar. There are many diseases that can be spread through contact with blood. Therefore, God said to stay away from it, and if a person comes in contact with blood, he or she is unclean. Even after the normal birth of a baby, there is a cleansing time because of the blood, and there is the need for an atonement offering. That seems strange to me, because birth is a natural process. However, again it seems that God cares for our health, which comes from cleanliness.
It would be a terrible thing to come down with leprosy in the Old Testament times. I would have hated to have been a priest and had to pronounce someone unclean from this disease. Then, that unclean person would have to live "outside the camp" until healing came. Of course, the reason for this separation was so that the disease would not spread to others. It must have been a lonely existence to be a leper. They must have prayed and longed for healing, so they could be included in the group again. I am sure God still extended His grace to them. I am sure they could have a good relationship with Him, but they were cut off from other people. We live in a world where many people are cut off from others for a variety of reasons. They feel left out, rejected. They long for the day they will be included. We need to reach out to them with the love of Christ. We need to tell them about the spiritual cleansing that is available in Jesus. We need to tell them about the loving fellowship of the family of God.