2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
From the time that Adam and Eve committed the original sin, God was faced with a serious problem. The humans He created in His own image were not going to act with righteousness all the time. They were going to sin. Because God is omniscient, He knew He would have to come up with some kind of plan to keep all these people from harming each other, even killing each other to the point of total destruction. Because they were under the curse of GN 3: 17-19, people would have to live near each other and be dependent to some extent on helping each other. “And He said to the man, ‘You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all you life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produced weeds and thorns, and will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.” As time went on, God saw that the behavior that was going on as mankind interacted with each other was getting worse all the time. That was when God decided to destroy mankind with the exception of Noah and his family and begin again. You can read the story of the flood in GN 6-9.
Sadly, the covenant of the rainbow [GN 9: 11-17] was not a permanent solution to God’s problem. We know that because of what followed in GN 11, the Tower of Babylon. God’s next attempt to deal with the problem of sin was His calling of Abram (later to be called Abraham) to establish a nation of Jews, dedicated to a lifestyle which put Himself squarely at the center of it and demanded righteous living. Once God’s promise to make Abraham the father of a nation [GN 12: 1-3] came true, He knew that there had to be a set of rules for the Jews to live by. The basics were in the Ten Commandments given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and occasion the Jewish people still celebrate today called the Festival of Shevuot [EX 19: 24-25 & 20: 1-17]. Later, as the Jewish people settled down to life in the former Canaan, now called Israel, it became apparent that they needed further explanation on these laws. That is why God inspired Moses to write the book of Leviticus, parts of Numbers (dealing with them), and a repetition, a second telling if you will, in the book of Deuteronomy.
Amazingly, throughout all this turn of events in mankind’s history, God never stopped loving His creation. Nor, did God completely withdraw His guidance for His children. Since we needed to interact with each other and depend to some extent on each other (while still knowing we are dependent on God), principles like the ones in LV 19: 18 were put forth by God. “Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him, but love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.” That same concept is repeated in many contexts throughout the Scriptures. See LK 10: 27, for example. Because Satan has temporary dominion over the Earth, and he has no conscience, a teaching like this is absolutely necessary. The book of Leviticus is full of such rules. Another such rule is found in LV 19: 33-34, “Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would your fellow Israelite and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” It occurs to me that it’s too bad that God must repeat, “I am the Lord your God.” If mankind hadn’t been sinful, this wouldn’t have been necessary. God’s inherent authority would have been enough.
The real tragedy of sinfulness keeps impacting on our very own lives today. Consider how cruel school children are toward a newcomer to their classes. Consider their behavior when a child is different because of body type, wearing braces on his/her teeth, or being either not as quick to learn to much quicker than the others. I mention children here, because this is where the sinful behavior begins which if left unchecked leads to criminality. My heart breaks when I hear a story like that of Columbine High School or this 13-year old honor student, Nathan Brazil, who was disciplined for throwing water balloons, went home, came back to school with a gun, and shot his English teacher dead. Because of my own shortcomings, I doubt I would have the patience with all of this that our loving Abba has. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not God. RO 3: 26 reminds us though that there are limits to how much sinning and disobedience God will endure from mankind. That is why there will be a final separation of sheep and goats [MT 25: 32] and a seven year Tribulation [described in the book of Revelation]. There is real value in going back to those simple, yet crucial rules from EX and LV mentioned here, so that we can measure individually how our own lives compare to God’s ideals for us.
Just in case we ever begin to forget how much our Father in heaven loves us, we need to remember PS 5: 11-12. “But all who find safety in You will rejoice; they can always sing for joy. Protect those who love you. Because of You they are truly happy. You bless all who obey you; your love protects them like a shield.” What greater love can there be than the sacrifice of One’s only begotten Son on the cross, so that we can find the way to salvation through repentance of sin and faith in Him?
PRAYER: O Lord, You have endured so much sin from mankind that Your patience amazes us. Throughout this whole time, You have demonstrated Your love for us over and over again with the guidance You give us. By nature, we are cruel as children and later as adults. We have acted with prejudice against certain groups of people and certain individuals in our lives. We have spent more time fearing the unknown than taking the time to reach out in friendship. We have put our own agendas ahead of Yours. We know that there is a limit to the amount of sin You will tolerate from us, yet we put off repenting from it. Help us, O Lord, to turn from whatever sin is in our lives toward faith in You and Your Son. Cause us to understand that is the only way we will find real happiness and safety. Let us never forget that Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah, is the only One worthy enough to wrest dominion over the earth from Satan’s hands, giving it back to You. Only in Him, we will find the rest we so ardently seek. Thank You for the love and patience You have for us. In His name, amen.
May you always bask in the warmth of His love, responding to it with trust and obedience. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn