Incest, bestiality, adultery, child sacrifice. Ick. These aren’t exactly the images we want to sit with and savor as we sip our morning coffee. And yet, to truly understand the depth of God’s grace, we must occasionally have a staring contest with our depravity. Like colors blended in an artist’s palette, God’s Word combines with our own human experience to paint a very dark portrait of our state without Christ—one that showcases that we are all capable of every sin, even the ones that seem unthinkable.
Consider the Bible in panorama. The book of Genesis shows us that sin can evolve from eating forbidden fruit to murdering your sibling in a single generation. King David’s story reveals that even men and women after God’s own heart can be overcome by desire for something that isn’t theirs. The gospels teach us that a people who have longed for a Messiah for generations will gladly execute Him when He finally arrives. While it’s true that the Bible is one long story of God’s redemption, it’s also true that God wouldn’t need to set things right so often if we didn’t set them sideways with such frequency.
Leviticus is, among other things, a book of rules. Because sin has made us naughty by nature, we don’t like rules. We can come to a chapter like Leviticus 20, which begins with rules against child sacrifice and ends with a call to stone mystics, and feel like it doesn’t apply to us. And yet, if we allow God to illuminate our heart’s true condition, we’ll see that our need for God-given guardrails remains.
Part of what makes God, God, is His holiness, His set-apartness. It stands to reason that part of what makes us God’s children is our holiness, our set-apartness. So what if Leviticus is more than a bunch of rules? What if it’s more like a map that moves us away from our rebellious nature and toward a way of living that is wholly set apart (Leviticus 20:8)? What if the message of this book is not, “Do this, not that,” but rather “Do this and live”?
When we stare down all we are capable of, when we consider just how far we are willing to go to get what we want, and just how many people we are willing to hurt along the way, when we realize that our bent is to call good things bad and bad things good (Isaiah 5:20), when our eyes are pried open by the truth about who we are without Jesus, the guardrails stop feeling like barbed wire. They become profound mercy that keeps us from driving our lives straight off the cliff.
Jesus, thank you for being a set-apart God. Thank you for rescuing me from me. Teach me to embrace your call to holiness with a joyful heart. Amen.
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49 thoughts on "Holiness in the Land"
Leviticus shows God’s holiness, so the 1 Peter verse in this reading hit me hard. We begin so far from God that nothing but Jesus Christ’s sacrifice could save us. Praise God for His glorious grace!
I can’t imagine how hard this is for you. I will pray for them and you as well.
I am so grateful that God does look out for me. I admit Leviticus has been hard on me. I don’t like all the animal death and if a woman or man has sex with the animal, God saying the animal deserves death because it knew better. Animals don’t know better. We are to be stewards of their protection. Just finding it hard with some of this book. But I am still an avid lover of God and I know He loves me and looks out for me.
Mercy, having gotten wrapped up in new age in the past (even though i have been a Christian for years and was raised in church), I second what you say and add that these “familiar” spirits are deceptive and often times very seductive. They look harmless and one small peek into that world will grab a hold quickly. I was thankfully delivered a few years ago and since then, I see clearly the evil of what I then thought was harmless.
As we’ve read Leviticus, I’ve started to see it for a beautiful example of the gravity of sun and the gift that is Jesus. I think reading this before we go into Advent is such a great reminder of all that Jesus did so we could know God!!!
Thank you for writing this so well. Your writing opened up my heart to receive instruction and correction so well today. Really well done. Conviction and correction without condemnation—. I copied a lot of what you wrote into my notebook.
Thank you again for bringing Leviticus to life.
Thank you for writing this so well. Your writing opened up my heart to receive instruction and correction so well today. Really well done. Conviction and correction without condemnation—. I copied a lot of what you wrote into my notebook.
So true! I loved the analogy of the guardrails! Protected, not prohibited
So very true Mercy! It’s hard when we see things we thought were harmless and then realize they are an abomination to our Lord.
This devotional, whoever wrote it, was really well written. It was good
Yes!!! Thank you for pointing this out and making this relevant to todays world. It is so sad and even more scary what kids are being exposed to today. I pray that more people open their eyes to what the Bible says and look at how God wants us to live our lives. Thank you for your words.
Amen loved reading through all these tonight. Praying for your l this week.
Jennifer Anapol I echo your prayer
Thank you for sharing MERCY! You summed up exactly what I was having on my heart.
The beauty of Leviticus summed in one devotional. “Do this and live.”
I pray I would see the rules of Leviticus in a more positive light. I pray I would see them as a map to keep me on the right track. I pray that I would walk in the light of Jesus and be set apart from the world.
When reading the lovely chapter of today, this verse stopped me, Leviticus 20:27 KJV “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard (witches), shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them”. And I felt prompted to share an experience. I was in Winners ( TJ Maxx in US) not too long ago looking at some planners and notebook/journals for next year, and I saw a very beautiful velvet hardbound purple cover book. It has these mystic symbols of moons and starts and it says on the cover book of spells. A mother nearby with her 7 year old daughter were looking at it, and the mom said how cool this is, you can write all your spells to her daughter. I was speechless that such a book made its way to a family store as such, and successfully captured the attention of young kids/parents as “cool”. Truly if we look, the evil is making its way to little children, in schools, stores, tvs, liberal transgender options, etc. Its detestable. I used to be a fan of Harry Potter a very long time ago (a widely popular wizard condoning series), also embracing the friendly teenage witch tv shows (aren’t all witches pictured as friendly and helpful?). I had not known any better (completely lack of spiritual knowledge) but GOD He protected me. What does God say about witches/wizards/ familiar spirits? To be stoned. But this world teaches us to be inclusive- embrace everyone, they say God is love isn’t He, shouldn’t He embrace and love everyone? No, He said to STONE THEM. Should we take a moment to reflect if God was preached wrongly to us, if the gospel has been diluted to avoid hard conversations? Yes. Praise God for SRT to include this Leviticus in the study. This is our God who is Love that says loud and clear, stone them. Let us not conform God to our own image of a grandpa floating on clouds embracing everyone (it’s distorted), but He is a fearsome God who will not tolerate evil and command to stone. God did not call us to embrace all, He calls us to come out of them, to be set apart. Not to be inclusive if that inclusiveness means His holy children mingle with the devil’s children to the point the land will spit out the people. We will get burn if we play with fire. Let us not be afraid of people and compromise/ offend God. Be afraid of God more than being afraid of people’s opinions. Be holy and be strong in our convictions. Be blessed dear sisters.
Wow! Erin Davis your devotional was enlightening. I copied so much of it down in my workbook.
When we stare down all we are capable of, when we consider just how far we are willing to go to get what we want, and just how many people we are willing to hurt along the way, when we realize that our bent is to call good things bad and bad things good (Isaiah 5:20), when our eyes are pried open by the truth about who we are without Jesus, the guardrails stop feeling like barbed wire. They become profound mercy that keeps us from driving our lives straight off the cliff.
SHARON – I’m so sorry for the loss of your father.
KAITLIN GARDNER – Your comment was awesome! Thank you
Rebecca, I understand and have a son who had turned from his faith too. It is so hard but I help praying & loving him. Thank you for your words today.
“do this and live!” > “do this, not that” what a profoundly encouraging way of rethinking about things! I can get so caught up in not doing something, the “constraints” grow tighter and tighter. the idea of obeying God because it leads to life is so comforting! I pray that this stays on my mind and heart when temptation comes along. so grateful for today’s devo. happy monday, Shes!
God’s love for us is unconditional as long as we acknowledge He is the One True God and that Christ died for our sins.
Sisters be blessed and know you are ALWAYS LOVED.
Erin Davis…well said! Thank you.
Sharon Jersey Girl I’m so sorry for your loss. Praying as you requested for you & your family this week.
Excellent devo, Erin! Brings clarity and application to some difficult verses.
This is extremely well written and profound. Thank you.
This really hits home with me. I have a daughter that is living the gay lifestyle, another who has consulted psychics, and three sons who have totally turned from their faith. I love them all with all my heart. To the world they are kind, caring, hard working, loving people. But my burden for their confused souls is unbearable at times. I pray without ceasing. I used to beat myself up taking responsibility for the paths they have chosen, but God has put it on my heart to let it go and trust HIM. He loves my children more than I do. So I continue to pray and thank him for His grace and holiness that He has demonstrated for our good! Sometimes it feels harder to pray for others to change than yourself, because you have no control over others. Only God does. So I will continue to pray for my wandering children until there is no breath left in me and TRUST.
Excellent devotional Erin Davis. I found myself cringing over a Messiah being executed by people who had longed for him through many generations. Leviticus has me meditating every day over Jesus being the fulfillment of the law and not just a bridge to God for the lawless. Oh how worthy is our Savior and Lord to be praise and glorified. Amen!
What stands out to me in this reading is that God gave the Israelites rules to live by so that they would be his Holy People and thrive in the new land he brought them to. And even though He sent Jesus to us that we might be forgiven of our sins, we should still try to live by the rules he gave, so that we may live a Holy life and be an example to our children, our family and others in the world. Although we are forgiven when we fall, it doesn’t mean that we should ignore the rules set forth by God.
I am so thankful that God keeps loving us no matter how we mess up! Her shoes this live over and over and over again, every time we demonstrate how sinful we are. I love you, Lord! I love you, Lord because you first loved me!
A reminder not to point my finger at the world but to look up at God and examine my own heart. The world will not follow these commands no matter how much we protest or how many laws we create. They are not God’s people. I have been set apart and called a child of God therefore I have the privilege to live a holy life because I serve a holy. If I want to see change in the world I need to be about God’s business of sharing the gospel so he can continue his business of making others holy.
In my Bible is says “our inability to keep the rules shines a spotlight on Gods holiness.” So when we are feeling like we have it all together, we can look in the mirror at our Levitical self and realize that even amidst our floundering and sinful natures, God is the one who has it together for us. He forgives us and now, compared to then, Jesus sits beside God and fights for our forgiveness – one we don’t deserve on a daily basis.
What if the message of this book is not, “Do this, not that,” but rather “Do this and live”?
Thank you, God, that you not only want us to live, but abundantly, in YOU! What hope for a new day, a new week. This world is dead and has no hope to offer, but God… I am so thankful I am made new and alive in You.
My life (actions, words, attitudes, thoughts) should be a light that reflects God’s holiness. I’m considered holy, not because of my own works, but because of the work Christ accomplished on the cross on my behalf. “Jesus, teach me to embrace your call to holiness with a joyful heart.”
I think my only disagreement with today’s devotional is the statement that we don’t think that the sins and transgressions the chapter opens with, are applicable to us. I read and it’s scary that all of these are happening today. I think even scarier is that we have “celebrity” Christians who have dabbled into some of these things like talking to mediums because “maybe it’s not so bad.” We have to pray for this world, especially for our children. While we may not be sacrificing children in the flesh, I truly do believe that there are different kinds of efforts to derails kids from following God. This is something that sits in my heart constantly, and we must continue to pray for humanity, especially the more vulnerable ones.
I never thought I could fall in love with the book of Leviticus. But I see in the book of Leviticus how much God wants us to be His. God wants relationship with his people along with loyalty and fidelity. Both relationship and obedience are important, but God doesn’t want obedience to him apart from relationship. Jesus makes the way for an open relationship with God the father, and Holy Spirit helps us to obey and live a life of abundance. I want to live a life set a part to God, and that those around me see that I am set apart and that being said a part is a good thing. That they would also want to be set apart.
As I was reading through this chapter, I thought – this stuff is really gross, why would God need to tell them this? But then realize He is saying it as a warning for them not to be involved in any of these sins because the people they are to drive out from the land have committed them already! Because of sin we are all depraved, but praise God for His mercy and grace that rescues us from our sin. Without Christ we are without hope. But for those who believe, He is our hope. Thank you God for sending Jesus to die for our sin, completely taking it away!
My dad passed away last Monday, which happened to be both my son’s and my niece’s birthday. As much as we prayed that would’nt happen – God had His own plan. We are thankful that he didnt suffer long, and that he is now with the Lord and my mom – who he has missed so terribly these past 11 years. God did answer my prayer and allowed me and my 3 sisters to be with him when the angels came for him. Thank you all so much for your prayers. I ask that you continue to pray for us all as the funeral is Wednesday, 10/12 – especially for peace & unity among the family. Also that all those who are lost & attending will listen to the gospel message and respond to the Holy Spirits calling.
Thank you in advance, have a blessed Monday!
I never thought I could love the book of Leviticus. But I see how God wants us to be his. And he wants those around us to see that we are His. God wants relationship with his people along with loyalty and fidelity. Both relationship and obedient servant portent, but God doesn’t want our obedience to him apart from relationship. Oh Jesus, Jesus makes the way for an open relationship with God the father and Holy Spirit helps us to obey and live a life of abundance.
Yes @Kelly Neo — I also thought of John 8 where he Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus. I read it alongside this chapter this morning. It was refreshing to hear Jesus say “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” He acknowledges the sin, but gives her so much grace. He does not deny the law, but instead points out that we are all sinful in nature.
I read this chapter in Leviticus and my heart testifies of my need for God’s grace. There was a point in my life where I consulted with familiar spirits, without really knowing what I was doing. I was engaging in something that looked like “automatic writing”– where I wrote down Satan’s voice thinking it was the Lord’s. But God warned me and tried to help me.
Yet, here I am, breathing in new mercies this morning… Alive to say God is holy and just but also “does not deal with us according to our transgressions” (Psalm 103).
Lord, You alone are perfect and holy. Thank you for saving me from such evil and darkness. Thank you for opening my eyes to see the war for my soul, even as a believer. Thank You for Your Word that gave me sight and revelation. May I not forsake time with You in the Word– as it reveals and instructs us in the way we should go. Help my fellow sisters not to consult with the dead or demons and instead trust you with their past, present, and future. Only You can truly heal us and guide us as we need. Everything else is a counterfeit and lie. May we have discernment and be transformed by You. Thank you. In Jesus’s name.
Excellent read!
The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway. —Steve Brown, A Scandalous Freedom
I read this quote this morning and it touched my heart. I want to do better because I love God and long to be like Him. But, even when I mess up God loves me anyway. That has been a tough message to get into my heart. God loves me because He loves me. Not because of what I do or don’t do.
As I was reading todays verses, I wrote the phrase “because I said so” in the margins of my study guide. It isn’t for me to always understand the rule or guideline set by God. He as the creator and sustainer of life has every right to tell us how to live. He knows better and can see the consequences clearly. I see with rebellious tainted eye sight. As Erin says above, “if we allow God to illuminate our heart’s true condition, we’ll see that our need for God-given guardrails remains”. Lord, please help me to honor and obey fully in reverence to Your holiness.
The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway. —Steve Brown, A Scandalous Freedom
In this chapter of Leviticus, there are nine different words to describe the sinful acts mentioned. None of these words are repeated for another act of sin. Each act of sin has its own unique word to describe how God views it. Each act of sin is unique in God’s sight and atonement must be made for it.
In contrast, there is only one word used to describe God — holy.
Oh Amen!
Verse 10 brought to mind the injustice of the woman caught in adultery. She alone was brought before Jesus to judge. Verse 21 brought to mind the charge John the Baptist was proclaiming against Herod.
In the Lord’s kindness, He is telling Israel (who has just come from Egypt and its false gods) how to be His people.
Jesus told us how to be His people, “by our love” for one another.
Thank you Lord for helping me and protecting me from myself. Consecrate yourself, Claudia.
It is so hard for our finite, human brains to fully grasp and understand the depth of God’s love for us. I am thankful for mercy and grace and the patience of my Lord as I try to understand the depth of what he truly did for me.
Erin is right. Sometimes we have to have a staring contest with our depravity. I listened to a teaching in this. It’s definitely worth listening too. https://youtu.be/zXvQi7BuAiM
To God be the Glory for Who He is and His grace and mercy!
Erin also wrote, “ Jesus, thank you for being a set-apart God. Thank you for rescuing me from me. Teach me to embrace your call to holiness with a joyful heart. Amen.
Here is a clip talking about the otherness of God! https://youtu.be/NUI0Q0DQRYk
Prayers for you all today!
The harsh words in this chapter I think show how much this means to God. Sacrificing to the Molechs or going to mediums is called prostitution. What is meant for God is given to another. It made me realise how hurt God is when I think I don’t need to give Him my all. I struggle to totally commit myself to the Lord, but that is not only a me problem. God also plays a role in this. He wants all of me, that’s His mercy so I won’t drive my life straight off the cliff. Lord, please help me to remember this. Plant this truth deep in my heart so that I won’t hurt You, and me, by going after other things than You alone.
“While it’s true that the Bible is one long story of God’s redemption, it’s also true that God wouldn’t need to set things right so often if we didn’t set them sideways with such frequency.”
The whole kit n caboodle in one sentence! Amen!! God Bless you Erin Davis!!