The one where Laura actually does something with this blog… because, Leviticus!
I know, I know. It’s been a year, and I’ve been sitting on this blog space without a clue about how to actually use it. Recently, though, I experienced something so incredible that I just have to write about it. So, my blog lives- finally.
Way back at the beginning of the new year, my church started a “listen through the Bible in a year” challenge using a common phone Bible app and a unified schedule. I’ve never done the Bible-in-a-year thing, so I was excited to join in. There are many books in the Bible that I have yet to dig deeply into, and (I hate to admit) even more that I haven’t read at all beyond the occasional reference made in sermons and the like. Leviticus was one of those books. And when I’ve admitted that in the past, other peoples’ reactions fell into one of two categories: “Ick! Leviticus! That book is so boring!” and “Ick! Leviticus! I typically just skip it.” One reaction I’ve never, ever heard is the more favorable, “Oh, Leviticus! That book is so earth-shatteringly amazing! I love it so much!!!”
If you read those first two reactions and felt a spark of familiarity, I see you. You are my people. We should go have coffee some time.
I have never been one to deny that I am an odd duck. One of my favorite expressions of personal oddity is that I love the Old Testament. Exodus remains my favorite book in the Bible because it was the book (most people are shocked to hear) that brought me back to God after wandering my own wilderness for about 20 years. So, when facing the task of going through the whole Bible from start to finish in one go, I sat with anxious anticipation to finally experience what else Moses might have penned for me to read in the rest of the Pentateuch. Finally, it was time. The ball in New York City dropped, fireworks lit the dark sky, the calendar flipped from one year to the next, and I slept through it all. But when I woke up, I was ready! Off I went into the vast expanse of the Word.
I nodded along to Genesis, a book I know pretty well. I grinned through Exodus. God is so cool when He throws down! Then, I got to Leviticus. And for about two weeks, I listened. It all seems a blur now, but what I remember the most, is that when the last word was read to me and the book concluded, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and with all of my God-loving heart, spat out a very unholy, “What was THAT?” Since I listened mostly in my car on my drive to work, and I firmly remember being parked at a red light at the time, I can only imagine what the people in the safe personal bubbles of their own cars might have thought of my very visible and audible reaction. I mean, cars aren’t really all that sound proofed. There are many times I have found myself singing along to some neighboring Mazda’s radio. Let’s just say that the guy in the car next to me, had he looked over, would have probably thought I’d just driven past a skunk cloud with the stink face I imagine I wore. Though, come to think of it, I can’t remember ever driving through that particular type of dark cloud without knowing exactly what THAT was.
I shook my head and prayed, “God, I know everything in the Bible is there for a reason, but I’m really struggling with this one. You’re going to have to show me what the purpose of all of this is. What in the world is this doing there?! I don’t get it.”
Let’s step back to the beginning of the year for a minute. My birthday is smack dab in the middle of January, and this year was the big one. 5-0. I had never imagined turning 50, much less wondered what the day would be like. I had seen friends and family members suffer through black cakes and balloons, and over-the-hill one-foot-in-the-grave jokes. I couldn’t let that be my day, so I decided that this would be the year I’d celebrate like it was my 21st birthday instead. I had a party. Instead of random presents, I asked my friends to give me the gift of a blind date with their favorite book. I’m a reader. That’s the kind of thing readers do. I know. We’re weird. Just go with it.
Let’s move forward again to around the end of March, the conclusion of my listen-through of Leviticus, and my completely lost and confused prayer that God would enlighten me as to why He would include stuff about rashes and menstrual cycles, and clean and unclean things, and sex, and dead bodies, and all the rest in a book like the Bible. I mean, it was all about old laws that no longer applied to me. What was the point?
You know something I’ve discovered about God? When you ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you, He will never ever say, “no.”
It wasn’t even a week later that I opened the blind date with a book from my friend Janice, and inside the gift-wrap was a Bible study in the book of… you guessed it! Leviticus. I know God had a front row seat for the look on my face for that one. I’m sure he had a good laugh. I do make faces all the time. They’re absolutely adorable. Take my word for it. Even the facial ticks that have resurfaced since I started wearing my glasses again. You know, the ones where I scrunch up my nose or purse my lips in an attempt to move my glasses around without having to go through the effort of actually lifting my hands to touch them? Those ticks? Yes. They’re cute, too. But I digress– back to Leviticus.
It didn’t take me long after I started to study the book to really begin to see that Leviticus is absolutely one of the most important books in the Bible. I am so thankful that God gave it to us, and that He heard me when I asked for help with it. Now that I have finished the first dive into the book, and have begun my second round to focus on the verses and word studies I wanted to circle back to, I feel driven to share why I believe this book is so very important. At least, what it meant to me as I read into its wisdom and its ultimate revelation of God’s plan for man. What happens in Leviticus is essential for us as Christians, and I can’t believe I never knew that before now.
Here are my key takeaways:
Man is sinful and God is holy.
God has always wanted us to know Him.
God’s plan is perfect.
God is so very merciful.
God wants us to be different from those who don’t know Him.
The law is the pitch, and Jesus is the home run.
The letter of the law is no longer relevant because it has been fulfilled through Jesus and we’re not living in ancient Israel, but the heart of the law still applies because it reveals the heart of God.
I really want to share my excitement about what I’ve learned in the past couple of months with you because fun loves company. I know that for most of you none of these ideas are new, and they weren’t exactly new for me either. I mean, I’d heard them all before. But to see them revealed in such a different and, yes, earth-shattering way in a book like Leviticus- well, I think THAT is something to shout from the rooftops. I’m not a theologian. I never went to seminary. I’m very much just a person who loves God, loves His Word, and wants to know more of Him every single day. I’m not going to be perfect. None of us is. I just do the best I can with this little human brain of mine. But I do believe that God can reveal big things to small people.
As I started typing out this blog post, I began to realize that it was going to end up being really REALLY long, so I texted a friend and asked if she’d rather read something the length of my college dissertation, or if it would be better to break it up into a series (I had a feeling I already knew the answer, but it was good to have my instincts confirmed by another person who I know is way smarter than me- yes, I’m talking about you, Maria), and she confirmed that turning it into a series of posts would be best.
So, that’s what I’m doing. Each of the bullet points above will become its own blog post. If I’m the only one who reads them, that’s fine. If they bless someone else, that’s even better. I just gotta do what I gotta do. :0)
Happy reading!