Daily Bible Reading

  In today's reading,  God went into more detail with Moses about people who needed to be separated because they were unclean. They didn't just just have to be away but they needed to be outside of the camp. For women, every month they had to spend at least 8 days away from their family. Maybe that was a blessing for them. Another thing to note was that when a man was jealous of his wife or thought she was cheating, she would have to go thru this whole procedure with the priest to prove that she wasn't cheating. But I never saw anything if the woman thought he husband was cheating. Now I know that it is different times, but man that seemed like a lot to go through. The Nazarite vow was also very serious. It meant sacrificing a few animals and setting your self apart and not becoming unclean. It was to the point where even if your mother, father, sister, etc. died, you were not allowed to go see them until your vow had been complete.  The rest of the reading discussed givi...

Today I started Numbers. This is a book that I am always afraid to read. Just a long list of names. But when I was reading today I was paying a little more attention to the numbers of the people. Any time you think about a tribe in the desert you think about just a few people but after reading this you realize that there were about 603,000 men 20 years or older. Just to put that in perspective. Washington DC a city that is 10 sq. miles. With a population of 695,000 people. 603,000 was just the population of the older men. It is insane to think that it was the job of just one man to try to control these many people. I also notice how every tribe had a different job in taking care of and in taking apart the tabernacle. To think that God's presence was so strong there that if you didnt take care in taking down his tabernacle, that could lead to death. There is so much in that to unpack. I am hoping to look at Numbers differently this time and try to get as much out of it a...

  Today I read the last few chapters in Leviticus. A few things stuck out to me. One is how we should be treating people who have borrowed money from us or who are indebted to us. The Bible tells us to take them in and sustain them but not at an interest. We were always meant, as a community, to take care of each other - so we can thrive together.  The year of Jubilee was fascinating to me. You never really owned anything. Every 50 years you would have to retire everything back, all land and slaves that were Jewish. Now I don't think that the year of Jubilee was ever observed, not sure why, but it was just interesting to see the concept.  Leviticus was eye-opening. To see all that they had to do at the time just so that they could be in God's presence. I think one of the biggest takeaways from this is that I need to make sure that my heart and life are right with him if I'm wanting to enter in. I know that we no longer live under old testament law but I think if I want to...

  These chapters of Leviticus caught my attention. There were things in the Bible that I didn't realize were there before. This is one of the reasons that I think we all need to read through the bible. We get to discover something that we didn't realize before.  Two verses that really stood out to me were Lev. 19:15 where he talks about judging people based on how much money they have. It's not just that you shouldn't pe partial to the poor but also impartial to the rich. This is not about what they are but who they are. I feel like at church, sometimes, we glorify the high giver or one that can do a lot for you. This is wrong we need to judge all of our neighbors equally and fairly. We are not who we are because of what we've done, but because of who He is. The second verse that stood out to me is Lev. 19:33. He calls us to make sure we treat strangers (immigrants) as "native among you". In this day and age (2022) where there is much talk about immigratio...

  In today's reading the Bible talked more about the different scenarios that could make us unclean. I can see how women were perceived as unclean during their time of the month. They would literally have to make a sacrifice after every menstrual cycle. That's crazy. I also want to research how they kept birds captive because it seemed like they had to sacrifice a lot of them. In the later chapters (17 - 18) Moses starts speaking to them about setting themselves apart from Egypt. I found it interesting that he had to mention to not uncover your mother's nakedness! 😳 Then I had to remember that in those days, Egypt had a lot of incest. To me it was giving them time to retrain their minds to what was right. They were stuck in that culture for about 470 years. It goes to show you that when some one comes out of a situation that they have been stuck in for a awhile, don't expect them to change and know what to do overnight. Thank goodness for His grace.

  In these chapters of Leviticus, we talk about the consecration of Aaron and his sons, what animals can make us unclean, and how to remain clean. It's fascinating to think that His presence was magnified in one spot that if you didn't follow the instruction to make yourself clean that His presence was so pure that it would kill you. In Chapter 10 you see two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, not following what Moses had instructed them to do and made what the bible calls a "strange fire". They were immediately consumed by a holy ghost fire. It seemed harsh to me at first, but when I realized that these were the same people that made a gold idol just a short while after making a covenant with God, He really needed to make sure they were listening to him. The second half of my reading dealt a lot with how to stay clean and how to become clean after being unclean. I am happy I live now because there are so many rules I feel like I would have forgotten them. I think for mo...

I am happy that I live in the world after Jesus' death. To hear of all of the sacrifices that you needed to do to stay holy and to be able to enter in! What I found interesting is the amount of work that they had to do in sacrificing the animal. It wasn't just "kill the animal and put it on the altar." You had to bleed the animal correctly, cut the fat off the liver and wash it properly.  There was a lot of work that needed to be done just so that you could get forgiveness and be atoned.  It was also a great reminder for me to ask for forgivness for the sins that i didn’t know that I had commited. When they are brought to my attention that I have sinned, I need to make atonement for it and make sure that I have made them right with the person that I have wronged.  It is particularly interesting how it talks about the priest's sin that can affect the people (Lev 4:3). It just shows us how as a leader you need to be extra careful because your sins can af...