Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+027

 

Leviticus 27（ESV）

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons……

9 “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. …….

14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. …….

16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. …..

30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

 

REFLECTION

1. Regulations of Vows
2. The law set a minimum amount that the Israelites were to contribute to support ministers (vv30-33). But each individual had the privilege of making a special vow to the Lord.  The person making a vow might give anything he possessed – himself, one of his family, an animal, his house, his family land, or a field he had purchased.  In effect, the person making the vow paid the value of the dedicated thing into the tabernacle or temple treasury.
3. “These are the commandments that the Lord gave…for the people of Israel” (v34). This book begins with divine presence and urges the people to avoid the effects of sin and uncleanness, so that God will continue to be present among them and give them life – hence all the instruction on purity and holiness.  It also provides means of restoring that relationship.  It is divine grace that educates the ancient Israelite, as well as the modern day Christians, how to live a life of holiness.

 

PRAYER

Lord, I thank You that You are holy, righteous and gracious.  You have instructed me to be holy.  I thank You that I can trust and rest in You, and I ask that I would live in sanctification and honor.

 

HYMN:

All We Like Sheep – youtu.be/bjOUeEpBgxs

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+026

 

Leviticus 26（ESV）

40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”

46 These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.

 

REFLECTION

1. Blessings and Curses
2. This chapter concludes the Holiness Code. Holiness is distinctiveness.  God is holy or set apart, different from any other.  Ancient Israel is called to be holy, to reflect that divine holiness.  In following divine instruction, Israel will demonstrate holiness or difference or distinctness as people of the holy God.  All of this instruction is part of the covenant material in the Pentateuch.  Covenant is a way of speaking of the divine-human relationship in which God initiates relationship with Israel and Israel responds.  God first says, “I will be your God” and Israel responds, “We will be your people”.  In living out that covenant relationship persons and communities find wholeness or blessing.  In rejecting that relationship they find trouble.

 

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, You are the God of Abraham, You are the God of Isaac, You are the God of Jacob! Thank you that You made a covenant with the Israelites to bring them from slavery Egypt to the good land of Canaan, which flows with milk and honey, and thank You that You love not only Your chosen Israelites, but all people in the world. You even gave Your only begotten Son Jesus to us to wash away the sins of our world with the blood of His sacrifice on the cross. Lord Jesus, thank You for the great work of redemption You have accomplished for us. You are my savior and the Lord of my life. I am Your disciple. I am willing to imitate Your self-denial, take up Your cross and follow You every day. Every move, every word and deed has the style of Your humility and meekness. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me every day and help me live a holy, victorious life. Amen!

 

HYMN:

Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me – youtu.be/dHJPwI1Qioo

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+025

 

Leviticus 25（ESV）

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.

 

REFLECTION

1. The Sabbath year
2. Sabbath and work aren’t in opposition. They are integrated parts of an organic whole.  Either apart from the other is crippled.  Work doesn’t take us away from God; it continues the work of God through us.  Sabbath is the final day in a series of workdays, each of which God declared good.  There is more to work than work; there is God – God completing, God resting, God blessing, God sanctifying (Gen 2:2-3).  The majority of us spend most of our time in the workplace.  When we work, it must be congruent with the way God works.  If there is no Sabbath in our lives, we soon become absorbed in our own work as an end in itself, and God’s work is either forgotten or marginalized.
3. So how do we get these Sabbath-keeping rhythms into our lives so that we can work congruently with God, living more in step with Him and His creation? The way we are to do it is to embed Sabbath keeping in weekly acts of worship.  We keep Sabbath best when we enter a place of worship, gather with a congregation, sing and pray and listen to God.  When we walk out of the place of worship, we walk with refreshed eyes and re-created hearts into the world in which we are images of God participating in His creation work.  And this practice should be so embedded in our lives that even the land – even our places of business – participates in this joyous, life –giving rest.

 

PRAYER

What’s my work habit and philosophy? What’s my rhythm? Is it in step with God’s?  Remain silent for a while, enjoy Sabbath for a moment.  Converse with God; listen to what God wants to tell me.

 

HYMN:

Here I Am To Worship – youtu.be/03G52K9X2hQ

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+024

 

Leviticus 24（ESV）

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.……

 

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. …….

 

22 You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” 23 So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

 

REFLECTION

1. Regulations of the tabernacle and sin of blasphemy
2. This first part of this chapter (vv1-9) emphasizes “continually”, “lasting ordinance”, and “regularly”. They speak of repeated patterns in each believer’s life.  We are to make sure that the ordinary things in our daily lives are in harmony with God’s will.  The second part (vv10-23) describes a crisis.  A young man “blasphemed the name of the Lord with a curse”.  The implication is that he used God’s name in a magical incantation intended to harm an enemy (v10).  Here was a situation very out of the ordinary!  So the people wisely sought a ruling from God.  When the ruling was given, the people obeyed and stoned the blasphemer to death.  When we face a crisis situation, we too need to wait until the will of the Lord is made clear, and then act on it.
3. Both habitual obedience to God’s known will and seeking God’s direction in crisis are ways we demonstrate a commitment to obedience that God welcomes as acceptable worship.
4. What about me? Do I habitually obey God in my daily life?  Or do I tend to cry out to God in crises?

 

PRAYER

Take an inventory of myself.  Ever since the beginning of “Listening to God” devotions, have I been faithful in following it?  Has the daily Bible reading become a habit for me?  What about the practice of the 5 short prayers?  From my replies, can I see how obedient I am to God, to the church God established, to the church’s leaders/pastors?

What about my obedience to God in my daily living, even in crises?

Tell God about all these and wait for His response.

 

HYMN:

With All I Am – youtu.be/Dk8Y98QLTvY

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+023

 

Leviticus 23（ESV）

4 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them….

37 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 besides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

44 Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.

 

REFLECTION

1. Important festivals
2. Festivals in ancient Israel’s worship are very important. They emphasized memory.  They remembered the exodus when God delivered and guided the people out of bondage and preserved them through the wilderness and eventually brought them into the land of Canaan.  The purpose of worship is to remember, to live it, rehearse and reenact it, and to bring it into the present.  The people can then see that God still delivers and guides.  They can structure their lives on that basis and move into the future with hope.  This is important to our spiritual life.  For the spiritual journey includes high points and low points.  Remembering God’s work in the past has a sustaining and renewing effect during times of spiritual drought.  Memory and worship are keys to spiritual formation.
3. Learning from the Israelites, we have our own memories and worship: at Christmas, we remember the incarnation of God’s son. On Good Friday, we meditate on Christ’s death for us.  Each Easter, we rejoice in His resurrection.  There are other traditional church festivals, or important dates of individuals or families.  We can choose to focus on the spiritual meaning of these dates, and so make them times of celebration and spiritual renewal.  Through memories, thanksgiving and worship, relationships with God and people may be renewed and spiritual lives strengthened.

 

PRAYER

Recall an especially important date of mine.  Tell God about it, what was the situation, what’s my feeling, who were there, their roles, the impact on me.  Anything to be thankful for?   Any unfinished business?  Give to God and ask Him to finish it for me.

 

HYMN:

Who You Are To Me – youtu.be/wms76AfllVE

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+022

 

Leviticus 22（ESV）

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. 4 None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or a man who has had an emission of semen, 5 and whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6 the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because they are his food. 8 He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’

 

REFLECTION

1. Rules for sacrifices
2. This chapter addressed Aaron and his sons through Moses and begins with a warning to treat the sacred offerings with respect. These instructions also operate from the notion that sacrifice should not be a casual thing.  The best is to be given to God.  Sacrifice is not an opportunity to get rid of cast-off animals.  What is given to God is to be without blemish.  With all the demands in life, it is often difficult to keep our relationship with God as the priority.  Moses’ instruction to Aaron and his sons is a reminder to us as well:  giving our best to God is a sacrificial commitment that creates spiritual growth; giving God the leftovers of our life leads to spiritual stagnation.
3. If I take the Holy God seriously and examine my interaction with God, my service at church and cell group, what would I change? What about my donations to church, how would that be affected?  Why?

 

PRAYER

Stay quiet in the presence of the Holy God.  Continue to reflect on the second question above and wait for the revelation from the Holy Spirit.  End this time with an interactive prayer with God: “You are the holy God, therefore I……” Repeat it as the Holy Spirit reveals.  Continue to sit for a little longer, enjoy this time with Him.

 

HYMN:

Song In My Soul – youtu.be/VXAneNye_58

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+021

 

Leviticus 21（ESV）

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

10 “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord.

 

REFLECTION

1. This chapter is about the ceremonial cleansing of priests
2. The whole community of Israel was holy and was to live by the moral and ritual standards that God had ordained. But the priests were set apart for the Lord from within this holy community.  Thus the standards by which they lived were even higher.
3. As believer-priests, Christians are called to live by the highest standards of holiness. Only by relying on God’s Holy Spirit can we meet and surpass the righteous requirements of Old Testament Law (Rom 8:4).

 

PRAYER

Respond to this question: How can I live a holy life?  Note my thoughts and feelings.  Write them down and converse with God.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show areas of my life that is not yet holy.  Pray for God’s help to begin the process of becoming holy in my daily life.

 

HYMN:

Strength of My Life – youtu.be/6sqy1URx4mg

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+020

 

Leviticus 20（ESV）

9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him…..

 

22 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.”

 

REFLECTION

1. Today’s passage is about punishment for the unclean/unholy
2. The disciplines that turn us from dishonoring our parents to honoring them also train us in a way of life that honors God. Home and holiness are closely related not only in this passage but also in the passage from childhood to adulthood.  In Prov 1:7-8, we see a similar relationship between the teaching of God and the teaching at home:

Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God;
only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.
Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you;
never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee. (The Message)

3. Holiness begins at home. It begins with honoring our parents.  In honoring our parents, we honor God.  How we speak to our parents will largely determine how we speak to God.  The late Rev. Stephen D. Knights, founder of AFC Canada used to say, “A person who is obedient to his parents is more likely obedient to God.”

 

PRAYER

Examine my relationship with my parents, how does it affect my attitude toward God?  Is the Holy Spirit rebuking me, or reminding me areas that I need to improve?  Ask for His help and guidance.

 

HYMN:

I Love You Lord – youtu.be/SYV0ce3ybEA

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+019

 

Leviticus 19（ESV）

11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

 

REFLECTION

1. Today’s passage is about Holy Conduct
2. The love of neighbor consists of a commitment to the welfare and best interest of another person, citizen or sojourner. This passage is calling to love one’s neighbor, companion, or friend. This is also the second of the two Great Commandments Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Many readers of the Gospels are not aware that this text comes from Leviticus (Lev. 19:18).  The concern for holiness relates to much of life and so contains a strong ethical dimension.  The chapters of the Holiness Code are more explicit in combining the ritual and ethical dimensions of life.  In Leviticus, how one worships and lives are tied to one’s relationship with God.
3. The truest expression of holiness is showing love for others in simple, practical ways. Caring for the poor, being fair to the well-to-do and needy alike.  Doing nothing that might harm another, loving others as ourselves.  It is this kind of life God calls us to live daily.  And this, the simple and practical living out of love, is holiness.

 

PRAYER

Have I found an integration of holiness and love my neighbor in my life?  Or am I still struggling trying to hit a balance between the two?  Which do I need to cultivate more at present?

 

HYMN:

For the One – youtu.be/e_bj6mjUj7k

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+018

 

Leviticus 18（ESV）

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.…….

 

21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.…….

 

24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

 

REFLECTION

1. Today’s passage is about the sanctity of marriage
2. Verses 1-5 point out that the faith community is to be characterized by allegiance to neither the Egyptian nor Canaanite lifestyle, but by practices formed in its relationship with God. The concluding verses 24-30 reiterate the view of the chapter based on divine revelation: maintain holiness.  This chapter challenges contemporary believers to demonstrate distinctiveness of faith today.  The concern pervades all of life – family life and sexual conduct are certainly included.
3. “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech” (v21) – Near the ruins of ancient Carthage (Tophet, cf. 2 Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 7:31, 32, etc.) a person can go today to a garden where the remains of thousands of children are buried. Most are infants, but their ages range to four years old.  Each was burned alive as a votive offering to the goddess Tanat.  There was something the parents wanted, and to obtain that favor from the goddess they offered her their child. There are many people, Christians included, who has had abortions without much hesitation.  They can’t see anything wrong with what they did.  The reason was, simply, that it wasn’t convenient.  There was something else they wanted, and so they sacrificed her unborn children. I suppose there are cases where, if the mother’s life is endangered, abortions are justified.  But to have an abortion just because giving birth is inconvenient is an act too similar to that of those parents of long ago, who traded the lives of their children to a pagan god or goddess in hopes of improved health, a better job, or wealth.  In God’s eyes, there is nothing that equals the value of a human life. (Larry Richards, The 365 Day Devotional Commentary, p82)

 

PRAYER

Lord, how can I live out my faith authentically?  Can others see my difference?  What’s my view of human life, even the life of an unborn baby?  Do I share Your viewpoint?  Help me, Lord!

 

HYMN:

The Potter’s Hand – youtu.be/AnacyH7wvk8