The title of this post really hurts.  I’ve been away since Thursday night, so no synopsis of the readings.  I have done the readings, just haven’t had the time to sit with the computer. 

What have we missed?  LEVITICUS 15 – NUMBERS 26

Can I sum it up in a few sentences?  More OT rules and regulations passed on to the Israelites.  Moses continues to lead them with Aaron.  The Israelites are a bunch of cry babies, constantly complaining to Moses about what God hasn’t done for them.  Moses prays to God to feed, water, forgive them….and God carries out His will. 

Yep, I guess I can make it short and sweet   The readings were definitely not sweet though.  God rescued them out of slavery in Egypt, but they could only forsake Him.  Reading this has shown me, encouraged me to be more thankful for His promises to me, and handle the daily junk with a different attitude.  I just want to be a faithful believer, and follow Christ.  The Israelites wandered around for 40 years yes, but they were free, and no longer prisoners or slaves.  Nor am I.  I have every creature comfort I could ever need or want, but that doesn’t matter.  What matters is that God is with me, and the Holy Spirit is in me, and Jesus died for me.  God promises me eternal life, if I abide in Him. 

Thank You Lord, for the snow that fell today, and for the moon in the sky tonight.  It reminds me of Your presence, and that brings me great comfort.  Sometimes we tend to skip over the truly Big things, and focus on ourselves.  When we have self focus, there’s no room for You.  Lord, forgive me for the times that I have done this, and forsaken You.  Help me to keep my eyes on You, to always bring You honor and glorify Your name.  Thank You for Your protection, goodness and love.  Without You I cannot endure the trials, but with You, I can survive and defeat the enemy.  Thank You for Your Word Lord, that You are revealing new truths to me everyday, and fortifying my armor for You.  I ask that You would continue to nourish my soul with Your Word, and fill me with a desire to know Your wisdom so that I may lead others to You.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen

Tomorrow we will read Numbers 27 – Deuteronomy 3.  It will be Day 12 of our journey.  He’s only asking us for 90 days, not 40 years!  Let’s not let Him down, and make His Word a priority. 

LEVITICUS 2 – 14

We left off with the burnt offering (gift that was brought near to God in order to enjoy his fellowship and blessing) which was the first offering of 5.  The entire offering was to be burned up, or sent up to God, as an act of worship, and to bring forgiveness.   Chapter 2 begins with the grain offering.  The grain was to be offered as an act of worship also.  It symbolized God’s dedication to the fruit of a person’s labor.  All work should be done for the Lord, and He should receive our thanks for the food that we have.  The specifications were for absolutely no yeast or honey in the offering or at the altar.  Yeast and honey were used in fermentation, and that involves change or decomposition, which often symbolized evil. 

Chapter 3-The fellowship offering is to be made before the Lord with an animal without defect.  It is to be brought in order to give thanks to God, or to fellowship with Him.  Here also is where the lasting ordinance was made to not eat any fat or any blood, because they are vital to live, and life belongs to God.  This was sometimes called the Peace offering too. 

Chapter 4-The sin offering was a requirement for those that sinned in weakness or unintentionally.  Those that sinned on purpose were to be put to death, unless full restitution could be made.  The person must confess their sin, and ask forgiveness.  The blood that is shed in the sin offering should remind us of the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross.   I said the other day how thankful I am that we no longer have to do animal sacrifices, but just let me say it again.  If I have to do this every time I sin in weakness or unintentionally, we might have run out of animals for food.  Do you feel like that?  Sometimes, no matter how hard I think I’m trying, satan is just pulling me down.  I forget to give it to God, and I try to handle everything.  Well, He doesn’t want me to do that, He wants to hear from me when I’m angry or hurting, so He can comfort me, and bless me with whatever I need at that moment.  If I would do that, then I wouldn’t have those moments of weakness so much.  But Oh My Goodness, Thank You Jesus for atoning my sins.  You didn’t have to, You did it willingly, for me, a sinner.  Please forgive me, and guide me with your wisdom.  Help me to give you the honor and glory that You so richly deserve.  I praise You, and I ask that you bring many blessings on all the people who are doing this 90 day journey through Your Word with me.  I ask that hearts and lives will be touched forever, through the reading of Your Word Lord!  In Jesus Name, Amen

 Chapter 5- The guilt offering.  This offering could be made when you intentionally committed a sin, but restitution could be made, or when someone disregarded property rights of another person.  The person was guilty even if he didn’t know he had sinned. 

The fellowship offering could be made with yeast because it did not have to be presented at the altar.  In chapter 8, Aaron and his sons were ordinated into priests, to serve as a mediator between God and the people.  This was a 7 day process. 

Chapter 10 shows what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they rebelled against laws.  As priests, they offered unauthorized fire, and God struck them down.  Verse 2- “So fire came out from the presence of te Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

Chapter 11 talks about clean and unclean food.  Without going into detail, because I’m sure you’ve read it, I’ll just share my daughters thoughts.  As we were reading, I said Good News!  God says we could have any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper to eat.  She found no humor in that! 

Chapter 12 discusses childbirth and purification of the woman after.  The “discharges” associated with childbirth had to be treated as unclean, and we have to go back to Adam and Eve for that explanation.  I’m not sure why the length of time is so different for the uncleanliness between a son and a daughter, so if anyone knows, please share that with me.  I can only hypothesize that’s because the son would have more status in society, not exactly what I want to say, but I can’t think right now. 

We close out today with discussion of regulations regarding infectious diseases.  rather descriptive for the priest to know if isolation was needed, or what to do with the person. 

I remember getting to Leviticus many times before in my yearly reading plan, and giving up.  I’m not doing that now.  This time I’m gonna go on until I finish the entire BOOK.  I’m already seeing God’s touch in my life, and I hope you are too.  See you tomorrow! 

EXODUS 29 – LEVITICUS 1

I have to start out by being honest with you.  Today I just did the readings, and didn’t take notes like the previous days.  I’m trying to get back into the school routine, so I got up 30 minutes before I had to wake up my daughter to read.  By the time I sat down with my cereal, (must eat breakfast within 30 minutes of getting up to rev metabolism up) I had around 20 minutes.  You might be thrilled with the prospect of no notes.  I will need to study more later.  So, here’s what I took away from this morning. 

Moses and the Lord had many discussions over a 40 day period where Moses was on Mount Sinai.  Moses sort of challenges God by saying “go with us, why should these people believe me, follow me, if you don’t show you’re pleased with me.”  Moses goes on to say” Show me Your Glory.”  Whoa… maybe if I could sing like MercyMe, but I can’t imagine saying that otherwise!  But God says Yes!  I will show you my glory, but if you see my face you will die.  This reminds me that I forgot something, had to look it up and it’s before this, so I’m going back to chapter 32.  The Israelites cast an idol because they grew tired of waiting for Moses to come down.  God was angry and wanted to be left alone in His anger so that it would “burn against them and destroy them.”  But Moses questioned the Lord as to why He would want to harm them, whom their descendents He had promised the land.  Moses got guts!!!  I take Fear the Lord more literally than Moses did. 

The rest of Exodus pretty much goes into the descriptions and details of the Tabernacle and offerings.  Let me just say here that I am so glad we don’t have to do animal sacrifices anymore.  Thank You God! 

EXODUS 3 – 15

We start with Moses, seeing the burning bush as he’s tending flock.  God called to Moses from the bush and said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”  He tells Moses to go to Pharoah and request that his people be freed from slavery, so they can go to the land of milk and honey.  Moses wasn’t sure of himself, so God told him to use Aaron as well, and to perform 3 signs.  (Turn his staff to a snake, turn his hand leprous and back again, and turn the water in the Nile to blood)

Pharoah would not let the Israelites go, and even made the work of the men more difficult by having them go gather their own straw to make bricks.  The Israelites became angered at Moses and Aaron for bringing this upon them.  Pharoah didn’t believe the signs were of God because his sorcerers could perform them too.  So God sent ten plagues upon the land of Egypt.  1.  All the water turned to blood  2.  Frogs covered the land  3.  the dust became Gnats  4.  Flies were everywhere but Goshen, covering people and land  5.  All of Pharoah’s livestock died, but not the Israelites  6.  Boils covered the men and animals  7.  Egypt experienced the worst hailstorm ever, that killed all livestock and people out in it  8.  Locusts covered everything, and killed the plants and trees of the earth left unharmed by the hail  9.  Darkness for 3 days except for the Israelites  10.  Every Firstborn son of Egypt will die. 

Passover instructions were given out and followed, and the Exodus began.  Moses took Joseph’s bones, so he could bury him in his homeland.  God led them with a pillar of cloud during the day, and a pillar of fire at night.  When Pharoah changed his mind and went after the Israelites with his army, the pillar moved from in front, to the back and in between the Egyptians.  When they came to the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his staff and the waters parted.  The Israelites walked across on dry land, with water to their left and right.  When the Egyptians tried to cross, the waters swept over them and killed them.  Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea into the desert, where they traveled for 3 days without finding good water.  Moses cried out to God, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood.  Moses picked up the wood and threw it into the water and it turned sweet.  Our God is a God who heals.  He took no pleasure in the diseases on the Egyptians, and he promises not to afflict us with them if we just listen and obey.  How hard that is to do sometimes, when we’re unsure which fork in the road to take. 

I counted three times, I think, where “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” in chapter 3 alone.  When Moses asks who shall I tell them has sent me, God answers in verse 14 of chapter 3.  “I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM” has sent me to you.”  Yahweh is derived from this, and it indicates action.  God is present and active in our lives, just as He was for Israel. 

GENESIS 40 – EXODUS 2

I have to cut this one short, as hubby isn’t happy I’m on the computer. 

Joseph was let out of prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, which turned out to be 7 great years of harvest, followed by 7 years of famine.  Pharaoh gave high regard to Joseph, and made him governor of Egypt.  Joseph was in charge of storing all the excess grain up for the famine years. 

Jacob heard about the grain in Egypt, and sent his sons to get some for the family.  Benjamin, Joseph’s true brother from his mom, stayed at home.  The brothers bowed to Joseph, and did not recognize their brother that they had sold into slavery.  Joseph recognized them, and questioned them, saying they were spies.  He requested they bring back the other brother, but Jacob would not allow it.  When they ran out of food again, Judah promised his father that they could go get food only if Benjamin was with them, and that would also release Simeon from prison.  He told him that Benjamin would return home to his father, or he would take the blame.  After some turbulent times, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and sent them to bring back his father and the rest of the family to live in Goshen, where he could easily provide for them.  Jacob lived in egypt for 17 years before he died.  When Jacob knew his time was short, he asked Joseph to bury him in his family burial place, and not in Egypt.  Jacob hadn’t seen God’s promise yet, but he had faith that it would come, and that God would lead the people back to Canaan.  Joseph took his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see his father.  Jacob blessed the boys, whom he considered like his own, and he put Ephraim before Manasseh.  Manasseh was the firstborn, but Jacob said that the younger brother would be greater than Manasseh.  It strikes me now that I’ve seen that before.  Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, Joseph instead of reuben, and Ephraim instead of Manasseh.  And think of little David.  His brothers were in an army that was scared of Goliath, but God chose David to defeat him.  God has a plan, and it’s not always going to make sense to us.  We just need to listen and follow. 

Soon after, Jacob dies.  Joseph wept, and threw himself over Jacob and kissed him.  Jacob was embalmed, which took 40 days, and then the Egyptians mourned him for 70 days.  On the way to the burial site, Joseph observed another 7 day time of mourning.  I guess what has me in awe here is the difference in the times today.  My hubby’s grandpa passed away in June, and there was a viewing one evening, and the funeral service the next day.  I’ve been to my share of these things, and they’re NEVER easy.  The close family greeting everyone, standing by the casket of their loved one, rehashing over and over about the last days.  The more of them that I’ve been to, the more people I’ve heard say ” I don’t want you to do that, just have a quick funeral and be done with it.”  The end of the funeral does not signal the end of the mourning, but as hard as it may be, I took some comfort in seeing Grandpa in his earthy body two more times.  He was at peace because he’s no longer suffering.  Sorry… I’m rambling and forgot the point I was trying to make…  I guess just that Joseph had around 4 months of mourning, and that was a deep time.  We often think because we’re Christians that we shouldn’t be sad or cry when we lose another Christian, because we know where they’re going. But the bible tells us it’s OK to cry and mourn, and be sad.  Don’t try to rush it. 

In Exodus, the new king felt there were too many Israelites, so he oppressed them with forced labor.  When they continued to multiply, he told the midwives to kill all the baby boys, but to let the girls live.  The midwives couldn’t do this, and God blessed them.  Moses was born in that period, and when he was 3 months old,  his mother was unable to hide him anymore.  She placed him in a basket beside the Nile, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him.  Moses sister was watching, and asked if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse him, and then she took Moses to his mother.  When he grew older, his mother took him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who raised him as her son.  When Moses was grown, he saw Hebrew being beaten by an egyptian, and Moses killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  He then fled to Midian where he lived with a priest and married his daughter. 

So much for making that short!  God’s protection and promises are faithful, we must remember that.  I’ll see you tomorrow when we discuss Exodus 3-15. 

I have created a separate page with the 90 day reading schedule.  Just click on the link at the top right which says “read the bible in 90 days”, and it will take you there.  That saves you from having to scroll down to find it.  Hope that helps.