You have to admit that some of the Old Testament laws and regulations are a little weird. Some of them make you wonder what the Israelites were thinking in the first place if God had to tell them that such and such was a no-no. Really – don’t have sex with your father’s wife or your sister or your dog? I guess people, if left to themselves, and the influence of the ruler of this world, will do just about anything. In fact, that’s what the people of Canaan were known for – evil practices, abominations in the eyes of God, done in the name of worship to their pagan gods.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is like no other god. The God of Israel has a different way of doing life, different rules to make life work, different rules of worship so that his people would be like him and would not participate in the abominable practices of the surrounding nations.
I am the Lord your God. 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 statues. You shall follow my rules and my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 18:3-4
I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean…You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. Leviticus 20:24-26
That you should be mine. Listen to the heart of God in that statement.
That you should be mine.
That same God says to you today, “I am the Lord your God. I want you. I want you to be mine. Your acceptance of the sacrifice of my Son makes you holy to me, separated out from the others, mine.”
Oh Lord, I am yours! I belong to you. May I walk in the joyful confidence of knowing that I am wanted by the Most High God.
(a recycled post due to cramps and lack of foresight)
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