Leviticus 10

10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. So yesterday Moses and Aaron came out and blessed the people and fire came out of the presence of the LORD. Doing some other readings this morning someone pointed out that perhaps Nadab and Abihu got a little gung ho and possibly misguided in desire for attention. After seeing what Moses and Aaron had done, maybe they wanted a piece of the action themselves and sought to seek some attention for themselves in front of the people. I didn't get this on my own, but it does make sense and shows the potential danger of wanting to be recognized by our peers and take a little of God's glory for ourselves which is a dangerous proposition, as Nadab and Abihu found. For all the blessings God has given me I should remain humble and recognize they are not of my own doing but gifts from him--and I should let others know that too. have a great weekend! knut

Leviticus 9

v24 Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. I don't have a specific take from this but this verse just caught my attention. Just as it caught the attention of all the people, I imagine a raging fire came out of the LORD to consume all the burnt offering and fat not just a little flame. It must have been quite a sight and the people immediately new this was not a little fire they had created, this was God himself showing his presence. It only happened for them after Aaron had followed all of God's instructions exactly as commanded, maybe this is the lesson for today? knut

Leviticus 8

This chapter reads a little bit like an Indiana Jones movie, doesn't it?  Only this seems like the ritual that would be performed by the bad guy in the movie......slaughtering the animals, blood everywhere.  Smearing a little bit on the heads of some of the people.  Its interesting to me that if you played out this scenario in a movie, I would automatically think its something occult-ish, or something evil.......

I'm again fascinated by the intricate detail of God's intruction to the order of events.  God definitely has specific ideas about how he would like us to do everything.  I need to be more aware of that.  I tend to see myself as a pon in his chess game against evil.  But, I don't see my every move as being counted.  I see more of an overall picture of action.  It seems to me that perspective my be flawed.

tp

Leviticus 7

37 These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, 38 which the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord. I was struggling to pull out anything meaningful to comment on today. But I do continue to be amazed at how God weaves everything together trhougout the Old to New Testamament. My friend Tom VanderWell had a good post on this chapter see the link-- Knut http://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/chapter-a-day-leviticus-7/

Leviticus 6

I don't know what to say about all of these rules around offerings except thank goodness for Grace. knut

leviticus 5

The guilt offering says they needed to pay for sins they didn't even know they committed.  So yesterday I said I need to pray for specific sins today I will say but I should also ask for forgiveness for those I don't even realize I've done.  Gotta cover all bases I guess

Leviticus 4

22 “‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt 23 and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect.


More explicit instructions repeated several times.  From this one I take the importance of coming before God asking him to forgive my sins.  In the OT this was quite a ceremony and must have taken some time to complete, which makes me think I should pray more than simply please forgive my sins.  I should call out very specifically what I know I have done wrong and I should ask for his forgiveness very intentionally and specifically not just a gloss over blanket exemption.

thats it from me, have a great weekend!
knut

Leviticus 3

Fellowship offering, more repetitive instructions similar to the first two chapters.  I do not know what to take from these chapters except give the repetitive nature he must have wanted the reader to remember these explicit steps, it had to be important to God that they followed these rules.

Leviticus 2

I'm really not sure what to say but words strike me like 'the finest flour', 'a memorial portion', repeated 'aroma pleasing', 'salt'.

i know he has purpose in all these words and yet I can't draw any comment.  help?

Leviticus 1

3 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect.You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord.

In reading this chapter's description or instruction of burnt offerings I clearly see the foreshadowing of Jesus coming to take the place of this ritual.

a male without defect, burnt having to go through Hell for us and having been presented to God at the entrance of heaven on our behalf.

You have said this many times before but the bible is so perfectly woven together, it is fun to read and explore the connections.  In another study I'm doing we talked about the significance of going east, which I noted here too with the carcass of the bird being tossed that direction.  I would not have noticed this had not had it called out to me in the other study.  Going east is always in connection with going away from God or toward wickedness.


no real take today, but I enjoy developing my understanding and seeing more connections throughout the bible.

thought we could continue in the OT a bit given we have a lot more ground to cover here.
knut

Matthew 28

 ¹² When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³ telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

We have the PERFECT human being in our presence.  It is obvious to all that come in contact with him, that he is different.  He is full of love.  He helps everyone around him.  He spends as much of his time with the sinners as the saints.  He doesn't discriminate.  He is unbelievable........
And yet, he is basically sold twice within 1 week.  How sad must we look from God's perspective?
Its hard to believe he is still in our corner, pulling for us.  I would have given up eons ago.

tp 

Matthew 27

14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.


When your integrity is perfect there really is no need to defend yourself.  Interesting how the governor was impressed, there is something about a quiet confidence that is impressive.  something to remember, if you have to tell someone how good you are...are you really that good?

have a great weekend
knut

Matthew 26

75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:“Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.


Boy this had to be a sinking feeling.  It seems ridiculous to think Peter disowned him three times, seriously how could he possibly doubt him after all he saw Jesus do and all the studying he had undoubtedly done.  So if Peter was at risk that tells me I am at risk and better work extra hard to ensure his instruction is not just in my head but truly in my heart.

our daily study has become very important to me, sure some days I probably rush through or get distracted by the early thoughts of the busy day ahead but most of the time i really value this most quiet time of my day in his word truly trying my best to learn more about what he has for me.

have a great day!
knut

Matthew 25

In verses 14-30, it talks about investment.  Wise investment vs foolish investment.  I know this isn't a literal story about the investment of money.  But, it brought to mind something I've been working really hard to do lately.  There are about a thousand money decisions that need to be made, in a week, in the life an adult american.  I always try to make sure I'm not doing something willy-nilly with our money.  I know.....kudos, right?  But, lately I've been really focussed on asking God for his advice on money and its usage.  I'm talking about everything from spending on a new fence to putting a little extra in the offering plate for the "year end gift". 
This might not sound like a new idea.  But, for me I've been looking at it differenty.  I'm not trying to think about how I think God would want me to use our money......I'm actually waiting for an answer.  Its been a fun experiment.  Sometimes God has told me to over-extend myself, and to trust him.  And you know what, its worked out everytime.  Its weird how that works, isn't it?  Other times, it becomes apparent the reason I want something has nothing to do with the furthering of his kingdom.

To me, asking a question and not really listening for answer is vastly different than asking a question and expecting a response. 
Its been a good lesson in my prayer life.

tp

Matthew 24

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.


This one struck home a little because I'm sure for the most part I do a good job of keeping a decently polished and clean outward image for others to see.  But in my heart do I do his greatest commandments of loving him and loving others?  

Well I am honestly trying, but I have a long ways to go on both counts.  We talked yesterday at church about truly having his word in your heart, not memorization but being so into it that you are always chewing on it and applying it to life.  I am loving others I do selectively, I have my relatively small group of people I show love to and others I don't know so well I shoot up a brief prayer for if they are on the prayer list but do I skip doing something for me to go help them...honestly not often.  

So I am excited to keep being focused on cleaning up my inside and as I do this more and more it should show on my outside without any extra effort.

knut