Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Leviticus 18:19-30. Let’s go!
Leviticus 18:19-30 (NIV)
19 “‘Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
20 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
21 “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
22 “‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
23 “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion…….
On verses 19-30: Here we learn one of the reasons why God was ousting out the nations that occupied Canaan and bringing the Israelites to occupy Canaan in their place, which is that these other nations had, in God’s eyes, become defiled by their idol worship (which included sacrificing their children to the god Molech) (v21) and sexual practices which displeased God (v19-20, 22-23). Rather than seeing themselves as subject to God’s commands, these other nations carried on life with an attitude of entitlement, thinking, “It’s my life and my body and I can do whatever I want with it.” In carrying on these practices, verses 24b and 27 say that these other nations defiled themselves, defiled the land that they lived in, and thus were cut off and vomited out of the land. The Israelites are told not to make the same mistakes as these other nations as they get ready to occupy that same land.
What can we learn from this? When we live with an attitude of entitlement, thinking, “It’s my life and my body and I can do whatever I want with it”, we make ourselves the centre of our own universe and push God to the wayside. We think that living this way is the key to our happiness, when in fact living with an attitude of entitlement eventually brings us misery, causing us eventually to be cut off from God’s presence and God’s blessings.
