Leviticus 18:19-30 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Leviticus 18:19-30. With a humble heart, see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. 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.
24 “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.
25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things,
27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.
28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
29 “‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things–such persons must be cut off from their people.
30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.'”
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.
Just as verse 5 says (“Keep my decrees and laws, for the one who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD”), God gave His decrees and laws not to take away our lives, but to give us life when we obey them.
Father, please forgive me for times when I live with an attitude of entitlement, thinking that the world owes me, and thinking that it’s my life and I can do whatever I want with it. Please forgive me for forgetting that this life You’ve given me ultimately belongs to You, and that true peace and life are found with You, not apart from You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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