The Heart of Your Heavenly Father

Today’s passage is Leviticus 26:27-46. 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 26:27-39 (NIV)
²⁷  “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,
²⁸  then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.
²⁹  You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.
³⁰  I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.
³¹  I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.
³²  I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.
³³  I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.
³⁴  Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
³⁵  All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
³⁶  “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.
³⁷  They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.
³⁸  You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.
³⁹  Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers’ sins they will waste away.

On verses 27-39:  Leviticus 26:14-39 describes at length all the punishments and curses that God would bring upon the Israelites if they persistently disobeyed Him and refused to turn from their ways.  The picture of God here is not a pleasant one, but let it be a reminder that because God is holy, God possesses an unrelenting wrath towards sin.  In our day, one may be tempted to read verses 27-39 and wonder, “Where is the compassion of God?”  We will see it in verses 40-46 below.

Keep in mind that the biggest reason why God speaks in these terms is because God, like a loving parent, is trying to do everything He can, short of taking away the Israelites’ freedom to choose, to warn the Israelites not to sin, knowing how miserable His children the Israelites will be if they live in persistent rebellion against God.

What can we learn from this?

1.     God is a loving parent.  He will do everything He can, short of taking away our freedom to choose, to warn us and to keep us from sinning.

2.     Remember that God is both loving and holy.  He is full of grace and truth.  In fact God would not be a loving God if He turned a blind eye to injustice and evil.  His love and His holiness are not at odds with one another but go hand in hand.  

At the cross we see the perfect combination of God’s holiness and God’s love: in His holiness God poured out His unrelenting wrath against sin by placing it on His Son Jesus Christ, and yet in His love God spared us who were the deserving recipients of such wrath.  God is perfectly holy and He is also perfect love.  Let’s worship Him as such.

Leviticus 26:40-46 (NIV)
⁴⁰  “‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers–their treachery against me and their hostility toward me,
⁴¹  which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies–then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,
⁴²  I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
⁴³  For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.
⁴⁴  Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.
⁴⁵  But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.'”
⁴⁶  These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

On verses 40-46:  After giving the Israelites stern warnings to not keep disobeying God, after clearly announcing what consequences will follow if they persist in sin (v27-39), here God reveals His compassionate heart. God promises that if they turn back to Him, He will remember the promises He made to Abraham and, after allowing His people to learn from their mistakes, will receive them once again.

What can we learn from this?  When we go through hardships that come as a result of our sin, don’t think that it’s because God delights in punishing and destroying.  Much the opposite, God allows us to go through such hardships so that we can learn humility, be refined in our character, and come back to Him.  

God’s heart is to see His children restored back to Him.  That is why God is willing to forgive us and receive us once again, even when we sin against Him.

Heavenly Father, may I never forget that You are so holy, and that in Your presence nothing with sin can survive.  Thank You also for being so incredibly loving.  Like a loving parent, You do everything You can, short of taking away my freedom to choose, to warn me and keep me from sinning against You, because You know how miserable sinning is.  Thank You for loving me the way You do and for always being willing to take me back in no matter how much I’ve sinned against You.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!