Leviticus 20:22-22:16 ~ Mark 9:1-29 ~ Psalm 43:1-5 ~ Proverbs 10:18
Today is the 27th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you next to this flowing stream that reminds us that we have stepped away, we have stepped out of the chaos and have come to a place of serenity where we can focus, where we can be together and allow God’s word to wash over us, washing away all of the things that have been going on and reorienting our hearts to God. So we will zoom back out into the wilderness with the children of Israel, reading from the Names of God Bible this week, Leviticus chapter 20, verse 22 through 22, verse 16.
Commentary
So in the book of Leviticus we’re being given the law and it is touching every part of life. All of the ethical choices that this culture that God is forming that need to be made, they are being put down. And yeah, we’ve been camped out in the wilderness a long time with these guys, but let’s remember how we got here. You remember that guy a long time ago, like a month ago? Abraham? Remember him? It all started there. And then his son Isaac and then Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau and the stealing of the birthright and the stealing of the blessing and Jacob on the run. And God becoming his God. And his trickery following him up to his uncle Laban and him marrying the wrong girl and then getting the right one. All of that story, all is a thread of a promise of a people yet to come.
And then Jacob has 12 sons and gets a name change to Israel and those 12 sons are the children of Israel. Then we go by way of Joseph into Egypt where these people flourish for centuries but are enslaved. And then we follow them dramatically out of Egypt. Their emancipation was epic.
So now we’re out in the wilderness where God has uninterrupted time with these people, no distractions of any sort. They have got to depend on him for their very sustenance and he is giving them a new identity. So yeah, we can read through these laws and go, ‘Oh my gosh, these are some really rigid things,’ but then in the gospels we’re always watching Jesus much later reinterpreting, revealing what this was always supposed to look like, what these chosen people were supposed to be like – holy, set apart because God, their Elohim is holy.
And it’s no different for us. We can go, ‘Well, Jesus has given us a lot of freedoms and we don’t have to do all that stuff.’ And Paul unpacks that stuff when we get to the letters of Paul later this year. We’ll see all that, but the fundamental truth remains. There are things that are clean for us and there are things that are unclean for us. There are things that are pure and there are things that are impure. There are things that are true and there are things that are false.
So often what we find ourselves trying to do is massage our theological position so we can do whatever we want, but the bottom line is we’ve been given a conscience and we’ve been given the Holy Spirit. There are some things we can do that are neither good nor bad and there are some things that are bad that we should not do because they will make us unclean. They will make us impure and we know it. So it doesn’t take rocket science to figure this out. But the children of Israel out in the desert, they don’t know how to be anything but slaves. This is revolutionary thought to them.
These parameters, they can look like a fence. They can look like a cage or we can just understand this is the box where life is. There is the narrow path that leads to life. This is how this works. And the spirit of the law then becomes apparent. It is less about trying to observe specific rituals at specific times and more understanding the idea that there are things we shouldn’t do because they are not profitable in any way and they do not set us apart as holy. And we are the holy ones upon the earth. That is what we are supposed to be.
So what if you get up every day and start acknowledging that? “I am a holy one upon this earth and darkness does not have any power or right or authority in my life unless I give it over. I am a holy one upon this earth and I serve Yahweh, my Elohim.” Can you feel the identity in that? The power in that? That is who we are.
So yes, may we go through these laws because they are important. They are very important to the story of the formation of a culture set apart and holy to God. No doubt about it. And although we are not observing the Mosaic Law, there is still pure and impure. So we must ask ourselves, “If I am a holy one upon this earth, is this clean? Am I true? Is this pure?” Because at every turn we have that choice.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, we invite you into those choices because we’re making them constantly. We’re making them without even thinking about them. It’s just a part of our everyday life. It’s not just about the big things. It’s about the little ones. So we invite your Holy Spirit to come into this, and as we move through this day, continue to remind us that we are the holy ones upon this earth and we are actively participating in the redemption of this place by your power and by your authority. So are we able to even do that for ourselves? And, of course, the answer is no, we are not able unless we are in collaboration with you utterly. So come Holy Spirit. We pray that we will be intertwined and inseparable from you and your ways this very day. In Jesus’ name we ask and by his mighty power and authority we pray. Amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com, that is home base. That’s where you find out what is going on around here. That’s where you get things like the Windfarm coffee that I’m sipping on right now. Ahh, it’s so good. So yeah, the coffee is there and you can get a bag or you can get it delivered to you every month, a bag a month or however many bags you want a month and they’ll just be sent to you. New varietals every month giving you just a really beautiful journey around the world, at least the coffee growing regions of the world. And yeah, I mean I dig coffee, as you know, but there is tea there too and I love that as well. Especially at nighttime. My immeasurably creative son, Max, he’s gotten into the tea and it’s not because it’s sophisticated and hipster and all. I have enjoyed some with him, so yeah, it’s awesome as well. Those things can be found at the Daily Audio Bible website, so check it out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. I’m grateful and I’m thankful truly because we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together. And that is just simple fact. So I thank you humbly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner of the main screen. Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.
And that is it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you right here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hey DAB family. This is Rachel from Houston and I know I haven’t called in a while. I really appreciate all of your prayers through my dad’s passing last July and lifting up my sister and everything. I just appreciate you guys so much and I love and listen to you every day and I’m praying for all of you. Today I’m calling because one of my team members, I work in a hospital and she also works at night at a restaurant and she and her son were there together and she was robbed at gunpoint last night and her son jumped in front of the bullet. So her 18-year-old son took the bullet for her and I just want to lift her up in prayer. I just need you guys to cover her. It is hard enough to lose a child, but to lose one that took the bullet for you has to be unbearable. I love you guys and I know you guys will cover her with prayer and cover me in prayer. I will talk to you again soon. Bye.
Hi. My name is Derrick. It’s my first time calling in. I’ve listened on and off for two or three years. I went through a really hard time recently leaving a house church that my wife and I were a part of for about 17 years. It’s been over a year since we left. My wife feels good about it and saw lots of problems with it along the way. I was a leader or an elder in the church, a small house church, and I’m still struggling with what happened and how difficult it was to leave and a lot of the things that were said and done while we were on the way out. I’m confused and I’m really struggling personally with personal sin that was an issue before I was a Christian, sexual sin with myself that I really struggle with. And it wasn’t an issue until we left. I’m really experiencing a lot of confusion, whether or not what I did was right and I just need prayer to overcome this sin and I need prayer just for peace because it has been very difficult and confusing. It’s been a year but there was a lot of time invested.
Hi everybody. This is Elaine from Victoria. I’m calling for Michael struggling with an alcoholic wife and Janine that was brought up in an alcoholic home. I experienced alcohol with my husband and I had to separate myself for safety reasons, so I can really relate to Michael and Janine and I want to give this to you from Isaiah 41 and it is from the In Living Bible. I want to encourage you both. But now the Lord who created you says don’t be afraid (excuse me, I’m so upset about your struggle). Don’t be afraid for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name (and that’s Michael and Janine). You are mine. The Lord says you’re mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you for I am the Lord your God. Your Savior. The Holy One of Israel. So go with this, brother and sister. God is with you through fire. He’s been with me and delivered me out of it and he’ll deliver you too as well. I just want (I hope I have time), just pray for my mom. She needs a helper. She’s almost blind. She needs a helper to get from her room down to Sunday services. I love you all. Take care because God is with you. Amen. Bye-bye for now.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Tamberly and I’m calling for Janine. Hi Janine. I sure hope you’re doing okay. Oh girl, you are on my heart. There are so many of us that have lived or have very close family that have lived through the things that you have gone through. I am so sorry that you were held captive by abuse. My mother was too, held captive by abuse. After her father died in prison, well, it was a lot… Anyway, the road was long, but I just want to give you some hope. I am a survivor of abuse myself, but my mother is really the survivor and my hero. She decided to change, to just kind of… I don’t know how to explain this. I’m trying my best. I’m just tripping over my words. Lord, give me the words. Please give me the words. My mother survived terrible, terrible, terrible abuse. It sounds a lot similar to what you survived. I want to let you know that she has turned into such a powerful woman of God. We have united together to make the next generation so much more healthy and purposely so. And we have turned that abuse around and we are now using that experience or the wisdom that God has given us through that experience to help others, to minister to others in a mighty way. So I just want to encourage you. You know, of course, right now may be not the time. I know you’re healing and you’re so broken. And I pray with all my heart that God restores what the locusts have eaten. Father God, mend her mind and her heart and her soul. Father, put your mighty hand on her and let her know how much you love her. O God.
Yes, this is Mardi Q. This is my second time I’ve called. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about eight years. I am a Christian artist. I paint in the urban neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Bible schools, the local churches, and my models are mostly my students and staff of an afterschool art program that I run with some friends. One of my models that was posing for Jesus in a series of paintings that I’m doing in the next three months has disappeared. The urban neighborhood is very dangerous. His name is Kevin H. He disappeared yesterday at 4 p.m. I’ve spoken to his wife. She said he’s never been gone overnight. He’s been home 10 years from a 12-year prison incarceration and I just ask you to pray that he’s alive, that he can get home, and if something terrible has happened to him, to pray for his wife Dana and his children who already have gone through the 12-year separation when he was in prison for a crime that he did not commit. Anyway, God bless and thank you for your prayers. Bye-bye.
Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL. If you would please join me in prayer. Father, we love you. We come together as a family believing that you are and that you reward those who trust you. Thank you for Jesus Christ who allows us to be able to come to your throne boldly and believe you for a miracle and that gives us direct access, Father, to you. Father, I just want to pray for my brother Reggie, formerly from Iraq, now in Nairobi. Father, I am asking, I am calling upon your name to provide a job for my brother. I pray, Father, that any doors that Satan has closed will be opened, Father, finally and quickly on behalf of my brother so that he can provide for himself and his family, Father. Give him supernatural faith and help him to stand because you are going to do a miracle. Father, I thank you for my brother Drew. I pray that you will lift him up. You know his trials. You know his situations and struggles, but you are his God. You will never leave him or forsake him. Help my brother, Father. Thank you for my sister Amanda. Father, thank you that she is still standing in spite of the betrayal of her husband and being separated from him for so many months. I pray that you will bless my sister, that you will bless her children. Father, that you will restore her marriage if there is repentance in her husband. May you cause repentance to happen. And if not, I pray that you will give my sister the resolution to start all over again. O Jesus, Father, bless this family. Bless my brothers and sisters. Those that are struggling with their faith, lift them up, Father. I lift their arms. I strengthen their knees in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. I love you family. This is Pastor Gene. Bye.