My reading through the Bible in a year has me through Leviticus, which is definitely a book that is a struggle! (Though I imagine Numbers will also be a challenge!)
Even reading it in The Message Remix by Eugene Peterson, it has been a challenge some days to show up and read all the specific rules and regulations God set out for His people.
But even in the midst of unfamiliar customs and rules, I found I was able to learn something anyway, because God is so good that He is able to plant seeds even when we struggle to understand. Here’s something I learned:
- Yes, God repeats Himself over and over in His commandments, but we actually need that.
It can be frustrating to be told the same things over and over, whether word-for-word or in a variation, but since I’m reading Leviticus right after Exodus, it occurred to me that the Israelites probably needed to hear things stated and repeated for extra reinforcement. They were coming out of a long time of living in Egypt, with customs that would have been familiar, even if they were against who God was.
All of these rules and regulations God was laying out for them were intended to make them set apart from the world around them and show that they were His chosen people. They were leaving one way of life behind, and heading to a land where they would face endless temptations to take on the customs of the people there. God didn’t want that for His people. This time of isolation in the desert was actually intended for their good, to strip away what they didn’t need to bring out of Egypt (mindsets, beliefs, customs they adopted) and set them apart as His people.
We often look at the desert as a punishment, when really it should be reviewed as a place of refinement, a time of being set apart.
In short, nothing is wasted.
The refinement process never ends, since our end goal is to become like Jesus. And perfection isn’t attainable on this earth, so our whole lives are a constant process of working toward this goal. And God uses desert seasons of our lives–those dry, dull, struggling seasons where we can feel hopeless–to isolate us from distractions and bad influences so that He can work in our lives to further sanctify us.
Israel needed that in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And we need it today.
When God starts repeating Himself in your life, it isn’t a punishment. It’s an invitation to pay attention and see what He wants to teach us in this season. When you feel isolated in a desert, it’s actually a setting apart.
I hope you’ll lean in and see what’s in store for you.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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