Leviticus 7 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Don’t Give In - November 24, 2021

In the story of Esther, the law to kill the Jews was irrevocable. The king could not reverse the law, so he wrote a second one to amend the first one. Esther 8:11 says “…the king granted the Jews who were in each city the right to assemble and to defend their lives.” On the very day the Jews were destined to die, they killed seventy-five thousand men in the king’s provinces. The terror was defanged, and Mordecai became the new prime minister of Persia.

Perhaps the struggles of life have pilfered the life out of your life, and you don’t know where to turn. If that is you, I urge you—with every ounce of energy I can muster, I urge you—don’t give in to despair. You just can’t give up. There is too much at stake.

Leviticus 7

 “These are the instructions for the Compensation-Offering. It is most holy. Slaughter the Compensation-Offering in the same place that the Whole-Burnt-Offering is slaughtered. Splash its blood against all sides of the Altar. Offer up all the fat: the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat encasing them at the loins, and the lobe of the liver that is removed with the kidneys. The priest burns them on the Altar as a gift to God. It is a Compensation-Offering. Any male from among the priests’ families may eat it. But it must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.

7-10 “The Compensation-Offering is the same as the Absolution-Offering—the same rules apply to both. The offering belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it. The priest who presents a Whole-Burnt-Offering for someone gets the hide for himself. Every Grain-Offering baked in an oven or prepared in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it. It’s his. Every Grain-Offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.

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11-15 “These are the instructions for the Peace-Offering which is presented to God. If you bring it to offer thanksgiving, then along with the Thanksgiving-Offering present unraised loaves of bread mixed with oil, unraised wafers spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour, well-kneaded and mixed with oil. Along with the Peace-Offering of thanksgiving, present loaves of yeast bread as an offering. Bring one of each kind as an offering, a Contribution-Offering to God; it goes to the priest who throws the blood of the Peace-Offering. Eat the meat from the Peace-Offering of thanksgiving the same day it is offered. Don’t leave any of it overnight.

16-21 “If the offering is a Votive-Offering or a Freewill-Offering, it may be eaten the same day it is sacrificed and whatever is left over on the next day may also be eaten. But any meat from the sacrifice that is left to the third day must be burned up. If any of the meat from the Peace-Offering is eaten on the third day, the person who has brought it will not be accepted. It won’t benefit him a bit—it has become defiled meat. And whoever eats it must take responsibility for his iniquity. Don’t eat meat that has touched anything ritually unclean; burn it up. Any other meat can be eaten by those who are ritually clean. But if you’re not ritually clean and eat meat from the Peace-Offering for God, you will be excluded from the congregation. And if you touch anything ritually unclean, whether human or animal uncleanness or an obscene object, and go ahead and eat from a Peace-Offering for God, you’ll be excluded from the congregation.”

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22-27 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, Don’t eat any fat of cattle or sheep or goats. The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals can be put to some other purpose, but you may not eat it. If you eat fat from an animal from which a gift has been presented to God, you’ll be excluded from the congregation. And don’t eat blood, whether of birds or animals, no matter where you end up living. If you eat blood you’ll be excluded from the congregation.”

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28-34 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you present a Peace-Offering to God, bring some of your Peace-Offering as a special sacrifice to God, a gift to God in your own hands. Bring the fat with the breast and then wave the breast before God as a Wave-Offering. The priest will burn the fat on the Altar; Aaron and his sons get the breast. Give the right thigh from your Peace-Offerings as a Contribution-Offering to the priest. Give a portion of the right thigh to the son of Aaron who offers the blood and fat of the Peace-Offering as his portion. From the Peace-Offerings of Israel, I’m giving the breast of the Wave-Offering and the thigh of the Contribution-Offering to Aaron the priest and his sons. This is their fixed compensation from the People of Israel.”

35-36 From the day they are presented to serve as priests to God, Aaron and his sons can expect to receive these allotments from the gifts of God. This is what God commanded the People of Israel to give the priests from the day of their anointing. This is the fixed rule down through the generations.

37-38 These are the instructions for the Whole-Burnt-Offering, the Grain-Offering, the Absolution-Offering, the Compensation-Offering, the Ordination-Offering, and the Peace-Offering which God gave Moses at Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the People of Israel to present their offerings to God in the wilderness of Sinai.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 62
(NIV)

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

1 Truly my soul finds restr in God;s

my salvation comes from him.

2 Truly he is my rockt and my salvation;u

he is my fortress,v I will never be shaken.w

3 How long will you assault me?

Would all of you throw me down—

this leaning wall,x this tottering fence?

4 Surely they intend to topple me

from my lofty place;

they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless,

but in their hearts they curse.b y

5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;z

my hope comes from him.

6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my honor depend on Godc;

he is my mighty rock, my refuge.a

8 Trust in him at all times, you people;b

pour out your hearts to him,c

for God is our refuge.

9 Surely the lowbornd are but a breath,e

the highborn are but a lie.

If weighed on a balance,f they are nothing;

together they are only a breath.

10 Do not trust in extortiong

or put vain hope in stolen goods;h

though your riches increase,

do not set your heart on them.i

11 One thing God has spoken,

two things I have heard:

“Power belongs to you, God,j

12    and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;k

and, “You reward everyone

according to what they have done.”

Insight

The phrase “my salvation” appears four times in Psalm 62 (vv. 1, 2, 6, 7). Two related words in these verses are translated “salvation.” All find their root in the Hebrew verb yaw-shah', which means “to save, to be saved, to be delivered.” David saw God as his true source of safety. In Psalm 27:1 he wrote, “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?” The Old Testament compound name Joshua (“the Lord is salvation”) includes this root. Jesus, whose name is explained in Matthew 1:21, is the New Testament rendering of Joshua. By: Arthur Jackson

The Will of God

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5

God’s will is sometimes hard to follow. He asks us to do the right things. He calls us to endure hardship without complaining; to love awkward people; to heed the voice inside us that says, You mustn’t; to take steps we’d rather not take. So, we must tell our souls all day long: “Hey soul, listen up. Be silent: Do what Jesus is asking you to do.”

“My soul waits in silence for God alone” (Psalm 62:1 nasb). “My soul, wait in silence for God alone” (62:5 nasb). The verses are similar, but different. David says something about his soul; then says something to his soul. “Waits in silence” addresses a decision, a settled state of mind. “Wait in silence” is David stirring his soul to remember that decision.

David determines to live in silence—quiet submission to God’s will. This is our calling as well, the thing for which we were created. We’ll be at peace when we’ve agreed: “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This is our first and highest calling when we make Him Lord and the source of our deepest pleasure. “I desire to do your will,” the psalmist said (Psalm 40:8).

We must always ask for God’s help, of course, for our “hope comes from him” (62:5). When we ask for His help, He delivers it. God never asks us to do anything He won’t or can’t do. By:  David H. Roper


Reflect & Pray

When have you thought God’s will for you was difficult? How can you live in quiet submission?

I may not always understand Your will, Father, but I ask for help to submit to it. Teach me to trust Your good and faithful character. Please give me a submissive heart.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Direction of Focus

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2

This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (see Isaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.

For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L

Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 24, 2021

    A Thanksgiving Kind of Hero - #9098

A Thanksgiving Kind of Hero - #9098

There almost was no first Thanksgiving. There were almost no Pilgrims. Those Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock got hit very hard their first winter. Many of them died, and many more could have died from starvation if it hadn't been for one man - an Indian brave called Squanto. As a young man, he'd been kidnapped and carried off to England to be a servant. While Squanto was there, he learned English and he learned about Christ. Because of the kindness of some of the people he met, he eventually made it back across the Atlantic to his people; except his people weren't there anymore.

While he was gone, there'd been an epidemic that wiped out his entire village. Squanto was the only one left. This is a man who knew a lot of tragedy and a lot of hurt, but still he reached out to those early Plymouth settlers, struggling to survive. He taught them what his people knew about how to grow crops in that environment. He helped to build bridges between them and the Native Americans who surrounded them. He understood their language, he understood their faith, and he saved their lives.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Thanksgiving Kind of Hero."

If you belong to Jesus Christ, Squanto is more than just an interesting character in the story of the First Thanksgiving. He's a picture of your life, your destiny assignment from God. Because Squanto was Native American, he knew how to live in the new land of the pilgrims. Because he'd been wrongfully hijacked to another country, he understood the people who were struggling to survive in his land. Everything in his life seemed to prepare him for a vital mission - to help save the lives of people who otherwise would have died.

That's you - divinely positioned by God to help some people in your personal world meet His Son, Jesus; their only hope of having any meaning in this life; their only hope of heaven when this life is over. And you're divinely prepared by God. The experiences, the interests, the personality, even the pain - they're all gifts He's given to you to connect with people who will listen to someone like you.

2 Kings 7:9, our word for today from the Word of God, another picture of the life-or-death mission that God has entrusted to all of us. It's the story of four lepers who eked out a life outside the walls of their city; they weren't allowed in the city because of their leprosy. But when an enemy army besieged their city, nearly starving them into surrender, well there was no food to keep the lepers alive. Each morning, they could hear the anguished cries of a mother in the city whose child had starved to death during the night. In desperation, they just decided to walk into the enemy camp and try to surrender. And to their amazement, they found the enemy camp deserted. God had miraculously frightened that army into retreat. So the lepers went from tent to tent, gorging themselves with food.

Finally, they woke up to the mission they had - because of what they had found. The Bible says, "They said to each other, 'We are not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves...Let's go at once and report this...'" They did, and they saved many lives.

You have Jesus. You have the good news that lives around you depend on. Are you keeping it to yourself? Whatever you're afraid of, whatever is keeping you from telling the people you know about your Jesus, can it possibly be as bad as letting them live and die without knowing their only hope? God has divinely prepared you to be the kind of person they'll listen to. Your biography? That's your credentials, and God has divinely positioned you to help the people you know be in heaven with you. Freely you have received, freely give. Tell them your Hope Story so they can have one too.

Talk about "Thanksgiving" - just imagine a day in heaven when you meet the people that you've told about Jesus. They'll be giving thanks to Jesus forever for what He did for them on the cross, and to you for telling them about Him.