The other day my precious, Jesus-loving friend sent a group-text to me and several of our momma friends. She wanted to share a verse from her daily Bible reading and hoped it would be an encouragement to all of us. She shared Leviticus 22:24…! (I’ll let you look it up.) 😉 We got a good giggle, not to mention the joking that followed for some time… and then we encouraged one another to press on.
It’s early March and I’m wondering today if you’re sticking with your commitment to read the Bible through this year. I know right now it’s tough because maybe you’re still pounding through Leviticus, or not quite sure if you can count anymore Numbers. Perhaps you’ve chosen a reading plan that has you rolling your eyes or scratching your head at Job’s longwinded friends. I want to encourage you to press on.
In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) Even Leviticus…?!? Even Leviticus.
The time you’re spending in the Scripture right now is profitable. Plodding through passages that seem to be so irrelevant or out of reach, sometimes boring — or embarrassing, the Scripture is training you. Be corrected. Be instructed. See the hand of Almighty God at work…even in the Numbers. Look for the hints of what is to come. See the foreshadowing of the Messiah, of who Jesus will be and what He will do. Watch for those things that God makes provision for within The Law that have connections with your favorite Bible stories and characters. (Hint: Mine is Ruth. See Leviticus 19:9-10.) And all the while, hear the voice of Moses as he sits down to teach the children who grew into adulthood while wandering the wilderness one last time.
Press on. Keep reading. Keep studying. And on occasion, text your friend about “the warp or the woof.” (Leviticus 13) 😉
Priceless 