“So I will live among you and be your Elohim, and you will be my people.” (Lev. 26:12)
Leviticus is filled with regulations
and laws. It is a book of instructions and regulations. It was
given to Moses on Mount Sinai after setting the people free from
captivity. Commentary notes that it's purpose is to purify the
Israelites, to set them apart and teach them how to live so they
could be in unique relationship with God.
God entered into Covenant with the
people of Israel, claiming them as His own and being their God. In
His role as their God, He called them to live holy lives as He is
holy. In Leviticus 20:1-5 God tells the people not to serve or give
their children as a sacrifice to the god Molech. He goes on to tell
them in Leviticus 20:7-8, “Live holy lives. Be holy because I am
Yahweh your Elohim. Obey my laws, and live by them. I am Yahweh who
sets you apart as holy.”
Over and over again, God calls them out
of their old life to a life of holiness to obey His laws and honor
Him rather than the god's of the world. In Leviticus 20:25 he goes
on to say to the Israelites, “I have separated you from every
unclean thing. Be my holy people because I, Yahweh, am holy. I have
separated you from other people to be my very own.”
God tells the Israelites that if they
carefully obey His commands that they will be blessed and live
securely in their land. Yet if they do not obey the commands, life
will become difficult and they will be disciplined.
However, even in their sin, God
promises never to leave or forsake them. In Leviticus 27:44-45, the
Lord says, “Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will
not reject them or look at them with disgust. I will not reject or
cancel my promise to them, because I am Yahweh their Elohim. But for
their sake, I will remember the promise to their ancestors. I
brought them out of Egypt to be their Elohim while nations looked on.
I am Yahweh.”
Like a good Father, God wanted them to
obey His commands because following them brought life. Proverbs
21:21 says, “The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love
will find life, righteousness, and honor.”
However, the Israelites struggled with
trusting God and coming out of their old life. As soon as the
people left Mount Sinai to follow God into the wilderness they began
to complain. Numbers 11:1a says, “The people began complaining
loud to Yahweh about their troubles.”
And as the people began complaining,
they also began having cravings. They were discontent with what God
had provided them --setting them free and giving them manna to eat.
Numbers 11:4-6 says, “Some foreigners
among the Israelites had a strong craving for other kinds of food.
Even the Israelites started crying again and said, 'if only we had
meat to eat! Remember all the free fish we at in Egypt and the
cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had? But now
we've lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there's nothing but
manna!”
Not only did the people crave meat,
Miriam and Aaron began craving position. They questioned the
position that God have given Moses. In Numbers 12:2 they asked,
“Did Yahweh speak only through Moses? Didn't he also speak through
us?”
Where God was leading the people was
into a land of Promise. He was taking them into a land that was
flowing with milk and honey. However, to enter it, the Israelites
would have to trust Him to take them into the land beyond what they
could obtain or maintain by their own strength and enter in faith
out of obedience.
The people refused to believe and
rebelled. They would not trust God to go into the land. As a
result, God would never leave them or forsake them, but they would
die in the wilderness instead of entering the land. When they
realized this, they mourned, wept bitterly and tried to take the land
out of their own desires and in their own strength and failed.
The people remained
obdurate but God kept dealing with them and working with them. The
sons of Korah craved power. They came together to confront Moses
and Aaron telling them in Numbers 16:3, “You've gone far enough!
Everyone in the whole community is holy, and Yahweh is among them.
Why do you set yourselves above Yahweh's assembly?”
The
people who rebelled were swallowed up. Out of this disaster, as the
Israelites complained and blamed which started a plague among the
people. Moses and Aaron interceded. As a result of the questioning
of Aaron's position, God established Aaron's priesthood as the one
ordained by God through a powerful sign, Aaron's rod budded,
producing flowers and fruit.
Ultimately
where the cravings and lack of trust in God led the people was to
commit idolatry against God. The Moabites used their women to lure
the Israelites by their lust into betraying God. The Israelites
joined the Moabites in offering sacrifices to their Gods and
worshiping the God Baal Peor.
The
Israelites went around continually complaining, craving and looking
to that which might fill them. As they did, it lead them further
and further form God. It also led them outside fulfillment of God's
ideal for them of entering the Promised Land. Ultimately where it
led them was into committing idolatry and betraying the very covenant
they established with God.
Complaining
is a sign that we are struggling with desire for something different
than what God is providing. It is rooted in discontentment that most
likely come from unmet desires / cravings. Paul sets out a warning
in Timothy 6:6-10, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of
it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into
many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and
pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Cravings
have to do with wanting something to fill us. 1 John 2:16-17 says,
“For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature,
the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come,
not from the Father, but from the world. And the world, with its
cravings, is passing away, but he who does God's will continues for
ever.”
One
cannot follow their cravings and also follow God. The god of this
world will lead us towards our cravings, further and further away
from God to ultimate idolatry. Paul says about those who are led by
their cravings in Romans 1:24-25, “Therefore God delivered them
over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that
there bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the
truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created
instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.”
The
righteous who are led by their spirit are to be filled and content
with God so they no longer are led around by cravings. They are
free to love and give. Galatians 5:13-16 says, “For you were
called to be free, brothers; only don't use this freedom as an
opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another though love. For
the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as
yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you
will be consumed by one another.”
It
doesn't mean that we should hide and cover up our cravings by
pretending that we are content when we are not. Rather, when we
find ourselves in a position that we are complaining and craving,
discontent with what God is providing, that we identify it and bring
it before God in repentance, putting it to death.
Galatians
5:16-17 goes on to say, “Let your lives be guided by the Spirit,
and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower
natures. For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to
those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to
those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each
other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.
We are to serve God out of the outflow of all He pours out on us, without other ulterior motives. After warning Timothy about cravings, Paul goes on to charge him in Timothy 6:11, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”
Our desires are not to flow out of cravings but out of the overflow of His love. We put our hands to what our heart prompts out of desire to give rather than a desire to be filled. Proverbs 21:25-26 says, “A slacker's craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work. He is filled with craving all day long, but the righteous give and don't hold back.”
As we follow the Spirit of God, we
become more and more like Him. We are led further and further away
from craving and further and further down the path of generously
giving as we have received from God.
Rather than being determined about what
we want or think we need, we begin to become more and more passionate
about seeing other's needs met, especially those who lack. Proverbs
22:9 says, “A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his
food with the poor.”
The “Promised Land” that God is
leading us into is not one of self-fulfillment, comfortably and
indulgence. It is not about craving more or getting more. It is
about realizing that God is all we need and living for Him. It is
not about getting, but about giving ourselves to God and others out
of the overflow.
The Promised Land he is leading us to
is not one of having it our way. Rather it is one of giving all
to glorify Him. Our contentment is not found in our circumstances
but in Him alone.
Paul says in Philippians 4:11-13, “ I am not saying this
because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what
it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living
in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me
strength.”
John the Baptist, when thrown in prison
and facing death, asked his disciples to go ask the Lord if He was
the One they had waited for. While He sometimes does, Jesus did not
perform a miracle for John and free him from prison, keep him back
from being beheaded, or even make his circumstances more comfortable.
Instead, knowing John was facing death, he called him to faith and
trust in the midst of it.
He told his disciples, “God back, and
tell John what you have seen and heard: Blind people see again,
lame people are walking, those with skin diseases are made clean,
deaf people hear again, dead people are brought back to life, and
poor people hear the Good News. Whoever doesn't lose his faith in
me is indeed blessed.”
He called John to give his heart to His
greater purpose. To be content with the fruit of his labors that
the kingdom was truly coming as John had so longed and prepared the
way for. John gave until he had nothing left of himself to give.
For those who will say yes to giving
Him everything, Jesus calls to follow Him down the same path He
walked of self sacrifice and selfless service.
Jesus told the rich young ruler who
asked what he needed to do to enter the kingdom, “Sell everything
you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow Me.” The choice he left with the young
man.
Lord, You have given me so much I am
truly grateful. Forgive me for the ways I have craved or sought to
fill myself in some way through the world. Forgive me for every time
I have complained or sought out my own comfort. I long to be as
generous with others as You have been with me.
With all the pain and need around the
world, I long to see Your bride fully awake and walking in the full
generosity of your love. Would you fill us with your passion
and compassion that results in truly sacrificial giving of ourselves
and laying down our lives for others in this season. Free us from
craving or desiring in the world. And as the song sings in the
background, would “Your love come down and meet us.”
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