Because of Who God Is (Lev. 26:1)

11/15/2008 7:40 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Because of who God is

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Leviticus 26:1

            Message of the verse:  “1 ¶  ‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.

            I am now beginning the last chapter in “Be Holy” and the last two chapters of this wonderful book of Leviticus.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “The Big Word If,” and the last paragraph in his opening words about this chapter that I am about to go into is as follows, “The statutes and instructions God gave Israel in Leviticus 26 and 27 illustrate four responsibilities that every Christian believer has toward the Lord.”  The fist sub title is entitled “Obeying His commandments,” and Dr. Wiersbe writes the following in this section:  “Moses gave his people four excellent reasons why they should obey the Lord,” and the first one is in verse one and that first reason is “Because of who God is.”

            There has been a series of studies that have caused me to be very interested in who God is, but this is truly not the first time that knowing God has perked my interest, for I have studied J. I. Packer’s book “Knowing God” on a number of occasions earlier in my walk with the Lord.  Earlier in the fall or late summer Sandy asked me to listen to a series of messages by Chip Ingram which lead me to ordering a free series he did on DVD entitled “The Miracle of Life Change.”  In this study, which is being used in two study groups Chip talks about knowing God and recommends a book by A. W. Tozer called “The Knowledge of the Holy,” which is a book about who God is.  This is a very deep study on who God is and kind of difficult for me to read.  I looked in the back of the study guide and there I found reference to a book that Chip Ingram wrote about knowing God and so I ordered it and am now beginning to read it.  As I come to this first section in Dr. Wiersbe’s book, of the last chapter, it has to do with knowing God.  Maybe God is speaking to me about who He is and that I should get to know Him better?

            In A. W. Tozer’s book “The Knowledge of the Holy,” he writes “The essence of idolatry is the entertaining of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”  This can be seen in the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Roman church, “21  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.  22  Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.  23  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.”  In Tozer’s book in the first chapter he goes on to say something very similar to the other quote and that is that how a person or church views God will depend on how much that church or person will grow and be used by the Lord.

            The Scriptures tell who God is, as they tell about His character and His attributes, yet I am sure that they do not tell us all of who God is, but what we need to know about Him can be found by reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on God’s Word.

            The first reason that Moses gave to Israel on why they should obey God is because of who God is!

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have a deep desire to know and understand who God is so that I will have more faith and trust in Him in order to have a better walk with Him, and to become more like Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. To know and understand God better and better, and to walk with Him.

Memory verses for the week:                                  Romans 6:1-5

1. What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2. May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we to might walk in newness of life.
5. For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

11/15/2008 8:13 AM