10/20/2008 8:34 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Physical characteristics
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Lev. 21:16-24
Message of the
verses: “16 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
17 "Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your
offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer
the food of his God. 18 ‘For no one who has a defect shall approach:
a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed
limb, 19 or a man who has a broken foot
or broken hand,
20 or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a
defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 ‘No
man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near
to offer the LORD’S offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come
near to offer the food of his God.
22 ‘He may eat the food of his
God, both of the most holy and of the holy, 23
only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he
has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the LORD who
sanctifies them.’" 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and
to all the sons of Israel
In
this section there are qualifications for a priest who was to offer sacrifices
to the Lord, and those with physical defects were not allowed to offer
sacrifices to the Lord under this system.
The sacrifices had to be unblemished, so it was with those who offered
the sacrifices. These men were still
priests and could eat of the sacrifices just as the other priest could do, but
they could not offer them. Dr. Wiersbe
sums up the defects that prohibit the offering of sacrifices by priests as
“blind and lame, disfigured or deformed.”
Now as far as those serving in the Church
today this surely does not apply to any person who is physically challenged,
for the Scriptures say that we are all priests and Paul writes in 2 Cor. 12
about a thorn in the flesh that was given to him to keep him humble and he
stilled served. He served because God’s
grace is sufficient for anyone who has a problem, for God’s grace is always
enough to see us through if we only allow Him to give it to us so we can serve
Him.
One
more thing that I would like to point out and that is that there is no evidence
that any of these priests with these physical problems were treated as second
class citizens in the camp of Israel
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think more and more about what Paul has
written in 2 Cor. chapter 12 because it surely is all about the grace of God
that He gives to me each day in order for me to get through the challenges that
I face, for without God’s grace I would still be lost in my sin. The Scripture says that just as we have
received Christ Jesus so we are to walk in Him.
I received Him by grace through faith and that is how I need to live my
life from that point on.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. I
must trust the Lord each day to give me the amount of grace needed to serve Him
in a way that pleases Him.
2. Trust
the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Trust
the Lord to get some things settled when I speak with Pastor Greg this morning.
Memory verses for the week: Exodus
20:13-17
13.
You shall not murder.
14.
You shall not commit adultery.
15.
You shall not steal.
16.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant
or ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
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