9/13/2008 10:12 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Sin is “deeper than the skin”
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Lev. 13:1-4, 25, 30-32, 34
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 "When a man has on the skin of his body
a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy
on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one
of his sons the priests. 3 "The priest shall look at the mark on
the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the
infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of
leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. 4
"But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and it
does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned
white, then the priest shall isolate him who has the infection for seven days.
“25 then the priest shall look at it. And if the
hair in the bright spot has turned white and it appears to be deeper than the
skin, it is leprosy; it has broken out in the burn. Therefore, the priest shall
pronounce him unclean; it is an infection of leprosy.
“30 then the priest shall look at the infection,
and if it appears to be deeper than the skin and there is thin yellowish hair
in it, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a scale, it is
leprosy of the head or of the beard. 31 "But if the priest looks at the
infection of the scale, and indeed, it appears to be no deeper than the skin
and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall isolate the person with
the scaly infection for seven days.
32 "On the seventh day the
priest shall look at the infection, and if the scale has not spread and no
yellowish hair has grown in it, and the appearance of the scale is no deeper
than the skin,
“34 "Then on the seventh day the priest
shall look at the scale, and if the scale has not spread in the skin and it
appears to be no deeper than the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean;
and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.”
Today I
begin a new chapter in the book that I am reading to aid me in understanding
the book of Leviticus, the book is by Warren Wiersbe, “Be Holy.” I must say that I appreciate Warren Wiersbe’s
books very much as he writes in a way that is very understandable to me, in
other words he puts the cookies on the shelf where I can reach them.
Leviticus
13-15 are difficult chapters to understand and Warren Wiersbe writes that there
are three illustrations used to help understand these chapters “that are
vitally related to the life of holiness:
sin (Lev.13), salvation (chapter 14), and sanctity (chapter 15).”
The first
section that I will look at is sin, and the first sub-section under sin is “Sin
is ‘deeper than the skin.’” Dr. Wiersbe
writes, “Since disease is an illustration of sin in the Bible, as you read
these verses, you will learn a great deal about the ‘symptoms’ of sin.”
Now these
verses that are being looked at in Lev. 13 for today, SD talk about physical
diseases, but will be looked at today in the spiritual metaphor of sin, “sin is
deeper than the skin.” I want to first
point out something about the word “leprosy” and what the true meaning of this
word is. The following is from the
Hebrew-English Dictionary used in my Online Bible program: “1) leprosy
1a) in people, malignant skin disease (#Le 13:1-14:57)
1b) in clothing, a mildew or mould (#Le 13:47-52)
1c) in buildings, a mildew or mould (#Le 14:34-53)
Leprosy
when spoken about in these verses in not always the dreaded disease that is
still around today, but it could be describing that condition and the context
of the verses in which it is used will determine whether or not it is
describing that awful disease.
When I look
at these verses I can see that if I am looking at sin I can see that sin is a
heart disease, and not the heart that pumps the blood around in my body, but
the kind of heart that the Bible describes as who I am, and that means that if
I am to ever hope to get into heaven I will need a new heart, a kind of
spiritual heart transplant, and that is what Christ did for me when He saved me
in Jan. of 1974.
God has
appointed the priests to look at the problem of these skin diseases to
determine whether or not they are fatal or not, and when God looked at my
condition he said that it was fatal, and therefore had to in a sense raise me
from the dead spiritual speaking and then He could pronounce me clean.
One more
thing that I want to write about here, and that is that God had promised in
Exodus 15:26 and in Deu. 7:12-15 that He would shield Israel from the diseases
that were in Egypt if they obeyed them, but after getting into their land they
did not obey God, and He was forced to discipline them. Another thing about these verses is that they
were actually describing a skin disease and it was good for the children of Israel
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In his commentary on these verses Dr. Wiersbe
quotes Jer. 17:9 which reads as follows, “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it.” He then point out that the word for wicked
can mean sick. There are times in my
life when after doing something wrong or sinful I ask myself where did that
come from and that helps describe this verse in Jeremiah.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
- Remember that my heart has been circumcised and that I do not have to obey the flesh since it has been cut off.
- Give myself to the Lord for service and worship.
- Put on the whole spiritual armor.
- Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
- Trust the Lord to teach me contentment and that I learn what He is teaching me.
Memory verses for the week: Exodus
20:7-10
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Six day you shall labor and do all your work,
- but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
9/13/2008 11:49 AM
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