Water Creatures (Lev. 11:9-12)

9/5/2008 9:52 AM 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                    Focus:  Water creatures

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Leviticus 11:9-12

            Message of the verses:  “9 ¶  ‘These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.

10  ‘But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you, 11  and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest.  12  ‘Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you.”

            The water creatures that were okay for the children of Israel to eat had to have both fins and scales in order to be eatable.  This would leave out the creatures that would be on the bottom of the water such as shrimp, crabs, catfish and eels.  As stated in yesterday’s SD this would be unhealthy for people to eat because of what the non-kosher had eaten themselves.  God was looking out for the health of His children and was also teaching them discipline in choosing their foods. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The spiritual aspect, or at least one of them, is that the clean and unclean that comes up all of the time in these kinds of laws.  As a child of God I am to keep myself spiritually clean and not do things that would make me mar my fellowship with the Lord.  I need to know what displeases the Lord and not do that and do the things that please the Lord.  I am trying to memorize the verses in Exodus 20 that are the ten commandments, not just the ten commandments but all of the verses that are in Exodus 20 and in verse six God is speaking about people who worship idols and those who do not worship idols.  There are a total of six verses in the first commandment and verse six is the last of these and in it God says this:  “but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.”  Jesus said in John concerning this:  “Joh 14:15  "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

Joh 14:24  "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

Joh 15:10  "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

            I could not love God if He did not first love me, and so by Him first loving me I can keep the commandments that He has for me to keep because of His great love for me.  These commandments are the “spiritually clean” things to do and if I do them I will be “spiritually clean,” but if I don’t I will not be “spiritually clean.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Have the God given desire to follow what it is that He wants me to do by keeping His commandments.
2. Give myself to the Lord for service and worship.
3. Trust the Lord to teach me contentment. 

Memory verses for the week:                      Exodus 20:4-9

4. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.
5. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and forth generations of those who hate me,
6. but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
7. 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.
8. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

9/5/2008 10:35 AM