Daily Reading: Leviticus 11-12
Scripture Focus: I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. (Leviticus 12.5a)
Devotional Thought: Today’s chapter talks about cleanliness after childbirth. One might think you had accidentally stumbled onto a medical book instead of the Bible. However, I see this chapter as another way God shows his love for his people, especially women.
I don’t think we can fully understand that in Bible times, there were no hospitals, no doctors, and no one telling people how to stay clean in order to prevent disease. God gave these instructions to Moses because he was in charge of more than 600,000 people. God cared enough about women to address every detail of their lives, even this.
Women in this chapter are not being punished, they were given grace by God to have time to themselves in order to heal. I don’t know about other ladies, but after I had my children, I needed time to rest and heal. It was a relief to me that I wasn’t expected to be at church the next Sunday after having a baby on Friday night! But, in all seriousness, I see the loving hand of God, providing women a time to heal, to rest, to enjoy their new bundle of joy, without having to be a part of the community.
God cares about women, God cares about babies. He, just like any good parent, is showing his love by giving guidelines for people to follow that keep them safe and healthy. He didn’t have to take care of the small details, he could have left that to Moses and Aaron to figure out on their own, but he didn’t. God lovingly came down and spoke to Moses one on one to let him know the best way to do things. If that doesn’t speak of Immanuel, I don’t know what does.
Cheryl Young
Prayer: Lord, thank you for caring about the big and little details of our lives. Thank you that you care so much that you give us guidelines that we can follow that keep us safe. We praise you for loving us that much. Thank you for being Immanuel and always being with us and for us.
Psalm of the Day: 6 Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. 7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. 10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. 11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. (Psalms 106:6-12)
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