day no. 15,764: overlooked

This morning (6/12/20), I began reading through Leviticus. When most people think of Leviticus, they think of heavy-handed, meticulous insignificance. They think that because it is repetitious, meticulous, heavy-handed and refers writ large to a sacrificial system no longer practiced by Jews to whom the texts were originally concerned nor perpetuated by Christians for whom the types and shadows of the ceremonial law have been fulfilled in Jesus.

So, when I think about Leviticus, I am struck by that; but when I actually read Leviticus, I am always reminded and struck by how hopeful it all is. For as much as it involves blood and sacrifice, it is always for the sake of forgiveness and reconciliation with God eagerly receiving soiled sinners back into His good graces and declared sanitized saints.

Leviticus reminds us of TWO important realities:
(1) God pays much closer attention to details than we'd like to imagine; and
(2) God offers much more forgiveness and grace than we ever dreamed possible

As you plod through the details of Leviticus, it should give you the shivers to think about the degree to which God is involved in the details. He holds even the atoms together. At the most minute, detailed levels, He is there. That means He is interested in the details and minutia of what constitutes our life. In one sense, this may be a great comfort knowing that there is nothing that is important to us that is overlooked by God. But that also means that many things we discount or shirk as unimportant, He sees and cares about. That means our sin problem is much, much WORSE than we even know. That is to say, there are sins we miss that He doesn't.

But the fear and anxiety produced by considering that, should immediately be mediated by the breadth and depth of His provision in grace. He covers more sins than we thought. He covers things we missed and He covers them deeper than we thought they went. 19 times in Leviticus, He calls the sacrifices of repentance "sweet." He enjoys the sight and smell of repentance and gladly receives them not merely as obligatory, but as celebratory.

In reading Leviticus, you CANNOT miss the attention to detail, but DO NOT miss the fact that all of it is aimed at forgiveness and cleansing.