Our Daily Scripture – 2/3/23

SCRIPTURE:  LEVITICUS 26

BIBLE VERSE:

“Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it.  I am the Lord your God. “‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 26:1-2)

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” (Leviticus 26:13)

REWARD FOR OBEDIENCE (vs. 1-13)

DECREES AND COMMANDS OF THE LORD:

  1. Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it.  I am the Lord your God. (v. 1)
  2. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary.  I am the Lord” (v. 2)

REWARDS FOR FOLLOWING HIS DECREES AND OBEYING HIS COMMANDS:

  1.  I will send rain in its season and your will yield harvest of crops and fruits to eat and live safely. (v. 4-5)
  2.  I will grant peace in the land. (v. 6)
  3.  I will remove savage beast from the land and your enemies will fall by the sword before you (vs. 1b-7)
  4.  I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase in number. (v. 9)
  5.  I will put my dwelling place among you and I will not abhor you. (v. 11)
  6.  I will walk among you and be your God and your will be my people. (v. 12)

PUNISHMENT FOR DISOBEDIENCE (vs. 14-46)

  1.  I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life.  You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
  2.  I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. (v. 17)
  3.  I will punish you for your sins 7 times over. (v. 18)
  4.  I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. (v. 19)
  5.  Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. (v. 20)
  6.  I will multiply your afflictions 7 times over, as your sins deserve. (v. 21)
  7.  I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. (v. 22)
  8.  I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins 7 times over. (v. 24)
  9.  I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. n(v. 25)
  10.  When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. (v. 25b)
  11.  When I cut off your supply of bread, you will eat, but you will not be satisfied. (v. 26)
  12.   I myself will punish you for your sins 7 times over. (v. 27)
  13.  You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. (v. 29)
  14.  I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. (v. 30)
  15.  I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries. (v. 31a)
  16.  I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. (v. 31b)
  17.  I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. (v. 32)
  18.  I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. (v. 33a)
  19. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. (v. 33b)
  20.  I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight.  They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them..(v. 36)
  21.  They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. (v. 37)
  22.  You will perish among the nations,; the land of your enemies will devour you.

But if they will confess their sins, when their uncircumsized heart humbled, and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, and I will remember the land. (vs. 40-42).   I will  not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely.  (vs. 44)

THOUGHTS:

God set His covenant with His people but they have to obey the terms of the covenant.  His covenant includes both blessings and chastening.  God will not share his goodness with rebellious children.  However, if we repent of our sins, God is gracious.  He leaves the open door for restoration.  God forgives our sins and remembers His covenant.  We must show our love and our desires to please His heart.

The people of the Old Testament were warned over and over against worshiping idols.  Idolatry is making anything more important than God.  Today’s idol may be in the form of money, reputation, security, success, and fame.  So, be careful not to put these idols above God.

God always gives us the opportunity to repent and return to Him.  We should consider our daily experience and hardships as God’s purpose to bring about continual spiritual growth.