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Leviticus 19:5 – Leviticus 23:12

When I started this journey my goal was to find something every day that would apply to my life.  One verse or subject that would change me in some way.  Lift my heart.  Strengthen my belief.

…because I need the changing, the lifting, the strengthening.

But more than anything, I just wanted to come to know the Lord a little better than I know Him now.

So every day as I read the verses I look for Him there.

I try to be humble as I search for the lesson within the reading …willing to change, to give my heart, to find strength therein.

My learning today came from Leviticus 22, “Speak unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel…that will offer his oblations…unto the Lord, ye shall offer at your own will.”

And I wonder, what is my offering to the Lord?

I do not have a lamb without a blemish, or a bullock that I might bring.

I look back to the verses, to try to discover the learning…and I am led.

“In me is the law of Moses fulfilled.  Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away.  And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  Behold, for such I have laid down my life.”  (3 Nephi 9:19-22)

My heart knows what it is to be broken.

The aching.  The tearstains.  The down on my knees waiting for healing to come.

My Spirit knows what it is to be contrite.

The regret.  The wearing down. The longing to be made whole.

Does He really want this broken heart?  This Spirit worn down?

I search to understand more of this offering and I am led to the exhortation of Amaleki, “And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel…Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him.”  (Omni 1:26)

And I realize He wants more than just my heart to mend and my spirit to heal, He wants my whole soul.  All of me.

That offering is going to require trust.  And sacrifice.

My whole soul.

My heart.  My might.  My mind.  My strength.

My Trust.

And I wonder if that is what Israel felt in this moment of the journey.  This learning how to trust.  To really give their heart.  Their soul.

Had they experienced enough of the aching, the tearstains, the down on their knees, the spirit worn down, the regret?

Were they finally humble enough to trust the Lord, who had brought them out of Egypt?

Because now the offering He asks of Israel is that they become holy, live righteously, love thy neighbor, and keep the commandments.  My heart recognizes these as offerings of the soul.

The whole soul.

And I notice, after each verse of asking one phrase is found at the bottom of each request.  The repition becomes constant.  Familiar.

I am the Lord your God.

I am the Lord.

Trust me.

Once again I find myself considering my offering to the Lord.

To become.  To live.  To love.  To keep.

With my heart.  My mind.  My might.  My strength.

 Am I offering my very best?

Do I give my ‘first’ fruits?

My whole soul?

I feel the invitation to change.  To give my whole heart.

And within the trusting

I find new strength.

Leviticus 14:40 – Leviticus 19:5

Sometimes the path is clearly marked.

Black and white.

It is true there on the asphalt of my kids elementary school.

The same is true here in the book of Leviticus.

Here, in chapter 18, where the Lord cautions against nakedness.  I wonder, the first time I read through this chapter, how it applies to our day.  It just isn’t clear at first.  So I ponder it in my heart.

And then realization dawns.

The caution that makes up chapter 18 is the stuff that makes up our day.  It fills the sitcoms and movies and novels. We see it on the news.  We find it on the Internet.  It is there, all around us.

With the touch of a button everything the Lord has cautioned against in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus can permeate the walls of my own home.  I turn back to the chapter intent on learning what the Lord was trying to teach Israel.

So I begin the chapter again.

There, just at the beginning, I begin to see the path.   “I am the Lord your God.  After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do:  and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do:  neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.” (Leviticus 18:2-3)

On the one hand, do not be Egypt.  Let go of your past sins.  Do not walk the path they trod.

On the other hand, do not be Canaan.  There will be days of temptation ahead of you.  Do not follow their footsteps.

It is clear ––this path I should not walk.

What follows these verses is the counsel that will guide my steps, “Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God…keep my statues…which if a man do, he shall live by them.  I am the Lord.”  (Leviticus 18:4-5)

My thoughts fill with judgements and statues and ordinances.

The Lord has provided the path to walk therein.  But it is hard work, this walking the clear path.

…to walk out of the movie unfinished.

…to set down the novel unread.

…to turn off a favorite sitcom without rationalizing that one part.

Sometimes I feel alone on this path.  Separate.  Peculiar.

But I am reminded of the promise of the Lord, “If you will obey my voice indeed,  and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me…and ye shall be unto me an holy nation.”  (Exodus 19:5-6).

I cannot be Egypt.  I cannot be Canaan.

I must choose to be a holy nation.

I must be Israel.

A peculiar people.

Separate.

If I truly want to understand the way of the Lord.

If I truly want to walk therein.

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IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE…

The old reading schedule had a small mistake at the end of February.  When you get a chance you might want to print off a new schedule.  It won’t affect your reading until February 26.

Leviticus 11:5 – Leviticus 14:39

Are you wondering about the importance of Leviticus right now?

I worry that this week might feel overwhelming as we study worship in a way we don’t completely understand.  Again my thoughts are spinning, this time with sacrifice and how it applies to consecration.  My weekend has been filled with learning and I have discovered three hints that might help us understand the book of Leviticus a little better.

The first hint is to watch for symbolism…

Last night we were reading as a family.  It is hard to explain the significance of animal sacrifice to your kids.

Trying to come up with a quick object lesson, I took off my wedding ring and held it up.

“What is this a symbol of?”  I asked.

“Your marriage,” they replied.

“Ok, good.  What else is it a symbol of?”

“A covenant,” Josh replied.

“Perfect,” I answered.  ”A covenant with who?”

“You, Dad, and Heavenly Father,” he replied.

 

“OK, now, what do you think the animal sacrifices in the book of Leviticus were a symbol of?” I questioned.

I watched their faces busy contemplating until finally understanding dawned.

We spoke of the Savior.  We spoke of the Sacrament.

I had an ‘ah ha’ moment when I resumed reading after that conversation.  I read the verse found in Leviticus 6:11, “and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.”  It reminded me of one of my favorite descriptions of the atonement in Isaiah, “to give unto them beauty for ashes…” (Isaiah 61:3)  I have come to better understand the importance of the atonement in turning our ashes unto beauty.  The importance of the Savior in that process.  I love the verse just after that one that talks about the fire upon the altar, “it shall not be put out…the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”  (Leviticus 6:13)  And I thought of the symbolism of the Savior and the atonement that is captured within that verse.

The fire ever burning.

It shall never go out.

And, in that moment, I found that I was grateful for the book of Leviticus.

The second lesson is to understand sacrifice…

I would encourage you to study sacrifice in the Bible Dictionary sometime this week.  It makes the symbolism in the first half of Leviticus so much easier to understand.  Here is what I learned…

The presentation of the sacrifice was made by the sacrificer himself, it was personal.  Individual.  There is great importance in that.  The next step was the laying on of hands to dedicate the animal to God as a substitute for the sacrificer.  The sacrifice itself was performed in order to carry out the dedication to God.  The sprinkling of blood became symbolic of the atonement.  Burning the sacrifice symbolized the consecration of the worshipper to Jehovah.

In gospel doctrine today our teacher explained that the word sacrifice comes from ‘sacer,’ which means sacred, and ‘fice,’ which means to make.

To make sacred.

I find myself beginning to understand the process Israel is going through in the book of Leviticus.  A process of becoming sacred.  The understanding is redefining the way I look at the process I go through each week as I take the Sacrament.  I need to prepare my heart better so that the Sacrament becomes more personal.  Individual.  I need to take that moment each week to rededicate myself.  To better understand the atonement.  To consider my offering to the Lord. To become consecrated.

To be made sacred.

The third hint is from Alfred Edersheim…

The subject matter for the book of Leviticus is consecration on the part of Israel.  The first half (chapters 1 – 16) explains the manner of access to God, and the second part (chapters 17-27) explains the holiness which is the result of that access.

I want to know more of the holiness.

Alfred Edersheim breaks down the first part  of Leviticus like this…

How to approach God through:

sacrifice – Leviticus 1 – 7

priesthood – Leviticus 8 – 10

worship – Leviticus 11-14

family life – Leviticus 12

as a congregation – Leviticus 13-15

The first part ends with a definition of the Day of Atonement – Leviticus 16

The second part describes the holiness that becomes the people of God:

personal holiness – Leviticus 17

holiness in the family – Leviticus 18

holiness in social relations – Leviticus 19 – 20

holiness in the priesthood – Leviticus 21 – 22

holy seasons – Leviticus 23 – 24

holiness of the land – Leviticus 25

By the end of the second part we have learned about consecration.

Leviticus 26 dwells on the blessing attached to faithful observance of the covenant.

Leviticus 27 speaks of the free-will offerings of the heart.

I wrote down these hints at the top of every chapter…hoping it will help me to better comprehend what I am reading.

The book of Leviticus teaches that “Jehovah was the Holy One of Israel, and holiness became His house for ever.”

I wonder if breaking down Leviticus like this, into small parts, will help us to understand it better this week.  Perhaps our eyes will be more open to see the symbolism, our hearts will be more open to understand the sacrifice, our lives will become more holy as we come to understand the consecration;

and we will learn what it means to be made sacred.

 

Exodus 37:11 – Leviticus 1:14

My friend has an old milk barn.

This year he started working on fixing it up.  He has great plans for it.  Someday it will be a little cabin for his family.  I love to watch him talk about the vision of what it will become.

But it’s going to take a lot of work.

So he spends a lot of time there.  Much more than you might imagine.  And he’s gathering a lot of stuff.

One day, when it’s finished, it will be a blessing to his family.  Because of the sacrifice.  Because of the time.  Because of his vision of what it could be.

It will become a place of refuge.

 

I am reminded of the story of John Moyle.

The chief superintendent of masonry for the Salt Lake Temple.  He worked on the temple for over 20 years.  Every Monday he would walk 22 miles to the temple site.  And every Friday he would walk home.  22 miles.  Twice a week.

Building the temple required a lot of work.  So he spent a lot of time there.

One weekend a cow bolted and kicked John in the leg breaking every bone beneath the knee.  The leg would have to be amputated.  So they got the bucksaw from the front yard, strapped him to a wooden door, and sawed it off.

When against all medical likelihood his leg began to heal, he carved himself an artificial leg. He practiced walking around his home, then around his yard, and finally around his property.  When he thought he could stand the pain, he strapped on the leg and walked 22 miles to the Salt Lake City temple.  He was 77 years old.  Once he arrived there he climbed up the scaffolding and chiseled the words “holiness to the Lord” into the stone.

Now the temple is finished.  Every time I look at that stone I think of John Moyle’s life.  The sacrifice.  The time.  The sanctification.  The consecration.

The sermon of John Moyle’s life was “Holiness to the Lord.”

I am reminded of that sermon every time I visit that place of refuge.

 

The story of the people of Israel building the tabernacle matches this pattern.  Moses was much like my friend.  The Lord gave Moses a vision of what his people could become.  But it was going to take a lot work.

And a lot of time.

First Moses taught his people what it meant to be obedient.  He spoke of repentance.  And they became sanctified.

He asked them to give, to keep back nothing.  And the people brought much more than enough for the service of the work. (Exodus 36:5)   “For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work, and too much.” (Exodus 36:7)  Within the giving, his people learned what it meant to become consecrated.

On the very last day, after the ark and the mercy seat had been built, and the curtains had been sewn, and the garments completed including the hand made golden bells, and the pomegranates, one final thing took place…

After the sanctification.  After the consecration.

“And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.  And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the Lord commanded Moses.  Thus was all the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished.”  (Exodus 39: 30-32)  It wasn’t until Holiness to the Lord had been fastened upon the mitre that the work was finished.

And for Israel it became a place of refuge.

 

I wonder to myself, where am I in this process?

Because sometimes my life looks like the old milk barn, and I hope Someone has some great plans for it.  A vision.  Even if I can’t see it right now.

I am willing to work hard.

To give much more than enough.  Sufficient…and too much.  To bring my finest.  A willing and a wise heart.

To sacrifice.  To consecrate.

Because when I am finished, when I have walked the last mile, and chiseled the final stone, I want my life to be holiness to the Lord.

I want to find in Him my refuge.

Exodus 33:13 – Exodus 37:10

I have to admit that the first time I read the word wise hearted I was immediately intrigued.  I wanted to know more about that.  I prayed that the Lord would teach my heart that principle ––I really wanted to understand.

The Lord has this way of teaching us that I am slowly coming to recognize.  It requires prayer.  It requires scripture study.  It requires each of us to act on promptings in behalf of another.

Today the Lord has taught my heart.

The lesson was contained in a pound of butter.

As crazy as it seems, that pound of butter taught me what it means to be wise hearted.

Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I shared the learning with you.

Last night I had the opportunity to discuss sacred topics with a group of women.  We spoke of hope, trust, faith, optimism, and prosperity.   As the topic turned to prosperity one of the women asked, “What is prosperity?  What does it mean in your life?”  I said the first thing that came to mind, “Prosperity is when you go to the grocery store and you don’t have to spend time looking at the price of every brand of butter to find the cheapest one.”

That might have been a trivial description, but each of us could relate to having financial burdens.  We spoke of all the things we would focus on if money, and professions, and expenses didn’t have to occupy so much of our minds.

This morning I felt like having warm bread and butter for breakfast.  I pulled out the bread and then opened the fridge only to realize I was completely out of butter.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of our conversation the night before.

I put butter on my list of things to do.

Within the hour someone knocked on my front door.  It was one of the women I had been with the night before.  She stood there on my porch with a pound of butter tied up in white tulle.  “I just felt prompted to bring this over this morning,” she said simply, “and to say the Lord wants you to have prosperity.”

I was momentarily speechless.  And then I said, “How did you know I needed butter?”  Which was as ridiculously trivial as the definition of prosperity I had given the night before.  “I didn’t know,” She said, “I just woke up at 4:00am this morning and felt a prompting that you needed butter.  This morning.  Before I did anything else with my day.”

The funny thing is, I could have totally made it through the day without the butter.  I would have picked some up this afternoon. I tried to figure out the urgency of the 4:00am prompting and then I realized…it wasn’t about the butter.

It was about the lesson.

Because just after the butter came I read this description of the wise hearted people found in Exodus…

“And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering to the work.”  (Exodus 35:21)

And I followed the footnote for the word offering, and it said, generosity.  “And they brought the Lord’s generosity.”

“And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted…”  (Exodus 35:22)

“Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart…”  (Exodus 35:35)

“Every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.”  (Exodus 36:2)

And I thought about my friend.  The one whose heart had been stirred up.  The one whose spirit was willing.  The one who brought the Lord’s generosity.   The one who the Lord had filled with wisdom of heart.

She who had a willing heart.

Who didn’t think it might be odd to drop off a pound of butter to someone who was perfectly capable of obtaining her own, but took the wisdom of the Lord in her heart and then acted.

Through her willing and wise heart I learned an extremely powerful lesson today.

…and through a pound of butter.

In a very simple way it was a very powerful lesson in consecration.

Perhaps right now, this very moment, you could ask the Lord for a wise heart.  Maybe you could ask that you might be the means of extending the Lord’s generosity to someone, somehow, today.  It doesn’t have to be outlandish.  A stick of butter can be life changing.  Trust me.

Maybe today you could ask to be made wise hearted.

And then let your heart be stirred up, and let your spirit be made willing.