These are the regulations concerning contamination by mildew in woolen or linen clothing, woven or knitted material, or any leather article, for pronouncing them clean or unclean. ~ Leviticus 13:59
Were you inspired or encouraged by those words? No? I always struggle when I get to this portion of Leviticus, you see my issue is that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that: "All Scripture is God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work." So there HAS to be something useful in these passages, there just HAS to be.
A few years ago I found an amazing article that really helps me when I get to Leviticus. It's called Oh, No! Not Leviticus!. Here is a direct quote from that site:
As an example, Leviticus 19:19 says the Israelite are not to wear clothes made from two types of material mixed together. We need to ask ourselves, What picture of spiritual truth is contained in this command? What is the principle behind the command? And then we can ask, is the command still relevant? In this particular case, God wants to Israelites to set themselves apart from the people of the land, the Canaanites. So, for us, the specific command is no longer relevant, but the central theme -- being holy, being devoted to God, being in the world but not of the world -- still holds.
It has really helped me to find the deeper meaning behind the seemingly out dated passages that are found in Leviticus. One of my dear friends also helped me by sharing her thoughts/applications of the Leviticus 13 passage:
...Physical is often a manifestation of spiritual. For instance, last year I battle greatly spiritually and struggled with some things... and my house essentially fell apart in terms of clutter and deep cleaning. Sure some surfaces were sparkling, but the closets, the parts no one saw were in such bad shape that I'm still working on them now. There was "mold" in places that no one could see. (Okay, serious dust bunnies that were multiplying before my eyes, but you get the point, lol).
The point is that because I was not focused on God and did not give it all to Him and had become depressed and allowed the enemies lies of unworthiness and incompetence to take over, I had almost believed them and allowed them to give me a defeatist attitude. Instead of doing those small things I could, I struggled with doing anything and in return the house was worse. Instead of directing my family in what to do, I instead focused on self and believed I was doing the "right" thing by not putting more on them. I deprived myself and them of blessing and doing God's will for each other and wrapped myself in false humility.
My "moldy" house became a physical example of my inward spiritual life.
Once in a while is something, it's when the problem goes deeper that we need to stop and realize what the true root of the problem is. Often those moldy spots occur because we stop doing what we are supposed and have taken our eyes off God and instead focus on ourselves.
So that's what's filling up my Word-filled Wednesday! :) I hope your Wednesday (and everyday) is Word-filled! Have a blessed day.
Love the honesty in your post. There are some portions of scripture that I'm inclined to skip over or that seems rather boring. But as you pointed out so adequately, there is something we can take away from even those passages. Thanks for sharing.
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