ELUL MEDITATIONS DAY 16

POINTS TO PONDER FROM DAY 15

1.   How does God feel about murder?  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the difference between “killing” and “murder?”__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. There are many different kinds of murder. Some of us are surprised to find we are spiritual murderers, murdering with the tongue, with anger, with abuse of our words.  Have you ever been guilty of such over the year that just passed us by?  If you answered “yes” have you repented?  How will you turn this around in the year ahead?  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ELUL DAY MEDITATIONS DAY 16

UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES

THE CONVERSATION ON THE MOUNTAIN CONTINUES

Now God wanted to address unlawful sexual relations among the people. Of course, no one wants to speak of this subject. Yet this is part of the moral holiness of God’s people which must be addressed. I found this link especially enlightening for anyone wanting to do a deeper study of this subject: https://bible.org/seriespage/boundaries-godly-sexuality-leviticus-186-29.

So God was still talking to Moses about how He wanted His people to live. He emphasized once more that He was their Sovereign God. Perhaps a few people had forgotten this fact and they needed reminding again. Their unlawful sexual relations needed to be discussed.

Moses was listening and taking notes as usual. God told Him that His people needed to behave different than the other people living in the Land of Canaan. The Land of Canaan was the place of the Promised Land God wanted to give to them. They were on their way to Canaan Land, but apparently they needed to polish up their morals a bit before they arrived. It seems there were a lot of unlawful sexual relations going on among God’s people.

GOD IS VERY CLEAR ABOUT UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONS

God was explaining how He wished for the people to live within the land. In the course of this important conversation with Moses, it becomes clear that God does not appreciate sexual immorality among His people. God was telling Moses The Children of Israel must not act like all the other people who were currently living in the land.

The People of God were to obey God’s laws and to follow God’s decrees.

God did not want them to blend-in with the cultures of Canaan.

Remember the last time things got out of hand because of blatant sin and immorality? God sent the flood! You can’t tell me that God isn’t merciful. He had the power to wipe out all future generations. God decided to linger with us longer. He exercised his prerogative for giving mankind free will.

Will we ever learn not to disappoint Him?

PEOPLE IN UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONS

After reading the scriptures explaining this particular conversation between Moses and God, you begin to get the idea that maybe the people were already becoming a bit confused about proper and holy sexual relations. This seems to be a human pattern that never changes.

God had to explain some pretty intimate and personal things. For instance, the fact that no one was to have sex with their father or their mother, or their step-mother or step-father, or their sister or step-sister, or brother or step-brother, or their aunt or uncle, or cousins or any of their other in-laws.

Had all those years in slavery reduced God’s people to mere animals?

How embarrassing for God to have to remind them of such shameful things.

GOD’S WORDS DESCRIBE HOW HE FEELS

Nevertheless, all of that is to say, God had to stoop to the very low level of telling Moses to remind the people of their morals. Over and over God gave examples for Moses to let the people know that such forms of sexual behavior were nothing but wickedness. Wickedness isn’t my word, I got that word straight from the scripture passages.

After several other added and very clearly stated instructions about how they could and could not express themselves sexually, the people were to be again reminded of that commandment which states “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

Finally, God saved the worst for last. He went over a final list containing the most abominable of child abuse and sexual sins all at the same time. God explained that the people were never to give their children to be sacrificed to Molek. Molek was a pagan idol requiring child sacrifice.

Immediately after commenting on this horrid sin of offering innocent children as sacrifices to pagan gods, God follows with the fact that He finds homosexuality detestable and forbids that His people participate in such forms of sexual immorality. Leviticus 18:22 says, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”

Detestable was a word from God, not me. If you don’t like it, please take it up with Him.

DESIRING GOD’S BEST FOR OTHERS

Can I love you while you live your life as a homosexual person? Yes. I can love you like a brother or a sister, and I will definitely do that. However, I can’t say that I love your lifestyle. God called it detestable. I’m not going to argue with Him about this or any other sin for that matter. Also, I’m not going to twist the words or pretend they are not in the scriptures. They are. If you understand this as “hate” you are NOT understanding. I am not judging anyone, I am simply repeating what God instructed Moses in the scriptures.

God is love. To say God “hates” would be a lie. You don’t send your only begotten Son to live and die a horrible death in order to save those that you “hate.” No, my friend, this is not hate, but true love.

As for me, I have enough other types of sins of my own to worry about, Thank you. I would expect to receive the same truthful tough-love from you in return. However, I would NOT expect you to accept my sins, and lie to me about the truth of the scriptures. I would expect you to care more for my soul than to tell me whatever I want to believe is okay. It isn’t.

WE MUST COME TO GOD ON HIS TERMS – NOT OURS

In the days of old God was forming a holy nation from those who were willing to do His will.  Today God is forming a spiritual nation from those who are willing to do His will. God’s ways are the only acceptable ways. Mankind’s ways are like filthy rags before Him. We must come to God on His terms, not ours.

Sometimes that means dying to ourselves and submitting our will to His will.

Often this means changing our world from what we thought we wanted to what we KNOW He wanted.

True love is always desiring God’s best for a person.

Sometimes God’s will is just better for a person, even better than their own desires. It isn’t always easy for people to understand this, but there is never anything hateful about desiring God’s best for someone.

WE ARE TO BE A DIFFERENT KIND OF PEOPLE

God seems to be covering all of the subjects He finds the most disgusting in this long conversation with Moses. In just one paragraph He forbids child abuse, homosexuality and bestiality. Yes, the last horrid sin is bestiality.  God calls this sin a perversion.

Again, that was GOD’S word, not one that I threw in.

Moses is further reminded that all of these sins of immorality are the things that define the nations God wishes to destroy and replace. The cultures from Canaan were full of the sins of incest, sexual immorality, adultery, lust, homosexuality, bestiality and child abuse.

God hated these things and therefore He was removing these people from the land. He was replacing them with people who were willing to live in righteousness and follow His ways.

GOD’S PEOPLE CANNOT DEFILE THE LAND

The very things that God forbid the people to participate in were the things God says will cause a great nation to be defiled. God says if His people later change and decide on their own to once again defile the land with such sinful disobedience, He will vomit them out of the land. They would be treated just as these people of the same sins which He is going to vomit out and replace. He does not desire anything of the current pagan population to be living in the land where He is building a new nation who will become a light unto the other nations.

God has the same consequences for disobeying these laws of morality as for any other types of disobedience. He expects His people to keep His laws. This is because keeping God’s laws is how the other nations will distinguish God’s nation from the ungodly nations. Morality is one of the ways they will become known and defined as God’s nation.

If the perfectly clear instructions of God aren’t kept, the person who disobeys will be outcast from the community. Also, if they do not keep God’s laws and commandments, they will not receive God’s blessings as owners of The Promised Land.

ANCIENT LAWS FOR AN ANCIENT PEOPLE?

Well, you may say the same thing about these instructions as you might have said as we spoke about all the other instructions and laws. They were ancient instructions given specifically to the ancient Israelis who were living long before the days of Jesus. Surely we are not expected to keep these laws and instructions today, are we?

To clarify, one thing is certainly right about that statement. Jesus Christ HAS come. He HAS set the people who believe in and follow Him free. We are no longer under the letter of the law. Now, through God’s Holy Spirit provided through the sacrifice of Yeshua Messiah, we have these laws written upon our hearts. The meaning has become even deeper for Christians living today.

However, we are expected to do something even harder than the letter of the law. We are expected to desire in our hearts to keep God’s ways. The words should now be written on our hearts. Our actions should correspond straight from our hearts instead of out of duty. Our obedience comes from love and desire.

LOVE INSTEAD OF FEAR

We are expected to honor God out of love instead of how the ancients did, out of fear.

Today we are held to a higher standard than ever before. Moreover, think of this, today we have the strength and help of a perfect Savior.

ETERNITY WITH GOD OR IMMORALITY WITH ANOTHER SINNER?

Nothing is impossible when a person follows God with a true heart. Whatever strength is lacking in their humanity God will supernaturally supply. Any suffering they are required to endure will be only for a moment. Later they will have the awesome privilege of looking upon the Face of God throughout all of eternity.

This alone should be worth anything forfeited or suffered on the earth.

What sounds better to you, eternity with God or immorality with another sinner?

The pleasure of a moment only last a short time and it is gone, never to be again.

Eternity is forever.

It never ends.

I know what I want.

WHAT FUTURE DO WE WANT FOR OUR NATION?

The decisions we make today will form the foundations for the structure of having God in our nation for the future. We should be teaching morality to the children of our nation instead of feeding them Kool-Aid that is full of artificial sugar. If you want a child to be healthy, you must give them the proper nutrition.

Why not give them the real thing?

Will we not tell them the truth of God?

Do we really want to destroy the hope of their days by letting them have to search the truth out on their own without a loving and scriptural warning? What future do you wish for your own children and grandchildren? The morality that we keep as a nation today is the morality they will be facing later.

Will God cast you out forever, or will He lead you to the final place of promise?

WE WERE GIVEN THE TRUE EXAMPLE

It is a choice we all must make. All we have to do is turn and follow Jesus. He committed none of these sins mentioned above. Jesus set the perfect example for all of us. It does matter very much to God what we decide.

Your fate is your own, so choose wisely

VERSE

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

PRAYER

Father, teach us the proper ways to follow you. When our desires and emotions clash with Yours and we think like the ways of this world, turn us around. Show us the way. Give us the strength we need to be strong. Help us to desire a holy life. May our ways and our hearts ever be in tuned to Your ways which are always higher and holier than our ways. Amen

SONG

THIS TOO SHALL PASS by Savella https://youtu.be/sZHbIZKAwJU?si=nWw-KbAS4t1rQT7A