B’Har (On Mount) Lev 25:1-26:2, B’chukkotai (By My Commandments) Lev 26:3-27:34
1.Leviticus 26:2 says, “My Shabbats you shall keep and My sanctuary you shall revere: I am the L-rd.” The exact same wording is found in Lev. 19:30. These verses are talking about a holy time and a holy place. A holy time can happen at any point in our day. I would like you to look at your life and see if you can remember an event or a moment that you would describe as a holy time. It can be a conversation with a person that G-d brought across your path. It can be a special time with the Father. Each of us have had those times when we have encountered holiness. We would welcome each of you sharing your own personal experience on Shabbat. Sharing examples like this can be an encouragement to all of us.
Let me start with a joke. A man was late for an interview for a job he really wanted to get. He drove back and forth in the parking lot looking for a place to park. As time ticked by he became desperate and called out to G-d. “G-d please help me find a parking place so I won’t be late for this interview!” In just a few seconds he saw a man pulling out of his parking place. He immediately said, “Never mind G-d. I found a parking place.”
This sounds funny but it reminds us that sometimes we think things just happen by chance or that we made something happen and we miss those little things that G-d does for us each day.
Holy times can occur anytime as we go through our regular day.
Example Exodus 3:1-5
Moses was out for a day of herding sheep
He saw a bush burning that was not consumed.
He turned aside and encountered an angel of G-d.
The key is – he stopped and turned aside.
It all hinged on him taking the time to stop and turn aside
He made himself available for G-d to speak to him.
Because of his willingness to turn aside his life was changed.
Verses below
Exodus 3:1-5, “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of G-d. 2 There the angel of the L-rd appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”4 When the L-rd saw that he had gone over to look, G-d called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” G-d said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Example Acts 9:3-5
Saul was persecuting believers
He had a holy encounter on his way to Damascus.
Acts 9:3-5, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? “Who are you, L-rd?” Saul asked. “I am Yeshua, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Example John 3
Nicodemus made the effort to go to Yeshua
He was looking for truth and as a result became one of his followers.
Scripture is filled with many examples of people turning aside and encountering holy moments.
Does anyone want to share a holy moment you experienced?
One personal example that is very dear to me happened almost 15 years ago. Our oldest granddaughter was visiting us as her parents were transitioning from one military post to another. Since she would be with us for a few weeks she asked me to teach her some Hebrew. One day as we were sitting together learning new Hebrew words I began to explain to her what Jesus’ Hebrew name was. She was writing it in Hebrew and we were discussing the fact that Yeshua means salvation and it quickly became obvious that the Holy Spirit was present and she was for the first time really understanding what salvation meant. After a wonderful tender discussion she said she was ready to give her life to Yeshua. So we stopped and prayed together. That was a precious holy time that the Father allowed me to be a part of. I often think back, if we had not started studying Hebrew together that moment might never have happened.
I encourage you to be open and ready each day for the holy times our Heavenly Father brings your way. It will certainly enrich your life and glorify His Kingdom.
2.After reading the verses describing the curses and the blessings this week in Leviticus 26, how would you describe exactly what is a curse or a blessing?
Jeremiah 17:5-8, “This is what the L-rd says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the L-rd. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the L-rd, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
When we are keeping G-d commandments we can feel G-d working in our lives.
We can feel His presence.
We are free to go to Him in prayer.
To me, this is the blessing – we know G-d’s presence.
No matter what we are going through, the good and the difficult, we know He is there leading us and speaking to us.
A curse would be just the opposite.
A curse begins the moment we realize, because of our sin, G-d is no longer with us.
We have moved away from Him.
We no longer sense Him working in our life.
When we lose G-d’s touch we lose spiritual strength.
A curse is not a punishment, but a consequence of our actions.
You were created to have meaning and G-d’s direction in your life.
Life is not mere chance.
You were created for a specific purpose, a purpose only you can fill.
Our blessing is when we are walking in that purpose knowing G-d is there intimately directing our steps.
3.Is there a difference in G-d punishing us for our sin and G-d hiding His face from us? What does scripture say about these two things? What would be G-d’s purpose in hiding His face from us?
Divine punishment happens when G-d disciplines us when we sin
Heb. 12:4-11 says He disciplines us in order that we may repent and “share in His holiness.”
Hebrews 12:4-11, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the L-rd’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; G-d is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but G-d disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
G-d Hides His face from us when we stubbornly continue on in our sin
He hides His face from a nation when they do the same.
When we are in this place we are out from under the Almighty’s covering
We are out of His protection.
There are many passages in scripture when Israel found itself in this place
They suffered the consequences until they repented.
When this happens to a nation not only do the people that are sinning suffer the consequences of their sin but also innocent people might suffer too.
Micah 3:4, “Then they will cry to the L-RD, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds.
Deut. 31:17-18,
“Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our G-d is not among us?’ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.”
Why would G-d hide His face from us?
To teach us the value of His presence
By withdrawing it for a time it would remind us of who we are without Him.
Eph. 1:18, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,”
To show us our weakness without Him.
John 15:5, “ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”