{"id":4273,"date":"2022-09-26T23:24:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T04:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4273"},"modified":"2022-09-26T23:24:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T04:24:37","slug":"devotional-on-leviticus-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-leviticus-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Leviticus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Z0_NTQ8ZxjY\/XTYVCvEs_pI\/AAAAAAAA9jg\/0t-HXusP1HMykMErP9lPeZZXM0sN-ZKiACKgBGAs\/s1600\/PHOTO_20140606_152337.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; La Conner, WA<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThere\u2019s bad news<br \/>\nLeviticus 26: But if you refuse to obey me<br \/>\nWhile I\u2019d like to linger on the blessing side of Leviticus 26 I have to move on to the curse side of the chapter.  God tells them, \u201cIf you obey&#8230;good things will come.  If you disobey&#8230;the results will be unthinkable.\u201d  The list is filled with everything from disease to famine to war to cannibalism.   While these horrible things are framed as divine retribution the last part of this terrible section makes it clear that all these things will come \u201cbecause of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors\u2019 sins.\u201d  With that clarification in mind I see that this passage isn\u2019t about God getting them if they don\u2019t behave but, instead, is a clear word of warning that people reap what they sow.  I\u2019m not saying that the Lord has nothing to do with some of the promised terrible things, just that if they remove themselves from his blessings this, in general, is what the real world looks like.  Apart from the Lord\u2019s provision and protection they\u2019ll find the world to be a harsh, unforgiving place.  As one generation after another shrugs off their connection to the Almighty they will fall deeper and deeper into a pit of despair and desperation.   God doesn\u2019t have to send bad things into people\u2019s lives because we live in a world where bad things sometimes happen.  While it\u2019s beyond the scope of this short devotional, the truth is that bad things come into the lives of both the righteous and the unrighteous.  However in this passage the Lord warns his people that if they reject his presence and grace, severing the special connection they have with him the result will be what&#8217;s described in this passage.<br \/>\nTake Away: The world is a dangerous place, especially for those who live outside the grace and mercy of the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s bad news Leviticus 26: But if you refuse to obey me While I\u2019d like to linger on the blessing side of Leviticus 26 I have to move on to the curse side of the chapter. God tells them, \u201cIf you obey&#8230;good things will come. If you disobey&#8230;the results will be unthinkable.\u201d The list is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,7],"tags":[140,235,532,643],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13929,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273\/revisions\/13929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}