Today’s reading Leviticus 24-25
Focal Scripture: Leviticus 24: 16 “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; the whole community is to stone him. If he blasphemes the Name, he is to be put do death, whether the resident alien or the native.”
Here we see just how important the name of the Lord is and the instructions that follow. In this account a young man came out and blasphemed the name of the Lord during an argument. He was taken into custody and eventually found guilty. The consequence of his actions was death by stoning.
It just was not a small act though. The whole community was to come out and stone this young man for what he did. You may say that is is to far and that God is not showing any mercy or grace. God is demonstrating just how holy he is and that his name is above every name. The consequence for this youngs mans actions were not just on him but the entire community. The death was actually very intimate as the ones who heard him curse the name of the Lord had to put their hands on his head before they stoned him to death.
Today’s passage is pretty heavy. Death for just saying some words. Yes, death is required because Jesus told us out of the overflow of our heart the mouth will speak. How we speak about God reveals what we think about God. Some people have stinking thinking. They view the Lord not the way he is described or how he truly is, they despise him. This young man revealed his thinking about the Lord and suffered the consequences.
For us today we will not be put to death if we curse the name of the Lord. However, it does reveal our hearts. A heart that has not been changed by God will not have positive things to say about the creator of the universe. In simple terms how we talk to God and talk to others about God reveals much about us as indivicuals.
How would you describe God to others? I don’t mean when everything is going well but when you are in the heat of passion. Difficult times reveal what is truly going on in our hearts. What is going on in yours?
Tomorrow I plan on reading Leviticus 26-27
