Daily Devotions
Harder Than It Has to Be
Title: Harder Than It Has to Be
Reading for February 6: Leviticus 26-27
“I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”
Leviticus 26:11-13
As Leviticus comes to a close, we come to this chapter where a list of blessings and curses are given. The blessings are for Israel if they are faithful to God’s commandments and the curses are promised if they are unfaithful and disobedient. As is the case with a similar list in Deuteronomy (ch 28), the list of curses is three times as long as the list of blessings (33 verses devoted to the curses versus 11 for blessings).
But our text for today’s devotion is at the end of the list of blessings, and it reminds Israel that they were redeemed for better things. He wanted to walk and to dwell (literally, tabernacle) among them and be their God. It was not God’s will that they should be slaves or live a hard and difficult life in the land. They were made for God.
Of course, we find that the history of God's people mirrors almost exactly what we read in the 26th chapter of Leviticus. They experience the curses promised here about three times as often as they enjoy the blessings God wanted to give them. God wanted the best for them, but they gave that all up to suffer the consequences of idolatry. Their stubbornness and pride prevented them from experiencing God’s blessings.
The same is true for us. We make life so much more difficult than it has to be. Obedience is not always easy, but it’s never complicated. We know God’s will. We know what he wants us to do. Ours is not a knowing, but rather a doing problem.
And our lives are needlessly difficult because of it.
Father, what have you required of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. Yet our willful pride always seems to get in the way. Humble us so that you might tabernacle among us and be our God.
