Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy...

I know I've been quiet this past week. I struggled a bit to get through by Bible reading last week and therefore kept myself away from the computer in order to finish. My struggling was not from a lack of desire to complete it, but over the last 8 days, I read through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those are tough books to get through.

Still, I think God can teach us much through these books. For one, you cannot read these and not realize what a truly, HOLY God He is. The line from that song What Do I Know of Holy that posted a couple of weeks ago that says "I think I made You too small, I never feared You at all" kept running through my head as I read about the sacrifices and unclean/clean rules. I am so unbelievably grateful to live on this side of Jesus, but I wonder how often do I approach Him with a lack of reverance for His holiness?

Secondly, I think reading through these books in the Bible has to increase one's faith. I keep thinking of Isaiah 55:9, "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." I cannot wrap my brain around so much of what I've read these past few days, but I know that God doesn't think the way we think. That thought used to only bother me. I don't know why other than I'm the type of person who likes to figure everything out. Then, I realized at some point that if I could figure God out, He wouldn't be God. Now I'm am comforted by the fact that God works differently than us. And it only presses me on to learn as much as I can about Him from His word.

Lastly, I will readily admit that I feel somewhat victorious getting through these books of the law. Every time I've started reading through the entire Bible, I either get distracted, burnt out, give up when I tried to get through these books, or if I'm being completely forthright skip much of this information. I feel immature admitting that I've completely skimmed or jumped right over Leviticus and Numbers in past efforts. This time I committed to reading through every word of the Bible attentively and this time is different because I can only do it through God's grace, wisdom, and strength.

I am now looking forward to delving into the book of Joshua and seeing what God will reveal to me this week.