As the story began to transition from the beginning of life to the beginning of God's chosen people, I was overcome with wave after wave of revelation. It smacked me right in the heart really. The thought, No Longer Slaves, came to me over and over again once I got to the part of the story where Moses led the people out of Egypt and they began their wandering. What struck me in the very first scene was that the people were literally no longer slaves, but they carried with them a slave mentality.
After the amazing miracles they had witnessed God perform, not to mention the actual visible and tangible presence of the Lord that traveled with them, the minute they were left to their own devices they all lost their dang minds. I was reminded of my years in law enforcement when an offender was released to their freedom, his/her first response was to party, use drugs/alcohol to access, and get themselves in all manner of troubles. Within a couple days they would be back behind bars. The Hebrews did just that; however, going back to Egypt wasn't an option. Even when they begged to be returned, or complained to the Lord about how 'good" life was in Egypt, He wouldn't allow them to go back to that prison. God's grace is unfathomable, because I was yelling at the pages of my bible, 'Let them go back to Egypt! Ungrateful little brats!" Haha! Praise the Lord that He holds onto our future and continually leads us to our purpose despite our grumbling. Thank you Jesus that He doesn't give up on us and that he doesn't give us what we deserve. I can't help but to tie this with some of Jesus' last words which I will tweak a bit, "Forgive them Father they do not know what they [ask]." Amen! Amen! When I have no hope, I am carried on the mighty, capable wings of Jesus' hope for me.
Back to the lecture at hand: Once Moses and the Lord returned to camp, the law was laid down. I'm talking every manner of law/rules you can imagine; very reminiscent of the millions of rules we have to keep our toddlers fed, clothed, and safe. Don't touch this or that. Wash your hands. Take a shower. Eat this but not that. Don't go here. Don't talk to these or those people. These millions of people had lived for generation as salves and that slave mentality was handed down from generation to generation to generation. They didn't know how to live without rules, and God being the merciful gentle God He is, He provided the rules they needed to unwind, undo, and rewrite the way they thought, acted, and lived. Isn't that beautiful. I used to think that the Lord was mean [a mean daddy] who was full of these rules and standards for living that felt overwhelmingly difficult. However, it is quite the opposite! The Hebrews were so used to being slaves that they needed the instruction of the Lord, in all things. They didn't know how to live that life and dwell in the freedom God had provided. They needed step by step instructions for how to live.
My other revelation came when I got to Leviticus, which most people find pretty drab. This book of the Bible not only lays down all the don'ts and dos, but it gives clear instruction for how to build the 'church'. In the past I dredged through this chapter, skip reading all the way through it. It really didn't interest me, and I thought it was a bit cruel to require such labor of a people who just left a life of slave labor; however, this time, I was stopped in my tracks. Again, the Lord showed me His gentle kindness, His provision, His grace for meeting us where we are, not where he wants us to be. This building was not only the brilliant plan of putting idol hands to work, but also a lesson in generous giving. God asked all people to freely give the items needed for construction, very expensive and treasured items. I imagine these items have been horded from generation to generation, hidden away from their masters' eyes. Treasured. Revered. These items gave them an identity, a sense of freedom from their oppressors, and probably the only hopeful legacy they could leave to their children. God asked them to give, and they did, so much so that Moses had to tell the people to stop giving, that they had more than enough. Isn't that so good! Not only did they freely give, I like to think, they did so with an excited expectation; however, their God did not take advantage of them. When enough was reached, He said enough. Just so beautiful. In that moment, despite all that the Lord had done for them, all the miraculous things they had experienced, for the first time in their lives, they experienced trust. I can hardly handle the goodness of that. And God didn't stop there! He commanded that each person of his/her craft make/build this or that. In that simple command, God knew this would water the trust seeds in their heart to full bloom. He knew them. He saw them. He valued the things they were skilled at and He provided an outlet for them to create and build. And this was for them! Not for a cruel master or an unrelenting pharaoh, but it was for them. For them to meet with God, for them to gather as a community, for them to celebrate together, to mourn together --just for them. I love this!
These wanderings brought me back to the beginning of my walk with the Lord. I was such a slave. I was in an immeasurable amount of bondage. I couldn't figure out how to live free or how to operate my life in an atmosphere of freedom. I kept making poor chooses even though I didn't want to. I kept going back to my vomit, even though I detested it. And then I received instruction from the Lord! John and I withdrew from everyone we knew, places we used to go, and things we used to do. With the closing off, He had us dig deep trenches within the church. We were there as often as we could. We volunteered for anything that would bring us in to the presence of God and other believers. We only had christian friends, we only did christian things, we only went to christian functions. We surrounded ourselves with God, His people, and His church. We needed that to break free from our slave mentality. We needed that to heal. We needed that to grow and know God in a real and intimate way. We needed that christian bubble to learn how to walk in the freedom God provided.
When we moved to Bend, I heard the Lord clearly say the word "Mature". I have pondered this 100 different ways, but I've finally figured out what is means. We are called out of the christian bubble. We are called mature because of the fact that John and I are truly, for the first time in our lives, walking in real freedom. Nothing to us matters more than our being obedient to the Lord. No one or nothing is more important than following every detail, no matter how crazy it sounds, to the 'T'. Our wandering has taken 18 years! 18 years of training and practice. 18 years of getting things so very wrong and God showing us how to get it right. We are by no means perfect or above the reaches of sin, but I can say with confidence that when we sin it's not on purpose or premeditated. The Lord has taught us the value of saying sorry in love and asking for forgiveness with a humble heart. I think maturity is acknowledging the propensity to sin and doing something about it when we do.
To sum it up, Leviticus is a journey from slavery to freedom. A walk from oppression to a life of hope.
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