Friday
Leviticus
26:1 You shall make for yourselves no idols and
erect no carved images or pillars, and you shall not place figured stones in
your land, to worship at them; for I am the LORD your God. 2 You shall
keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 If you
follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, 4 I will give
you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the
trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall overtake the vintage,
and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the
full, and live securely in your land. 6 And I will grant peace in the land, and you
shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous
animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land. 7 You shall
give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you
shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten
thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will look
with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you; and I will maintain
my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old grain long stored, and you
shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will
place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. 12 And I will
walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the
LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no
more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
The
first verse of Leviticus 26 echoes the first verses of the Ten Commandments.[1]
While these verses speak of “idols” and “carved images”, this is not an objection
to the creativity of artists or stone carvers. The core issue is about limiting
our understanding of God. The moment we try to “draw God”, or to carve a
representation of God, is the moment that we reduce God to the limits of our
understanding. God the Unknowable, the Unexpected, the Unexplained, the Wholly
Other cannot be captured in visible form. The commandment is not about carvings
– but is rather about limiting our picture of God.
There
are also other ways of limiting God. We can limit God through the use of images:
·
“God
our Father”, while offering a concept of love, also limits God to being male!
And the character of God is far more than the limitations of a male.
·
Some
refer to God as “the Old Man upstairs”: again, God is far more than a
benevolent grandfather.
·
Some
have God pegged as a vengeful tyrant, who will obliterate all who do not follow
Jesus. But this image falls short of the God of Grace.
Let
us not be guilty of making our God suitable to ourselves – literally making God
in our own image. The challenge for
today is to be reminded that God is bigger than anything we can imagine.
Thought
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
Third Sunday of Easter
24 The Lord is with us
The Scripture passage for
the day is drawn from Rueben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer
for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 154.
This reflection is from my own
devotional exercises for the day
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