Week 5: Accountable
Weekly Chapters: Exodus 39 - Leviticus 20
Passage of the Week: Leviticus 10:10
Adjective:
Subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable
Capable of being explained; explicable; explainable
Additional Meanings:
Liability
Blameworthiness
Answerability
Father God
Thank You for this time with You, time You have helped me carve out of my day to get back to You, back to homeostasis that works in a busy life. Lord, You are my hope, my foundation, my guiding light. This week, we are focusing on Accountability. Open my heart and mind to what You want me to hear and see, guide me into the path that You have in mind for me. Thank You for staying with me and guiding me through this process.
Amen.
Authentic vulnerability:
Accountability is a big thing in our household. We all make mistakes but admitting your mistakes is true maturity. We cannot learn from our mistakes unless we fess up to them. Leviticus is all about being accountable and ceremonially admitting to the error and making restitution.
Sometimes though, admitting our flaws is messy, ugly. We have all been there, me more than others I often feel. Our mothers told us if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all. My husband is good at this—I am really good at the opposite. I admit it, I gossip, a lot. At work, with girlfriends, to my husband who pretends to listen in support but likely cares less. And why is this my addiction? To move the focus from my own errors and shortcomings? As a juicy way to bond with others? Whatever the reason—this is where my atonement usually begins. If I were an Israelite, my husband would freak from the number of bulls sacrificed in a day. So why do I struggle with this?
Bible Study:
Leviticus brings to light God’s commands of his people, he expands on the 10 commandments and gives guidelines for his people to follow. All of the acts that he detested in the Canaanites and Egyptians were exposed and forbidden for his chosen people. In Lev 20:22-26, God expresses that the land he is saving for his people is holy and they must not bring their detestable ways into it: those ways that were evil yet commonplace among those who were not chosen. As well God makes it clear that we will all sin and commit acts that we should not, in that God created a manner for atonement, a way to wipe our sins away.
God created ceremonies for each type of sin. The ceremony would do two things: create a manner in which to rid sin and an observance of one’s sin that is drawn out, remembered and memorialized, and hopefully not committed again.
God created high stakes for the priests to follow his directive, disobedience could result in banishment or death. God is telling us that our atonement for our sins is important and meant to create learning so that we do not repeat our sins. God knows we are human and prone to sin (Ex 33:3). And in knowing this, God decided what to do with us by creating the atonement model (Ex 33:3 left us with God not yet deciding what to do with us).
The atonement process was created so that we have time to reflect on our sin, think about what we have done, it is the notorious putting your toddler in time out to think about what they have done. We all need some time out, some reflection on where our life is and where we want it to be. I can say honestly that my life is not where I am meant to be nor where I want it to be. I recreate the same track of sin in my life. It is akin to a favorite scene in a movie that you watch over and over again, yet it is my least favorite scene that I cannot avoid watching (Bill Murray in Groundhog Day). Do you have a similar scene?
Note: The new testament altered the atonement model by removing the animal and grain sacrifice. See Hebrews 9 for further reading.
Father God
Thank You for Your blessings and faith in me. Thank You for the many gifts You have given me. Lord, help me conquer my Groundhog Day. Only through You and Your love can I conquer this sin and become my better self. I can do this with Your help. It will be my constant companion and I will need Your help often to overcome this. Thank You for Your enduring love and grace. Be with me this week. I love You, Father God
Amen.
Homework:
What is your repeating sin? Create a ceremony by finding a quiet time to think about this sin, work at the circumstances around it. Why am I doing this? What is my motivation? Does it make me feel a certain way? And would I proudly stand in front of a packed room of my family and friends and admit to it? This exercise is not meant to create guilt, it is to look at that sin and get to the root.
Next, think of exit strategies: If I am tempted to sin in this way, I will do this instead. Examples: politely bow out, snap a rubber band on your writs, or sing praise to the Lord and pray.
There is a likelihood that this sin is a repeatable part of your life. You have banished it before and it keeps returning. Ask God for guidance and wisdom. Picture being the victim of the sin, think of the sin being waged against a loved one. This sin is your Waterloo your Groundhog Day (hopefully you know about Napoleon’s Waterloo or saw Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day movie as you read this). This sin is your weakness and you are not weak. Try to crush it daily. We are all in this together with God and we all have weaknesses.
