Being Still | “The Reminders We Don’t Know We Need”
This is the first week in, what I hope to be, a new weekly [weekend] series on the blog. It’s an idea I’ve sort of had in the back of my mind for a long time, but didn’t really realize I WANTED to do until recently a couple friends told me I should do it, without me even prompting them. They said, “You know what Molly? You should write a weekly devotional on your blog! I’d read it!”
And I thought, “Well, yeah! I’ve always wanted to do something like that… I love writing… and as I’m trying to grow as a woman and a Christian, I feel like this would be something that would help to keep me focused and hold me accountable.”
Even if you’re not a Christian or you’re not a believer, I hope that everyone will get SOMETHING out of this series. In fact, if you’re not a Christian or if you’re not a believer, I really HOPE that you read it… because I was where you are not that long ago. In fact, I was SUPER far from anything “God” related. I don’t want you to be turned off by it JUST because it’s a “devotional.” Think of it more like “Molly’s deep thoughts” – or something. I also promise not to make it too touchy feely, if I can help it. Baha! I just genuinely want to use this as an opportunity for me to step outside of my comfort zone and possibly learn a little something along the way.
I am not a member of the clergy, I am not a nun (obviously, nothing against nuns or anything…), I did not grow up Christian, I did not go to a Christian school, and I do not know everything. I’m just learning, much like most of us are. So, there’s that.
I started the “read the Bible in a year” plan on January 1st, and I’m chugging along quite well… although I have had to use the “catch me up” feature of my plan more times than I’d like to admit. But that’s neither here nor there. My hope and my goal with this is just to share my heart with y’all, share maybe something I’m wrestling with or struggling with, share some successes, share some failures, share some revelations, etc.
So, without further ado… let’s kick off the first week of this thing!
Being Still | “The Reminders We Don’t Know We Need”
Relevant scripture: The books of Leviticus and Numbers (pretty broad, I know)
Like I said earlier, I’ve been going through a read the Bible in a year plan since the beginning of the year. I was doing GREAT at first. It breaks it up where you read a little Old Testament, then a little Psalms, then some New Testament, etc. You’re not just reading straight through. Well, at first I was so proud of myself (I know, pride is ugly) because I was AHEAD of pace. Genesis is such an ACTION packed book that I just kept reading! And then I was reading through Matthew and I felt like a rockstar because I love the book of Matthew.
So there I was, a month into the plan and BOOM, I’m ahead of schedule and feeling like I’m learning a lot and really gleaning from the reading.
I got through Genesis, I got through Exodus, and then I got to Leviticus and Numbers.
I’ll be honest, I started to slooooooow down, big time. If you know NOTHING about the Bible or have never read the books of Leviticus and Numbers before, let me tell you – it’s A LOT of rules. So many rules. So many laws. So many offerings. So many this and so many that. It’s a bit dry, if I’m being honest. Genesis and Exodus there’s just so much HAPPENING! The earth is being created and Noah’s building an ark and Moses is parting the Red Sea and it’s awesome.
Leviticus and Numbers are like, “You can do this, but you can’t do that. And if you do that, then you will have to do this to make up for that. And then to make up for that, you’ll have to do this, that, that, and more of this. Oh, and then you also HAVE to do this, no matter what, because THAT is forbidden.” etc. etc. etc. etc. It’s a lot of that.
There’s like 27,828 types of offerings that have to be made – the burnt offering, the guilt offering, the sin offering, the wave offering, and this sacrifice and that sacrifice… I can’t keep track of them all. And then there’s like an entire chapter dedicated to names! Just names of people who were there when this or that happened.
And I got lost.
And I started to get BORED.
I’m just being honest.
I kept thinking to myself, “Lord, seriously?! This is out of hand. This is out of control. There are like WAY too many rules here and I can’t follow and I can’t keep reading this much longer because I keep falling asleep halfway through the 17th wave offering. WHY on earth did you include all this stuff in the Bible? WHY on earth did you make the Israelites do all that stuff? How could they even keep track of it all? Why are all these names necessary?”
And I went on and on and on and on complaining to God that I had to read this stuff and get through it just to get back to the action packed stuff. I want to get through this stuff so I can start reading more about Jesus and learn more about Him. I just want to get to Jesus, God!!!!
But then it kinda hit me like a ton of bricks. God doesn’t want to hear me complain, but the truth is, He is laughing at my complaining because I am totally failing to see what’s right in front of me.
Because of Jesus, because God sent His son, I don’t HAVE to worry about remembering or following all those crazy rules and all those laws in the Old Testament. Because Jesus was the ultimate offering and the ultimate sacrifice. God put all that stuff in place so that Jesus could come and take all of it off our plates for us. And, God, of course, left it all in the Bible so that we can be reminded of ALL that Jesus has done FOR us.
It’s such a simple thing, but so profound.
At the root of it all, I am reminded that I need Jesus. Every day of my life I need Jesus. If it weren’t for Jesus, we’d STILL have to remember all those rules and offerings and this and that and life would be pretty dang tough. But Jesus gives us (and ME) so much freedom and peace.
The whole time I was sitting there complaining about having to trudge through the reading I didn’t really want to do, but I know I needed to do, I was failing to see the positive in it all. I was failing to see the good in it all. I was failing to see what I could learn from what was difficult for me.
And if you’re not a believer, how does this apply to you? Well, think about it, so often we are “forced” (whether literally or figuratively) to do something we don’t necessarily WANT to do, but something we know we NEED to do. Think of something like exercise. Sure, there are probably a lot of times where you REALLY don’t feel like working out, but you know you need to. And there are times when you’re in the midst of working out or running a race or doing a REALLY tough set on the bench press and you’re in so much pain or you’re so tired or there are 100 other things you’d rather be doing… but all the while, you’re failing to see the bigger picture.
The bigger picture being the end result… you’re in better shape! You’re healthier! You completed a goal! You crossed the finish line! Whatever that end result may be… you’re failing to see it in the midst of the frustration.
Or if you’re having to work on a huge project for work and you know that it’s a giant pain in the rear and you don’t want to do it, but you know that you HAVE to do it or you HAVE to complete it in order to get where you want to go. Instead of complaining, take a step back and look at the process. Learn from the process. What opportunities are there for you to grow throughout the process?
It’s the same concept… just simplified.
It’s those tough times and those frustrations (even if they seem totally trivial) that are the reminders we don’t even know we need for us to appreciate where we end up.
As a Jew, I’m a little ambivalent about the idea that Jesus came along to save people from the tedium of the Old Testament and to let them eat pork and stuff. I mean, I don’t have a problem with people eating pork (and I actually do so myself), but I hate the smug attitude I sometimes hear of “I’m allowed to eat pork because I have Jesus. Jews have to keep kosher because they don’t have Jesus.” Jesus and whether or not the OT law is followed have nothing to do with each other. The reason that temple rituals aren’t followed anymore is because the temple was destroyed by hostile invaders. Pure and simple. Titus and the Romans did that, *not* Jesus, who had already died, although Jesus allegedly predicted it during his life.
The Messiah in Judaism is not somebody who comes to render the OT laws obsolete. The Messiah is someone who is so powerful and morally upstanding as to be a role model who causes everybody in the world to worship God and all Jews to follow the law. If Jesus is the reason for the OT laws to have lost importance then he was not the Messiah in the Jewish sense. Even in the Koran, Jesus doesn’t say that his preaching takes the place of the Law of Moses, he says his preaching “confirms” it.
My minister friend puts it very nicely when she says that the Bible was not a book for people in ancient times, it was a whole library. It serves more than one function. It is philosophy, it is poetry, it is legislation, it is history and historical record-keeping, it is mythology and allegory. God gave us a reasoning mind to figure out which parts are which. God is not teaching you a lesson by boring you with lists of names; that part of the Torah (a better name than Old Testament, by the way, which implies obsolescence and irrelevance) is merely meant to serve as a historical record which was important at the time, and if you have no use for it, don’t feel that you have to read it out of obligation. It is not going to make you a better person, nor is it all a big set-up for Jesus.
I’m not trying to talk you out of worshipping Jesus or anything like that, I just want to encourage you not to fall into the predictable pattern of thinking that the Torah is just something that Jesus came to wave away. The Torah was a way of life for a nation. Some of that way of life is worth preserving, and some may not be. You have to think about it, not just say “oh this is so boring, thankfully Jesus got rid of it.” Because he didn’t. Remember that Jesus didn’t come up with “love thy neighbor” himself, he learned it from Leviticus.
Maybe when you read all those complex temple rituals you could reflect on what was lost when the Babylonians, then the Romans destroyed the temples. Maybe you could reflect on the hundreds of complex and possibly beautiful Indian and Aboriginal rituals that don’t get practiced anymore and that we don’t even know about because conquerors destroyed those people’s way of life. That would be a better lesson, in my humble opinion, than thinking about how this is just something we have to choke down like yucky medicine in order to get to Jesus.
Hey IB! I really appreciate you taking the time to read this post and respond so thoughtfully (and thoroughly, I might add!)… I totally respect your positioning, and it’s not my job to argue with you… I just must simply agree to disagree… the point of this post was not to harp on just the “rules” and all that stuff… it’s merely a microcosm of a much larger picture and a much larger struggle that I deal with (and I think many Christians, and possibly Jews – but I don’t know) deal with. I absolutely agree with your minister friend that the Bible serves more than one function – absolutely!! For me, it’s a holy book that can (and does) teach me about everything in life… from relationships, to morals, to pursuing a calling, to how to just be a good person, to how to worship God, to learning about history, to how to do… well… pretty much anything… I could go on, but I just wanted to say that this post was really about a whole lot more than just “being bored by God’s rules and oh thankfully Jesus got rid of that” – because that’s really missing the point and the bigger picture. Jesus did a WHOLE lot more than just “get rid of the rules” 🙂 He came to save sinners (of which I am very much one) and that’s what I’m most thankful for above all else.
Again, I really really appreciate you coming and reading and engaging in discussion!! Thank you so much!!
As a new reader and fan, I have to say this post really bothered me. While you say that this post was about “a whole lot more” than “Phew, the crazy rules are gone!” that’s really what seemed to be the point of the post.
As an observant Jew, I can tell you that those “crazy rules” really aren’t so crazy when you live them. Some of them can even be pretty fun:) I practice them, I study them, I teach them to my children. My family members generations ahead died for them. So to hear them dismissed in this way is offensive.
I normally just dismiss comments like these when I read them on blogs. But after reading so many thoughtful, informative posts of yours I think you should be aware that this came off as extremely dismissive and rude to me, and probably some others as well. It seems a bit of a departure from the classic you.
Hey Keshet – I just want to sincerely apologize if the post came off that way to you and if you were offended in any way. That is never, ever, ever my intention and for you to feel as though your beliefs as a Jew were being dismissed, I am truly sorry. I realize that and see how this post could come across that way, but I truly hope that you see and know my heart and that’s not my intention.
Honestly, my purpose in sharing this post and my purpose in sharing my heart here was just to openly talk about some of the struggles I have (and I know many Christians have – and I’m sure there may even be some Jews that share the same struggles) with some of the law portions of the Bible / Torah. And ultimately a lot of those struggles are just a microcosm of some of the larger struggles I have as a follower of Jesus.
I don’t mean to sound defensive or like I’m brushing off your comment and feelings because that is not the case at all.
I’m also probably not articulating myself as well as I could or should… But it truly is my hope that you hear my heart on this and know that I in no way dismiss those rules, laws, and traditions God created… I know it’s because of those rules, laws, and traditions that we are even here today. So, for that I’m so grateful! Among MANY things.. I am super grateful.
I guess what I’m ultimately just trying to say is – I’m not perfect. I screw up. I make mistakes. And I am extremely ignorant when it comes to a lot of this stuff. I’m an imperfect sinner doing the best I can to learn, grow, and mature in my faith. And I know that along the way I am gonna stumble… And here I could have and should have done better for you and all the other Jewish readers that I have who may have felt put off by this post.
I hope you can accept my apology!
Thank you so much for reading and for feeling comfortable enough to leave such honest feedback. I hope you will always do that! (But I also hope not to offend you. :))
-Molly
Of course, and I only wrote because I feel like I know you a bit from your blog, and this seemed very not “you.” I think you are rocking it, and I know you will continue to:)
Thank you, Keshet!!
I am so looking forward to this series!
This is awesome, and SO true! Thank you for sharing! I’m looking forward to this serious.
I was so happy to wake up to this today! I have been following the plan to read the Bible in six months and I am sad to admit that the OT often bores me as well. Thanks for this insight! I will keep that in mind as I read! Susan
Great devotional!! I thought the same thing when I read through the Bible last year with our church and I came to the very same conclusion (after I complained a whole lot…even to my hubby). Can’t wait to read more of your devotionals. Thank you for being faithful to the prompting of God!!
I needed this today! And it almost seemed as if I was writing it myself! I look forward to reading more of these, hoping my health will continue to improve so I can keep up 🙂
Love this, can’t wait to read it every week!
I love it!!!! Love you and your passion!!!! My heart just…the thought….of……well wow!!! I just got my answer!!! Thanks Molly!!!
Oh girl. Love. (And totally agree with trudging through)