I find myself wanting to understand God more and more. He is Holy. I wish I could fathom what that is. My physical mind has limitations. In Leviticus 11 God is instructing the people in what foods they can eat and what foods they cannot eat. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten. v. 47.

In starting this blog I wanted to share with you what I am learning about God. I want to share His incredible love for you. I’m a student of God just like you and I confess I don’t always understand. I know God is not arbitrary. I know God is love. I know that He cares for you and me and that He has a plan for each of us. The Old Testament presents instruction for a people who lived thousands of years ago. They did not know God. They were surrounded by nations that were worshipping gods they made with their own hands, or were worshipping what God had created and calling that god. They worshipped in ignorance because they didn’t know God. God is Holy. He is not like us. He is Spirit. We are flesh and blood, the created. He was taking a people and teaching them laws and regulations to help them.

I used to belong to a Church that tried to observe all of the laws of God written in the Old Testament. I observed the food laws, the Sabbath, the Holy Days because Jesus observed all of those things when He walked on this Earth. When we began to realize we were observing a covenant that had been superseded by a new covenant from God, many, including myself, fell away. How could that be? Even people who are not so exact in observing Old Testament regulations have felt the strong need for rules, for law, for legalism. Legalism takes over everything. It rules you with an iron fist. You try to “earn” your way to God’s love never realizing you can’t. I can relate to the Pharisees who were so incensed that Jesus came and upset all the “rules” they held so dear. They were obeying God! Jesus, God, made those rules. I don’t think Jesus ever ate unclean animals. There is a separation between what is Holy and what is not. Jesus also made it clear the unclean animals weren’t what were making their hearts unclean. Mark 7:18-20.

God was showing the people then and now that there is a difference between us, the physical, the created…and Him, Holy, Spiritual, the Creator. I want to know Him. In the Old Testament whenever God interacted with His prophets, they were stunned! They were interacting with Almighty God, the Holy One, and they couldn’t speak because their lips were unclean. They knew it, felt it. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:1-7. Isaiah, one of the great prophets, was being commissioned to work for God. He knew the difference between his unclean lips and God’s Holiness…how could he not in God’s Presence?

I read that and know the deep truth of God’s Holiness and what I am in comparison. I also know that God is my Shepherd, my shelter from every storm and in Whom I share every joy, concern, fear. I know how great my need is for Him as I live in a world that doesn’t honor Him as we should…as we need to…as He who is Holy deserves. When one day I come face to face with God, will I fall on my face as I try to run to His arms? I don’t know but I will find out. God is concerned with our hearts. He wants us. I don’t understand everything I read in my Bible, but I trust and know Him in my limited, physical way that He understands has limitations. That’s why He’s so patient with me. That’s why He is so patient with you.

When I was a child I was warned never to play in the street. I told my kids the same thing. Did that mean never walk in the street from that time on? God is not arbitrary. He leads us as we are capable of understanding and in our appointed times. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!