Shabbat Devotional

CURRENT PORTION
TORAH: Leviticus 21:1-24:23
PROPHETS: Ezekiel 44:15-31
GOSPEL: Matthew 26:59-66

This week’s portion begins with the regulations for the priest. Again, as we saw in last week’s portion, we see God’s call for the priest to be set apart and to be Holy. Chapter 22 ends with a reminder and a call from the Lord. “Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy.” Leviticus 22:31-32 Just as the Levitical Priest were called to be set apart and be holy; we are called to do the same.
Then in chapter 23 the Lord tells Moses

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.” Leviticus 23:2 These are holy appointments set up by God to meet with his people. They were to keep these appointments for all generations.

I love the way Rabbi Jason Sobel uses the analogy of marriage to explain the significance of the appointed times. He explains, when we fall in love and get married, we want to learn all about our spouse, we set aside time to meet with them and spend time with them focusing on each other. You know the old saying that to KNOW someone is to LOVE them. If we want to know our Lord, we must set aside time to meet with him. Isn’t it awesome that the creator of the Universe asked us to set aside time to meet with him for all eternity. That is what he was doing in Leviticus 23.This week’s Shabbat devotional is a day later than usual.

We are going to do something different with this week’s devotional. We are going to break down these appointed feasts throughout the week and dig into them just a little more. I hope you set aside just a few minutes throughout the week to discover what the Lord had in mind and see how he wants to meet with you. He has always desired to meet with you since the creation of the world and he wants to meet with you today!