Walk in Wisdom
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These daily devotionals are written to help you remain rooted and grounded in God's Word each day. We have one devotional for each weekday, and one for the weekend.
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Latest Devotional
A Little Clarity
Leviticus 3:16b
“All fat is the LORD’s.”After asking the LORD for insight yesterday, I took the time to read Jewish commentaries on this Scripture in hopes of broadening my understanding of the Hebrew word, helev, discovering that it literally means ‘the layers of fat covering vital organs in the body.’ With that as a backdrop, I’ve come to the conclusion that this Levitical law itself is a helev around the heart of God, beyond the reach of finite human wisdom. Leviticus 3:16, similar to John 3:16, is a mystery so intertwined in divine Being, so hidden from human eyes, that the only way to uncover it is to open up the whole infinite Body and pick it apart piece by piece, which no theologian can do. Only Providence knows what Providence knows. Only Omniscience sees the parts as well as the whole. Only the Creator of body and soul can understand why thin layers of hidden fat are meaningful both as sacrifices and as symbols.
But consider the contrast between this Levitical ordinance and the New Testament ordinances of baptism and communion for insight. There’s an apparent difference between “All fat is Mine” and “Do this in remembrance of Me”. The first ordinance is a gift to God, for His partaking, and the others are gifts to us, for our partaking. For instance, by receiving Communion, we symbolically eat and drink of Christ’s sacrifice. And by passing through the waters of Baptism, we symbolically participate in Christ’s death and resurrection through a formal re-enactment. We know what they mean; we recognize that through them we imitate our Savior; and we’re grateful for a way to symbolically share in His redemptive work. But that is not the case with Leviticus 3:16. God alone is the symbolic partaker of this helev—not us. Which is why I see expressed in this sacramental mystery the chasm between divinity and humanity. The positive way to say it is that the feast of Christ’s covenant fills us to overflowing. The negative way to say it is that there’s so much more to the sacrifice than we can’t possibly swallow.
In a word, Leviticus 3:16 is just part of the helev of Redemption’s story—the fat of the Kingdom feast—those morsels of divine mystery that will always be indigestible to our human understanding.
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Buried in the Sinews
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Cometh the Tide
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Better than BBQ
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Sabbath Psalm (A revision of A. Cleveland Coxe’s hymn, ‘O Where are Kings and Empires Now?”)
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Picture Perfect
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Pressing Onward
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Unwritten Prayers
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Blood on Our Hands
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Goodness: the Greatest Blessing
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Frederick Brewster’s hymn, ‘Lord God, Our Thanks to Thee We Raise’)
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Shimmering in the Fire
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On Holy Ground We Tread
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You, Me, and Other Gemstones
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Self-Sacrifice
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Faith, Worked Out
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Mary Ann Lathbury’s hymn, ‘Break Thou the Bread of Life’)
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Love—in Excess
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A Hand-Me-Down Art
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Gendered Language
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The Afterglow
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Moses and the Red Letters
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of John Peterson’s hymn, ‘Holy Spirit, Now Outpoured’)
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Crime and Forgiveness
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Unbreakable
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On the Face of It
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The Distinguishing Mark
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A Plot Twist
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Frank Bottome’s hymn, ‘The Comforter Has Come’)
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Come Away with Me
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A Critical Departure
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Down with the Ship
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The Good Fight
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A Horror Story
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Sabbath Psalm 47 (Revised from John Peterson’ hymn ‘Jesus is Coming Again’)
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Come All Who Thirst!
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A Reassuring Truth
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What's On the Menu Today?
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Choices and Consequence
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What Have We Become?
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Sabbath Psalm 46 (Revision of John Bakewell’s hymn ‘Hail, Thou Once-Despised Jesus!’)
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When Adjectives Fail
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Epics and Epitaphs
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A Team Effort
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What a Guy!
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A Holy Touch
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Sabbath Psalm 45 (Revision of Thomas Kelly’s hymn ‘Hark! Ten Thousand Harps and Voices’)
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Name Your Price
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Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Smell
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A Most Fulfilling Prophecy
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Marked by the Blood
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Dressing the Part
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Sabbath Psalm 44 (Revision of John Peterson’s hymn ‘Open Wide, Ye Doors’)
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Facts and Feelings
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Priesthood: A Balancing Act
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Beautiful Glory—Glorious Beauty
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Lamplighters
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A Mobile Home
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Sabbath Psalm 43 (Revision of Giovanni P. Da Palestrina’s hymn ‘The Strife is Over’)
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An Open Door
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Gold Rush
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Practicing God’s Presence
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An Ark Like No Other
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A Heavenly Contribution
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Sabbath Psalm 42
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A Crackling Fire
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Picnic Time!
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There is a Fountain
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A Book Signing
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A Recurring Theme
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Sabbath Psalm 41
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Are You Listening?
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Almighty Love
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Got Justice?
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A Song to Share
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Fable of Farce?
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Sabbath Psalm 40
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A Revolutionary Idea
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The Avenger
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A Silver Lining
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Liberty by Submission, pt. 2
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Liberty by Submission, pt. 1
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Sabbath Psalm 39
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A Bit More Context
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Laws on Slavery (An Introduction)
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The Art of Worship
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A Deep Light
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A Word on Honor
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Blessed Rest
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What’s in a Name?
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The Law in Essence
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Further In
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Lead Me to Calvary
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The Gospel Call
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Supreme Court Justice
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An Intervention
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The Tie that Binds
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Coming Around
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Pitching In
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Strong as a Rock