Tag Archives: Yahweh

Center

Scripture Crumbs from Numbers 2:17

The tent of meeting is to move out with the Levites’ camp, which is in the middle of the camps. They are to move out just as they camp, each in his place, with their banners.

God ordered the camp of the Israelites to place Himself in the middle. Each tribe had their place around the Tabernacle, with the Levites camping all the way around the Tent of Meeting.

God was to be their core – their center. Their relationship with Yahweh was to be protected and be held sacred. The presence and power of God was to emanate from within the people, marking each one as His own. To act or move forward without Him would sever the assembly. Everyone had to move together – the balance kept in the center through worship and communion with the awesome and almighty God.

God has ordered my life in the same way. He is to be the center, the core, of who I am. I cannot function without His sustaining presence. My world is meant to revolve around my relationship with God. Nothing is to infiltrate my life and interfere or tear down that relationship. God’s power, authority and love is to shine through my thoughts, attitudes and actions. My balance, satisfaction and purpose is only found through intimate worship, confession, cleansing and commissioning of the Holy Spirit residing in me, His temple.

God, is my life spinning without You at my core? Am I allowing distractions, other relationships or commitments to damage my relationship with You? Where is the dust in my life piling up and blocking Your light? Clean me Lord! Reorder what I have put in disarray. Center my life around You alone.

Namesake

Scripture Crumb from Leviticus 22:31-33

You are to keep My commands and do them; I am Yahweh. You must not profane My holy name; I must be treated as holy among the Israelites. I am Yahweh who sets you apart, the One who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh.

Over and over in the book of Leviticus, God reminds His people – I am your God. I rescued you. I set you apart. Obey me. Follow my commands. Be holy.

In this passage, God emphasizes that I must not profane His holy name. The people of Israel honored God’s name by obeying the law and reverencing Him in worship through proper sacrifice. They were God’s chosen people and were to act like it.

I’ve been chosen, too. God has rescued me – from myself, from my sin and from an empty future of no consequence. I bear His name as His daughter – Christian. I must not profane His holy name.

I must not accept what God says is unacceptable. I must do what He says, even if it is completely contradictory to what the world around me practices. I must continually work to have a right relationship with my God, following His plan of grace in my life.

Lord, purify my heart, my mind and my attitude. Give me your vision so I may distinguish between right and wrong, according to Your standards. Thank you for sending Jesus as the perfect sacrifice to atone for my sins. Help me to practice extending Your forgiveness and hope to those around me. Amen.