update april 15th 2018 ~ by leilani
Today is the 1st day of the 2nd week of seven weeks. Today is the 8th day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.
I cry to Jehovah with my voice; I pray to Jehovah with my voice.
I pour out my complaints before Him; I declare my distress before Him.
When my spirit faints within me, then…
I cry to You, O Jehovah; I say, You are my refuge, my portion…
Attend to my cry…
Bring my soul out from prison to give thanks to Your name…
for You shall deal bountifully with me. Psalm 142
Update April 12th 2015
Today is eight days, which is one week and one day of the omer. I’m not sure if I’m being overly sensitive because of the time I’m spending in reflection and introspection because I’m counting the days to Pentecost, but when I read Day 6 I immediately focused on this, “And the Egyptians pursued after them…” Do you ever feel like your past sins are chasing you, at times even trying to run you down?
How long
I feel like the Psalmist, “How long must I struggle in my soul at night and have sorrow in my heart during the day?” Why am I still so haunted by the past? How long am I going to feel the guilt over what I did before I was saved? And even worse how long will the guilt my stumbling after I was saved, torment me? I realize that there are still the consequences of those missteps to deal with, but sometimes it is unbearable to remember. And yet, as I am writing this I realize that I no longer ruminate over the past, during the day, while I do routine tasks that require little or no thought. It is only those nights when falling asleep doesn’t come easily or some nightmare from the past wakes me up.
But thanks be to God!
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
So, God is healing the brokenness in me day by day. I need only remember the victories He has already brought me through, large and small, singing in my heart–
“The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. Exodus 15:2
Original Post April 15th 2012
22 Abib/Nissan 1313 BC
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. Exo 12:17
“For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. Exo 13:6
22 Nissan 31 AD
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1Co 5:8
This feast has so much symbolism in it, I don’t know where to begin! Partially because it’s part of the Passover and First Fruits and then ending with Pentecost. In the Old Testament story we see that Egypt represents bondage, slavery, sin. Reading the Exodus story we come to see that although getting the Jews out of Egypt was a miraculous task, getting Egypt out of the Jews was much more daunting! And 1300 years later God’s plan came to fruition in Christ. Celebrating this feast gives us the chance to remember the “Egypt” He has taken each of us out of. To me that is the most precious miracle each and every one of us can remember personally.
When you consider the nature of both leavened and unleavened bread, you can see several spiritual comparisons with sin and righteousness.
• Living in sin is easy; being righteous is hard. Because of its soft texture leavened bread is easier to eat than unleavened bread, likewise, going the way of sin is easier than living righteously (Matt. 7:13-14). Obeying God is difficult, because you still have a carnal nature that wants to sin (Rom 7:14-25).
• Sin exalts the self, righteousness builds humility. Leaven puffs bread up. The same is true of sin. It puffs up in the sinner his desire to exalt himself, rather than allow God to rule him (Ps 10:3).
• Sin’s pleasures are temporary; the benefits of righteousness endure. Leavened bread, left for very long soon becomes hard and moldy. Unleavened bread lasts much longer. Spiritually, the pleasures of sin soon pass away (Job 20:12-16) the end result is eternal death (Rom 6:23). Righteousness in contrast, brings both temporal and eternal blessings (Deut. 28:1-11, Ps. 15)
• Sin spreads easily, righteousness is built slowly. It doesn’t take long for leaven to spread throughout a loaf of bread. This is the way sin is, it spreads rapidly (Gal. 5:9), whereas building right character takes a lifetime.
• Sin is based on deceit; truth is the basis for righteousness. What you see is not what you get with a loaf of leavened bread. Air pockets give the impression that there’s more in the loaf than there really is. Sin also appears to be something it isn’t, deceiving the sinner into thinking he is getting something worthwhile when he is really earning the death penalty (Heb. 3:13). With righteousness there is no deceit, only truth (Ps. 119:151, 172).
• Sin is more prevalent than righteousness. Most people prefer leavened bread because they find its taste more desirable. Is it really better? Not necessarily — just more common. People are accustomed to it. Spiritually, the same is true. Most people prefer to live in sin. But you must reject sin, and choose to live a righteous life (Deut. 30:19).
• Sin builds a false image. Righteousness builds true character. As you have seen, leaven gives a false impression. So does the sinner. He may appear impressive on the outside, but is he? Read Matthew 23:27. True character is based on much more than outward appearance, It involves righteous living based on obedience to God’s Word ( I John 2:5).
God is showing, through the analogy of leaven, that He wants us to escape the clutches of sin and lead righteous lives. — George M Kackos
Comments