Walking with God

What does a walk with God actually mean? How does God want us to live? Here are some scriptures I've copied from the devotional book: Footprints: Scripture with Reflections Inspired by the Best-Loved Poem by Margaret Fishback Powers.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I [the Lord God] give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road. When you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7

He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
Psalm 15:2-5

We are the temple of the living God. As God has said, "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2 Corinthians 6:16

This is what the Lord says, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
Jeremiah 6:16

Live a life worthy of the Lord...please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7

I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
Leviticus 26:12

When I find myself overwhelmed with the concerns of this world, sometimes it is just good to be reminded of scriptural truths. The Bible is a comfort to a weary soul. It just takes some time to understand.

Leviticus: The Holiness of God and of Man

When I read Leviticus, I quickly realized it is full of too much detail to summarize in a blog post. Here is a brief recap of the book after my study.

 The central theme of the book of Leviticus is the holiness of God and of man. On Mount Sinai, the Lord spoke instructions to Moses, who then explained these rules to the Israelites. A key verse is when the Lord commanded in Leviticus 11:45, "Be holy because I am holy." In the first paragraph, it says, "The Lord spoke to Moses," and this same reference is used more than 50 times in Leviticus. The date of the book is about 1446-1406 B.C.

The Israelites were given laws and regulations for worship at the tabernacle, instructions on ceremonial cleanliness, moral laws, holy days, the Sabbath year, and the Year of Jubilee.

The Lord required offerings to be given as a way to receive atonement, or forgiveness, for sins. The individual could bring the offering, but only an anointed priest could approach the altar. It was Aaron and his sons who were authorized by the Lord to be priests.

My textbook explains that many ancient near east religions sought to appease the numerous gods they worshiped by offering sacrifices. But the Israelites were told to be specific in offering their sacrifices and to always approach the Lord with reverence, humility, and obedience. The offerings had different purposes:

Old Testament Offerings (Lev. 1 - 16)

The Grain Offering (Lev. 2) expressed a gift of tribute to the Lord as a sign of submission and dedication. This was an exercise of worship, and it also provided food for the priests.


The Fellowship (Peace) Offering (Lev. 3, 7, 19, 22) was a celebration of God's blessings in praise, thanks and devotion. God received the fatty parts of the animal sacrifice, and the worshiper and family and priest ate the meat.


The Whole Burnt Offering (Lev. 1) was symbolic of a judicial substitution for sin and it was offered as a general repentance for sin, worship and total dedication to the Lord. The sacrifice had to to burned entirely to the Lord.


The Sin Offering (Lev. 4-5:13) expressed purification from unintentional sins against God. If this was offered on behalf of the priest or community, the sacrifice was totally burned and the blood was sprinkled in the Holy Place. For lay persons, the priest received the meat, and the blood was poured out at the altar.


The Guilt Offering (Lev. 5:14-6:13) was used for paying a debt, penalty, and compensation for damages against a person or the holiness of God. The priest received the meat.

The Lamb of God

The study of offerings and sacrifice in the Old Testament deserves a greater explanation than mine here. Furthermore, the significance of the role of the priest, the worshiper, and the act of atonement and reconciliation with God is seen throughout the Old Testament and again in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, John said about Jesus, "Look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And when Jesus was instructing his disciples on being servants, he said "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

Jesus washed his disciples' feet. (John 13)

Ordination of Aaron and His Sons

In Leviticus 8-10, Aaron and his sons were given instructions on priesthood. They were authorized to wear priestly garments and follow holy rituals when approaching the Lord to minister on behalf of the people. Eventually, Aaron's sons (Nadab and Abihu) became careless in their priestly duties and offered "unauthorized fire before the Lord." The fire consumed them. Moses then said, in Lev. 10:3,

"This is what the Lord spoke of when he said, 

'Among those who approach me

I will show myself holy;

in the sight of all the people

I will be honored.'"

The theme of obedience and holiness is central to the Bible's explanation of how to please God. It was not that man was able to be perfect, but that his heart should be humble before God. His actions reflected his obedience or disobedience to God's laws and commandments.

From these readings, this is my understanding of holiness (so far): to be set apart for God, willing to acknowledge his presence, his provision, and his power and to live at peace with him. This requires faith.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

The Sanctuary

Beginning in Exodus 25, God told Moses to have the Israelites construct a holy place, or sanctuary (v. 8). It says the skilled workers were empowered by God's Spirit to do the work (31:1-11). The tabernacle plans were extremely detailed and specific, another way of teaching that approaching God was on his terms (obedience) and in his (holy) place, "make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."

Materials (25:1-9)

Collect an offering from each man whose heart prompts him to give: gold, silver, and bronze; blue purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

Ark and Atonement (25:10-22)

Make a chest of acacia wood, overlay it with gold. Cast four gold rings and fasten them at the four feet. Make four poles of acacia wood overlayed in gold; insert the poles into the rings of the ark; do not remove them. Inside this ark, put the Testimony, which I [the Lord] will give you. Make an atonement cover, or lid, "Mercy Seat," of pure gold. Put two cherubim of gold at the ends of the cover; they are to face each other with their wings upraised and overshadowing the cover; put the ark in it.

The Table for the Bread (25:23-30)

Make a table of acacia wood, overlay it with gold. Make molding and a rim one handbreadth wide with gold; four rings and poles in gold; make plates and dishes of gold and pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings. Put the "bread of Presence" on the table always. There would be 12 flat cakes to equal the 12 tribes of Israel (Lev. 24:6).

The Lampstand (25:31-40)

Make a lampstand of gold and hammer it out; flowerlike cups, buds, and blossoms shall be of one piece. Six branches to extend (3 on each side). Wick trimmers and trays all of gold.

Replica of a Menorah

Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

In Exodus 26-27, further instructions are given for making curtains, frames, the placement of the curtains, table, lampstand, and the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.

In Exodus 27, detailed instructions are given for making the Bronze Altar and the courtyard. It says that in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening until morning as a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.

The last photo and a greater in-depth study of this section of Exodus can be found here. ~ More later!