Tues.’s Devo - The Laws of Leprosy

Read: Leviticus 13:1-59; Mark 6:1-29; Psalm 39:1-13; Proverbs 10:10 God gave the laws for leprosy which is a disease of the skin. Sin is a disease of the flesh so leprosy is a picture of sin. It gives us several different types of leprosy and I will interpret them as I see it. One was swelling in the skin which I would think meant pride since pride makes you think you are better than you are. Another leprosy produced a rash which I would think would be the sin which so easily besets us. This would show up differently in people. To some it might be lust for sex but to others it might be lust for things. It might be a rut that we go to instead of going to Jesus. A boil would be dealing with anger since it makes us boil in the inside. A burn might indicate an offense that someone does to another. They might burn them in a business deal or with a relationship which would leave a mark. A sore on the head or chin might be stubbornness since the top of the head is really hard and the jawbone is something you set when you have made up your mind. All of these are my interpretations but the remedy is the same. First you go to the priest and let him examine you. That would be us going to the Lord and asking him to examine our hearts. If he sees that our sin is not healing but causing an affect outside of ourselves we have become contagious and need to be isolated. In other words, if we haven’t brought it to the cross and allowed Jesus to heal our hearts, we need to do some work. Some of these take time to change and get over so we go into isolation which is God’s school of forgiveness or deliverance. It might take years before we graduate and are proclaimed clean. Our job is to surrender to God’s process. If we don’t then we will spread our sin to others. Leprosy could also be in inanimate objects like mildew. If it is in clothing it is a picture of the garments we are wearing. God said that we are clothed with righteousness which comes from Jesus’ finished work on the cross. If we have allowed our garments to become dirty we need to clean up our outward appearance whether that is the words that come out of our mouth, the things we ingest or the company we keep. In Mark, we see how leprosy grew and what it produced. When Jesus went to his hometown and preached it brought out the stubbornness in them. They couldn’t believe that someone from their own town could be used by God so mightily. They were not healed because of their unbelief. Jesus gave his disciples authority to heal and cast out demons and sent them out to the people. He told them that any place that wouldn’t receive them they should shake its dust from their feet to show that they had abandoned the people to their own fate. Herod had the leprosy of pride and lust. His lust had led him to take his brother’s wife and be enticed by the lustful dancing of his wife’s daughter. He was hooked into killing John the Baptist because of his pride. Sin causes us to become trapped in a web that only Jesus can set us free from but the Good News is - He can and He will. Our Psalm is perfect for this lesson. Lord, we ask you to examine our hearts and see if there be any wicked way in us and deliver us from evil. Our hope is in You.