Topic: Avoid Abominations [DCLM Daily Manna 4 August 2019 Daily Devotional]
Text: Leviticus 11:13-20 (KJV)
13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
15 Every raven after his kind;
16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
Key Verse: “All fowls that creep, going on all four, shall be an abomination to you” (Leviticus 11:20).
MESSAGE:
The Advanced Learners Dictionary defines “abomination” as a thing that causes disgust and hatred or is considered extremely offensive. And to God, an abomination is anything He hates and will want all His children to abstain from.
In our text, God gives a list of unclean fowls which were not to be eaten by the children of Israel. These were primarily birds that ate other animals or fed on dead carcasses. Mention also was made of flying insects as unclean, except those that had jointed jumper legs.
Israel as a chosen people of God must be peculiar in all things. Having been planted “a noble vine”, He expected fruits of righteousness from the nation. Sadly, Israel “turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto [him]”. God expects His children to be unique since He has “severed” them to be an holy people unto Him. But they despised His Word and deviated from all His holy commandments.
As it was with Israel, God expects the Church to live clean and abstain from all appearances of evil. Like Christ, “Who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners”, His Body must conduct her affairs in this evil and sinful world in a manner that befits their calling.
The Church and the world must remain incompatible. If Israel had hearkened to God’s numerous warnings and did not mingle themselves with the Canaanites and their idols, they would have remained preserved and protected from all enemies. And if the Church can keep herself from all evil and pollutions of the world, then the expected “glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” will be of immense benefit to her.
Thought For The Day: Avoid every form of abomination in order to identify with the holy God.
The Bible In One Year: Ezra 7–10
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
