Liberty Gal

I was reading Leviticus 1 tonight. It describes the burnt offerings given at the Tabernacle. It talks of killing the animals, skinning them, draining the blood and pouring it on and around the altar. It talks about burning the entrails and dumping the craw and feathers of birds to the east of the altar. As I was reading this, I was thinking about how it must start to stink after a day of baking in the sun and much worse if they stay in the same location for a while. Then I noticed, at the end of the description of the burnt offering for each type of animal, it says, “an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord.” That does not sound like a “soothing aroma.” That isn’t how I would describe it, but God sees things differently than we do. We see the outside and the physical. God sees the heart of sacrifice of those who love, obey, and trust Him. I think it is really the sacrificial heart that is the real “soothing aroma.” #biblestr #Bible #Jesus #grownostr

We were studying Luke 11 in church and in our small group Bible study and got in a discussion about this verse: “The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” (Luke 11:31) She (called the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10) traveled a long distance by camel just to hear the wisdom of Solomon. I used Open Bible to determine that Sheba was most likely Yemen. I then used perplexity.ai to determine approximately how far it is from Yemen to Israel (1373 miles). I then asked it how far you can reasonably travel in a day on a loaded camel and it said “~18 miles/day.” Doing the math, that would suggest the Queen of Sheba traveled 76 days on camelback to listen to Solomon speak. That is a lot of effort. Today, we have access to the words of someone much wiser than Solomon. We have access to the Bible (the God breathed Scriptures) and the actual words of Jesus from His time on earth. How many of us would travel on camels for 76 days (3.5 months) to hear God’s word. How many of us will even put in 30 minutes/day reading God’s word? God’s word is so readily available today and we rarely reference it. Why? Will we be condemned by the Queen of Sheba in the last days? #biblestr #Christian #biblestudy #bible #christianity #jesus

My sons have been participating in a Bible program called Awana. By the end of the program, they will have memorized over 1,000 verses and read the whole Bible. It is a good program. Last night, the reading was Acts 6 & 7, which talks about Stephen. I saw parallels in the life of Stephen and the life of Charlie Kirk (with the exception that I’ve never seen Charlie Kirk performing miracles). “8And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:8-15) and “54Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (Acts 7:54-58) Both spoke the truth. Both were not afraid to debate the truth in love. Both were faithful servants of God. Both were falsely accused. Both were killed for speaking the truth. May Charlie enjoy his graduation to heaven and may God be a rock and comfort to his family that was left behind. #biblestr #Christian #christianity #faith #Bible #bible