Nocturnal What???

Scripture: "If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp. 11 "But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp. Deut 23:10-11

Observation: 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;". It is incredibly easy to accept this verse and understand it when you look at certain passages. John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Philippians 4:13, etc. But then comes along a verse like this one. What do I do with this? Most of the time I just move past it and try to avoid any mental pictures while doing so.

Application: This is crazy. Not just this verse, but the entire chapter is nuts to me. In the span of a few verses the topics range from missing male body parts to burying your poop in the desert. Why? Why would God include this in His word. Better yet, what am I supposed to do with it? I have sat and thought on this passage for most of the afternoon and here is the conclusion I have come to; thank you God for Jesus Christ and the new covenant I am under today. I can save myself the suspense of wonder; I know I would come up short of the law. Even the most basic of rules would have gone right past me. People under the law faced a burden unlike anything I can comprehend. One would think that they would have given anything to be out from under this heavy load of rules, regulations, atonements, and sacrifices. Not to mention escaping the consequences that followed their breaking it. But then I turn over to Galatians 4 and find out that people were trying to return to the law. In Galatians 4:9 Paul says, "how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" What? Did they really want to return to passages such as Deuteronomy 23? It makes me laugh when I read on in Galatians 4:21 when Paul says, "Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?" This is a great lesson in just how powerful the familiar can become to us. The law was rough, but it was what they knew. They were vested in it. It was hard to walk away from years of ritual to walk in the new life God gave through Jesus Christ. What an incredible reminder for me.

Prayer: I take Grace for granted. I take the Holy Spirit for granted. And I certainly take Your unconditional and irrevocable forgiveness for granted. There is so much about You that I will never understand. There is so much of Your word I will never understand. This much I do know; Christ was Your perfect sacrifice and His death made total restitution for my sin. I will never know what it was like to live under the law to the level that the Israelites did. I confess before You tonight that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate of good news and I am very happy that I do not have to leave camp for any reason. I only have to confess my sins and You have taken care of the rest. I love where I am today. Yes, there are parts of my past that I miss and other places I am tempted to return to; but I would be a fool to leave what You have given me. I am so grateful for my life. More than anything, I am grateful to be clean! My sins are taken away from me and there is nothing more for me to do. What a joy!