Take Off the Fat! - Harmony Barney
Recently, I was reading in my personal devotions in the book of Leviticus. Now, I don’t know about you, but Leviticus is a hard book of the Bible for me to read. I prayed and told God, “Lord, You wrote Leviticus. You know what’s in there. 😅 You know that it can be hard for me to focus on this passage of Scripture. Please help me to learn something today. Amen.”
As I read that day, He brought to my attention how many times the word “fat” is used in Leviticus. I know, weird, but as I looked closer, He answered my prayer and taught me something.
The word “fat” is mentioned one hundred thirty times in the Bible. A large majority of those uses are in Leviticus.
Here is just one example of how it is often referenced: Leviticus 4:8 - And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
So, I started doing some research.
Think about a piece of steak. I like fillet, but my husband likes his steak marbled. His steak would be marbled with what? Fat. As I read, over and over God commands the Israelites to remove the fat from their sacrifices. Even when you buy the expensive ninety-eight percent lean beef at the store it still has two percent what? Fat. So, were the Israelites supposed to just “try” to remove the fat? Did God give them an impossible task to do? Did he make the command He had given them so lofty and hard that they could never actually do what He said?
This is an important question, because when we make the transition to our own lives, does God just want us to “try” to obey His commands or is there a perfect and complete way to do what He commands us to do? When we stand before a holy, righteous God one day, do we think He is going to accept, “Well, God, I tried.” “I did what I could.”
Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
God is perfect, and His ways are perfect.
There are two types of fat in the bodies of the animals that were being used in these sacrifices.
Subcutaneous (under-skin) and intra-muscular fat. This is the kind of fat that would be in our ground beef or cuts of steak.
Visceral fat (chest-cavity fat). This fat is found in deposits which includes a deposit known as “perirenal fat” in modern biology, and “the fat above the kidneys” in classical biology. This also includes the fatty mass surrounding the liver (the caul). This is the fat that is continually mentioned regarding the sacrifices.
Stay with me. I’m going somewhere with this.
I began to realize that the Lord's request was not impossible. His will was not unattainable. God was speaking about removing the visceral fat deposits. Removing this fat would take effort but it would not be impossible to take off. God will never ask you to do something that you cannot FULLY and completely obey!
Ultimately, the setback is that we must fully and completely surrender our wills to Him. What we really mean when we say, “I do what I can” a lot of times means, “I do what I can without being inconvenienced.” Apathy toward the things of God is killing us! Have you ever heard a sermon that convicted your heart, and you went home and didn't change anything? Have you ever been nudged by the Holy Spirit, and you resisted Him? Have you ever set out to obey God, but later realized that it was hard, so you stopped?
Ladies, we have only one life to live on this earth for Christ. EVERY action, EVERY word, EVERY thought is either right or wrong. It is either furthering Christ’s kingdom or exalting self. There is no day that is neutral, no day that we get a free pass.
We will never be perfect, but are we daily striving to grow closer to God? He is the One Who can help us to cultivate a desire to do more for Him. Are you fully and completely yielded to what He has for you?
I have often heard the phrase, “God just hasn’t convicted me about that, yet.” Have you asked Him about it? Or is your heart so hard toward it, that you avoid all talk about it? Are you using that phrase as an excuse to not search the Scriptures for what God really says about it? Nothing should be so “sacred" in your life that you wouldn’t be willing to give it over to Him.
Titus 2:12-14 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
I love that phrase, “in this present world” because it surpasses time and reaches to today, right now. So much the more as we see the day approaching! What has God been nudging you to do? What standard of living has He asked you to implement? What media has he prompted you to give up? What area of service are you feeling led to? What attitude do you know He is not pleased with?
Doing what He has asked us to do is never impossible. As the world gets worse, we will be more and more a peculiar people. Wear that badge with pride and submit to Him daily.
Will we fail in the process? Yes. Will He give grace to get up and try again? Always! He is faithful.
Again I say: God will never ask you to do something that you cannot FULLY and completely obey!