Problems

Love Letter Three: Leviticus

God says, You want Me to solve your problems, but you don't know what your worst problem is, the one responsible for all the others. You don't yet realize that distance from Me is the most lethal problem you have.

You assume we're doing just fine together while you run off trying to make life work for you and you expect Me to cooperate. When you read Leviticus, notice that I never solve anyone's secondary problems. In all those verses about skin infection, for example, I never prescribed ointment or simply cured the disease, which I easily could have done. I simply told people they couldn't enter My Presence with an oozing sore. The issue was worship and intimacy with Me, not health, wealth, or personal comfort.

So many people miss that. They identify their needs, then view Me as a God who wants them satisfied and happy before I deal with their unholiness. But because I love them--and you--I've made a way for you to revolve your life around Me as your first thing. Everything else--your marriage, your checkbook, your self-esteem, your cancer--is a second thing. When the first thing (namely, Me) is in first place in your life, every second thing will be yours to enjoy.

You've got a long way to go before that's true in your life, but I have a plan to get you there, to make you holy.


(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)