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Leviticus 16-18 – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Good Morning, Siblings!

Today’s reading are Leviticus 16-18

Rabbit Trails

🌿Today the Day of Atonement is instated. This is one of YHWH’s Holy days, remember there are eight all together and one of those eight occurs weekly. Each of the Holy days are set up as teaching tools to teach us about our history, what is expected of us, and to bring us closer to Him. When the Father instates each of these Holy days He makes it a point to tell us that they are to be observed forever. It is very important to pay attention whenever the Father says words like “forever” and to pause a moment and realize that we’ve often treated those statements from Him as if He doesn’t know what forever means.

🌿Each of these Holy days also foretell of a future event. The Day of Atonement foretells of the final judgement when Messiah returns. Observing or keeping (however you want to call it) the Day of Atonement will keep us prepared for that return, as do all of the Biblical Feasts. To read more of the feasts and understand why days such as this are referred to as “feasts” to begin with, click here.

Note: when I say “Holy” day, I’m referring to true Holiness, the days that YHWH has made holy. Man has declared many things holy in his eyes but in the Bible the only things referred to as “holy” are what are holy in YHWH’s eyes.

🌿So how do we observe the day of atonement today? This is something I get a lot of questions about so I’m going to answer for those interested. Feel free to scroll on by if this is not something you’re curious about.

The Day of Atonement is a very solemn day of reflection of the Grace the Father has shown us and our behavior which put us in need of that grace. Messiah is, understandably, at the forefront of this day for Believers today. Some people fast on this day, some spend it in prayer, many do both or other things as well. YHWH tells us to “deny” ourselves this day. The Hebrew sheds more light on this as the words used in Hebrew tell us to humble or submit our souls. Goodness. That goes deep for me. This day is a day of rest, we are to do no regular work. (Not all Holy days command us to rest. In fact, some command us to rejoice!)

Personally, I see the Day of Atonement how some people see the new year. It is a time of reflection on the previous year. I prayerfully consider where I fell short, where I missed the mark, and seek the Father’s wisdom in all of this. From there, I work with Him on my hopes of moving forward.

🌿What does “do no regular work” on Holy days mean? Well, everyone needs to seek that out for themselves. Some have gone so far as to say they can’t even flip on a light switch. Ricky and I do our level best to refrain from doing our “regular” work, which is our weekday jobs. I also try to have food prepped ahead of time so I can spend less time doing that. Often, I put supper in the crock pot in the morning. If we had a nice meal the night before, the dishes from that will wait until the day is over. On Holy days that are sabbaths (days of rest) I acquire what I call my “Sabbath Vision”. I do all I can to get housework and such done ahead of time but once the day is here, any leftover tasks such as laundry that needs folding or dishes that need putting away are rendered invisible thanks to my Sabbath vision! Y’all, it’s a freeing thing! lol

🌿Let’s play a game, count how many times YHWH say Forever in just these verses below.

Leviticus 16:29-34 English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁹“And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.³¹It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. ³²And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. ³³He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.

When does a parent repeat Himself? When it’s important.

We don’t have the Levitical priest system or the temple right now but we can still keep the day of atonement to the best of our ability.

🌿Here is a condition for receiving atonement: This atonement is only for the people who recognize their need for it and look to the priest to atone for them. Their hearts have to be truly repentent. Does this sound familiar? Yes, this is the pattern set forth for our Messiah. When we recognize our sin and that we deserve judgement, we can turn to Him and His sacrifice will serve as our atonement, freeing us from righteous and deserved judgement for our sins.

🌿Leviticus 16:1 may offer another bit of information as to why Aaron’s son’s died. It is referencing Aaron approaching the holy of holies.

16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. ²The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

This is a special inner part of the tabernacle that was only to be entered by the high priest once per year on the day of atonement. This may be telling us that Aaron’s sons also tried to enter this but that can’t be more than speculation with what information we have right now.

🌿Leviticus 16:4 tells us that Aaron was to wear special garments that were set aside just for this ceremony. Throughout this passage the Father is using many different devices and ceremonies to help us understand just how significant it is to approach Him and ask for atonement for our sins. This is no light matter.

🌿Pay special attention to how many times YHWH adds “and the foreigners among you” or “and the foreigners who have joined themselves to you” (some Bibles say sojourners). This addition is a provision put in place that allows Gentiles to become part of God’s chosen people long before Peter’s vision of the sheet in Acts which opened up a superhighway for us.

🌿There is a lot of talk about being unclean and clean with regards to people. Remember that being unclean isn’t neccesarily a sin. It is just something that needs to be rectified.

🌿🐐We are introduced to the origin of the “Scapegoat” term in our readings today. Some translations state that the scapegoat is to be released into the wilderness of Azazel. The translation I am using uses this but this word does not appear in NIV and a few others. Still, the name Azazel is used several times and it leads us to question, just who or what is Azazel?

Scholars are at odds on this but some believe it is a name for a demon or a name meant to mean satan. However, one of my Bibles states that this is a Hebrew word meaning “goat of departure”. Yeah, that made me chuckle a bit. Others state that this goat represents Satan and that is why we are sending it out into the wilderness, away from the camp along with the sin.

It’s one of those “we cannot know for sure” type situations in which we can explore further and form our own hypothesis or just let it go and keep reading, knowing that we will know this and many more things one bright day.

There are all sorts of legends surrounding this ceremony with the two goats. It may be a fun rabbit trail for you to take but before you do, I encourage you to read what the Word says first and take everything else with a grain of salt. If you chase this one, you’ll likely read about wool strings, cliffs, demons, and more. It may be interesting to chase a few rabbits but don’t forget to come back and make sure you keep them in a separate place in your mind from YHWH’s known truth.

🌿Now, you may have noticed that I’m not one to talk much about old lucifer and I’m certainly not one to call him out for being the cause of our troubles. Why? Because I think he gets credit where credit isn’t due.

It is a tragic tradition of the body of believers to blame satan for things we just don’t want to be accountable for.

Am I denying satan exists? Absolutely not. I’m just denying that he has the power we try to say he has over our lives – and more often than not he is blamed so that we can claim innocence for ourselves in situations in which we willfully and wholeheartedly did what we knew we shouldn’t have. It’s the classic “the devil made me do it” schtick.

Naw, he didn’t make us do it. We do 99% of that stuff ourselves and just hope to blame someone else when it comes time to fess up. And coming full circle, this is where we try to make satan our scapegoat.

If we are going to mature spiritually we must learn to own our sins by repenting: turning from our ways, and turning *to* the ways of YHWH. It is far more than a few words said at an altar call – it’s a change of life that changes everything 🙌🏻.

🌿We are learning a lot and some of it may seem useless but keep in mind, as you read, that this is YHWH speaking.

If His words were in red as they are in many bibles when Jesus speaks, we would pay more attention and show more reverence to them. In fact, I have a wonderful little Bible that does have the words of our Father in red. I use it as a reference to remind me of the importance of these words. I’m going to put in a photo of it below, opened to today’s readings. You can order one here.* I just got the least expensive one as I use it only for reference.

This is part of today’s readings. When YHWH is speaking, the words are in red.

This really makes me stop and think.

🌿Personal sidenote: Reverence. We just don’t show Him enough reverence. That’s something He started revealing to me years ago and I’m always working on that. We, you and I, do not show Him enough reverence.

🌿Leviticus 18:4-5 ⁴You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees.I am the Lord your God. ⁵Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.

^{🌿Leviticus 18:26-28}But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, ²⁷for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. ²⁸And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

Some things we need to keep in mind about the above verses. Remember that we talked about chapter and verse numbers being added later? They were not present when these books were written. It is important to know that this is a continuous conversation and what we are reading today is a continuation of what we’ve been reading. All of this to say, most folks I know who like to call out people for doing what we are told not to do in Leviticus 18 live in open rebellion themselves to Leviticus 11. This is why we really need to focus on the beam in our own eye rather than spending our time going around on splinter hunts. Matthew 7:5

I just checked my schedule for the week and, as it turns out, I’m still a work in progress.
I’m afraid this is an indefinite condition so, once again, I find myself lacking the time and energy it would take to judge and condemn others.

I’m afraid y’all are just gonna have to settle for me loving you.

May we encourage one another, build one another up, and help each other to become more and more like our Messiah with each day we are given. 🙌🏻
The world is filled with demolition teams. Let us volunteer for the construction crew!

Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21

We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!

May YHWH Bless the reading of His Word!

Today’s recipe: Sweet Potato Creme Brulee

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Keto Cornbread Dressing – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Around the holidays, there are certain things your heart just longs for and being on a low carb diet can certainly put a damper on your chances of getting those longings fulfilled! So today I’m bringing you a keto version of one of my FAVORITE holiday dishes, Southern Style Keto Cornbread Dressing!

Now, this is actually faux cornbread but it’s certainly a passable substitute if you want to stay on plan. This dressing has all the flavors and textures of the real deal but it is noticeably richer due to the low carb ingredients. However, if you’re looking to stay on plan and still have those traditional tastes you’re used to, this one is going to be your hero!

Before you start making Southern Style Keto Cornbread Dressing, you’ll need a pan of Keto Cornbread. Click here to get that recipe. I suggest making this a day ahead of time.

Take that Keto Cornbread that is fully cooled and tear it up into bite size pieces. Place these on a baking sheet and toast at 300 for 20-30 minutes, gently stirring from time to time so it toasts on all sides. Allow this to cool completely.

In addition to that pan of Keto Cornbread, you’ll need: chopped onions, chopped celery, a little oil, turkey or chicken broth, cream of chicken soup*, ground sage, salt, pepper, hard boiled eggs, and some shredded or diced turkey – but that part is optional.

*Yes, cream of chicken soup does have some carbs. You can make your own from scratch by using my recipe here. This is a very low carb dish overall though. You can figure the carbs if you like using an app such as my fitness pal. I generally do not offer carb counts as I do not know what substitutions others may make or what a serving size may be to them.

Begin by sautéing the onion and celery in that bit of oil on medium high heat until it is to your desired level of tenderness. Some people like to do this until that celery is as limp as my hair on a rainy day and some people like to sauté them gently but leave a little life in them. I fall in the second category but either way is totally fine.

Add in broth, cream of chicken soup, sage, salt, and pepper.

Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until well blended and bubbly. Remove from heat.

Chop boiled eggs. Gently stir those and the chicken or turkey in.

Until it is well blended like this.

Place toasted and keto cornbread cubes in a large bowl.

Pour sauce over top. Gently (gently, gently) stir to coat. We want to be easy because this Keto Cornbread will become mush if you’re not. That is why we took such care in toasting it and allowing it to cool first. These extra steps sturdy it up a bit.

Spoon this into a baking dish. One recipe of Southern Style Keto Cornbread Dressing will fit in a typical 8×8 baking dish but I’m using this pretty oval one.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

Enjoy your low carb holiday meal!

Southern Style Keto Cornbread Dressing

Enjoy traditional flavors without going off plan this Thanksgiving!

Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 pan Keto Cornbread
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup turkey or chicken broth
1 10 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 tablespoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 cup chopped or shredded chicken or turkey optional

Instructions

Break cooled cornbread up Into bite sized pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 300 for 20-30 minutes or until toasted, gently stirring at least once. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.While cornbread is toasting, place oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions and celery and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until tender. Stir in broth, cream soup, and seasonings. Reduce heat to medium and stir until well blended and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in chopped eggs and chicken or turkey.In a large bowl, place toasted Keto cornbread. Pour sauce over and gently stir to coat. Pour this into an 8×8 or similar size baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned.

You might also enjoy Grandmama’s Sweet Potato Casserole

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Halfheartedly Seeking Wholehearted Results – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Have you ever been ill and required antibiotics? What is the one thing the doctors always caution you about “In order for these to work, you have to take all of the pills, the whole cycle.”

What would happen if you took just one day’s worth of pills, or two? You might feel some relief but after stopping, the infection would come back stronger than ever. Thus, the caution to take the entire cycle.

If only we had the wisdom to treat God’s word the same way. Instead, we’ve treat it like we do our favorite tweet stream. We look for one liners that we can pull out and apply to our wounds as a temporary dressing, a momentary relief.

Last week, I was contacted by a friend who was suffering from anxiety. An acquaintance “prescribed” a particular psalm to her, to read daily in order to relieve this anxiety. Turns out this was actually a pastor who gave this advice and she was specifically told to read a certain psalm for 7 times a day for 7 days and all of her despair would disappear.

She respected this person and esteemed them as a Christian and so committed to follow this advice. After doing this for several days and not seeing the promised results, she reached out to me in frustration, wondering if she was reading it wrong or not fully understanding the verse. Here is the problem: A believer had counseled her to open her Bible and read just a few verses out of the 30,000 contained therein, and then expect the full effect of the entire book in this one small action. Like taking a single antibiotic and thinking it will work as well as a seven day course.

And you know, that kind of advice and council is tragically commonplace in the world today. Mankind has a tendency to look for shortcuts, cliff notes, the “quick” version. And so we pull out a few verses and attribute some magical properties to them, declaring that simply reading those will fix all. Or we make up a prayer and tell folks that if they just recite that prayer they will have eternal salvation with no other action required and all other actions forgiven for perpetuity.

And a small part of us inside thinks “this seems too easy.” But we shut that out as a child squeezes their eyes shut when playing hide and seek. If they don’t see you, you don’t see them, right? We act as if that works for God as well. So we treat him like a genie in a lamp that we can call on when needed and ignore when things are going well.

In doing these things, we will not find God.

The Father says “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with you whole heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Instead of seeking Him wholeheartedly, we try these:

Opening the Bible when times are tough and looking for a single verse that makes us feel better.
Saying a magical prayer and then going about your life with no change, treating eternal salvation like a get out of jail free card someone handed you one night that you’ve tucked away in your wallet until needed.

These are halfhearted attempts, if even that much.

The problem, according to us, is that we don’t have time to read our bible. We say that our lives are simply too busy. And so we declare that He knows our hearts. And that is a true statement. He sees our hearts that shut him out and only call upon him when things get tough. Hearts that don’t seek to praise him or know him. Hearts that don’t make time for him because He is not a priority to us. Boy, does He know our hearts.

He knows that we make time for what is important to us. He sees the time we make for Facebook. He sees the hours we set aside each week for our favorite tv shows. He sees the glory we give to our favorite football team and how hard we will work to have a little extra time for our hobbies. He sees the energy we put into glorifying everything under the sun except Him.

He sees us actively ignoring Him, barely even giving Him a thought once per week.

And yet, as ungrateful children, we expect him to think on us each day, to look after the details in our lives, to watch over us and give us every good gift.
But we can’t be bothered to read the letters he wrote us.
Or to take thirty minutes a day to spend with him.
We barely manage to be lukewarm from time to time and we think that is fine because he knows our hearts.

But if we read the word we’d see that Messiah said those who are lukewarm make him throw up. Revelation 3:16

Yes, he knows our hearts. And that should bring no comfort.

Unless we are wholeheartedly after Him.
Unless we take ourselves off the throne in our lives and put Him up there.
So what should happen when we seek him? What is the Biblical path to salvation?
Stop looking in the Bible for magic words we can pull out and wield at will.
He is not a cheap magician here to entertain. He is God. Stop denigrating Him.

In doing so we are only wounding ourselves.

The Biblical path to salvation is teshuva – turning from your sins, your own ways, and reliance on your own wisdom, and turning to His ways, and His wisdom. Salvation is coming under His wing, His umbrella, sitting at His feet. It is a wholehearted seeking after Him.

Not 50%, not 10%, not two hours one day a week of dressing nice and feeling emotional at worship songs.

God is not a temporary thing. He is not fleeting. He does not change with our emotions, situations, or desires. He is constant. He is eternal. He is steadfast.

But we treat him like a drive through restaurant, ordering up what we need, checking out the bag to make sure all is there, and then driving off until we are hungry again.
And then we wonder why it feels empty. We wonder why we don’t understand Him. We wonder why we don’t feel closer.
We wonder why we have this emptiness.
And so we turn to people who encourage us to do some easy thing that promise fast results.

Just read this psalm. Just say this prayer. Just talk to an angel or a saint or some other idol.

We don’t recognize the counterfeits because we don’t know the original.

But He is here and He knows we will come searching eventually and so he said:

You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

And so it is time for us to turn away from man’s ways. To stop using manmade God mimicking patches and to go for the real thing.
The best parts of the Bible are Genesis 1-Revelation 22.

And that is what we must read.

But it’s so long. But I don’t understand it. But it doesn’t make sense.

I’ve heard these excuses a lot, but you know what? I’ve never once heard them from anyone who has read the Bible.

You’ll find a way or you’ll find an excuse.

If He is truly God to you, reading a book in which He speaks is a great blessing.
If this is too much of an inconvenience accept that He is not your god. Admit that, accept it. Decide If you’re comfortable with it, and if so, go about your day but don’t expect the Word of YHWH to work the same way for you as it does for a Believer.

The fact of the matter is, there are many gods in our lives these days and many professed believers don’t even realize they are worshipping idols.

Because we won’t recognize a counterfeit if we don’t know the original.

Halfhearted seeking will never yield wholehearted results.

If we want YHWH to be our first line of defense, we’ve got to stop treating him as a last resort.

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