I’m kinda impulsive and love to improvise, so I need to know my boundaries and also get a heads up when it’s altogether inappropriate to improvise. These instructions don’t leave a ton of wiggle room. They make flippant, impulsive sacrifices not count. Was it an unblemished animal? Did it happen in front of the tent of meeting? Was it performed by the Sons of Aaron? No? Well then no ones asking you to do that. No rage-killing animals to cover your sins.

While some details are head-scratchers, “why would that matter?” Others are fairly obvious and that’s enough to convince me about the rest. I don’t get why sometimes you wash the entrails and sometimes you don’t, but I do agree with the not eating blood or fat so, okay.

The compassion of God comes alive in these instructions for unintentional sin. Sure, sometimes we can be malicious, but other times, we get carried away and make mistakes. The grace of God is sufficient for all our shortcomings. He isn’t up there, furiously plotting, He’s helping us anticipate the consequences of our actions. No ones going to skate along perfectly. We will spend our lives contriving all sorts of ways to be unholy. It comes naturally! And He is ready to redeem us from it all.

God has always been ready to go through a lot of trouble to be near us. How lovely. He’s the best. Are you receiving His love and His forgiveness? Are you hiding away, shaming yourself for your own foolishness? God is calling us out. He can cleanse us from anything. He wants to. Bring your brokenness to Him, today. He’s ready for you.

-Bethany