Prayer: Father, help me to listen to Your law and the ways You establish for me to dwell in peace with You and one another. Amen.
Reading: Leviticus 5 key: vs. 14
14 Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:
Attention: Even in our laws today, ignorance is not a valid plea. We cannot go before a judge and say, “I did not know judge.” Neither can we plead ignorance before Adonai.
I remember the first speeding ticket I received. I was driving home from an away high school basketball game. The team traveled by bus to inter league foe and arrived back around 11 p.m. We lived out of town so as I began to approach the city limits, a car was driving towards me without its lights on, so I shut my lights off to warn the approaching car that their lights were not on. The car I was driving was an old ’55 Buick, which had a two stage pull for the head lamps. The first stage turned the courtesy lights and the second stage, the head lamps. I was not completely out of town and still where there were streetlights, so I did not recognize till I was out from under the streetlamps that my lights were not on. Soon, I was seeing flashing lights behind me, and I pulled over.
The first question from the officer, “Why are you driving without your head lights?” I told him my story of the approaching car and his reply, “Don’t turn your lights off, always flash your brights.” Okay. Lesson learned, I thought. Then he asks me, what is the speed limit? I said 35 mph, pointing to the sign I just passed. He replies, “Not here, back in town.” I said, 25 mph. He said, how fast were you going? I said, “the speed limit.” His reply, “No you were already driving 35 mph.” He wrote me a ticket.
To this day, I believe that I was not speeding and he would have never paid attention to me if I had flashed my lights. I went to court believing that I was a victim of circumstances. In those days, my dad had to take off work to attend court with me. Court was not in Kent, we had to drive to Seattle.
Standing before the judge, I told him my story and he was empathetic, but explained it this way. You can plead not guilty and another court date will be set to hear your case, or you can plead guilty and will be on a 90 day suspension of driving privileges, only to school and home. There would be no fine because they knew that dad would be paying the fine. It would require dad to take another day off of work to attend court with me and they were not fining me, so I plead guilty even though in my heart, I was not guilty.
Essentially, this was a case of ignorance. If I had known to flash my lights rather than shut my lights off and turn them back on, I probably would have avoided the whole incident. Ignorance didn’t stand in court, and it doesn’t stand before God.
Restitution is the act of restoring another to wholeness. In the case of robbery, theft and extortion, it might be possible to restore what one took from another. However, if someone loses a limb or life, restitution is difficult to accomplish. Still ignorance is not a defense in court.
A sacrifice by fire and blood, was required to make restitution with God. Yeshua is our restitution for sin. He shed his blood on Calvary, for your sins and mine. He is the perfect lamb, without spot, blemish or sin.
Action: Today, if you do not know Yeshua, I encourage you to call to Him based on Romans 10:13. If you have received Yeshua’s salvation and forgiveness of sin, thank Him for the redemption and restitution made for you.
Yield: I renew my submission to Yeshua.
Engage: I will engage daily with the Holy Spirit.
Relationship: I declare my love for Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for the blood of Yeshua which was poured out for me on Calvary. Amen.
Memory Verse: Colossians 1:19-20
19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
making peace through the blood of His cross—
whether things on earth or things in heaven!
Music Video: Saleh—There is a Fountain https://youtu.be/qH5u7UuzDyc
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”