“Dealing with Disease” – FBC Morning Light (2/14/2024)

Well, a good Wednesday morning to you, and happy Valentine's Day. I hope that you and your spouse, if you have one, will have a good day today, just reflecting on and celebrating your love for one another, and may it be a good day for you.

Leviticus 13-14 and the Meaning of Leprosy

But in significant contrast to the day of celebrating great love, we're reading today Leviticus chapters 13 and 14, which amounts to 116 verses that cover the subject of leprosy. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly relish reading these couple of chapters in the Bible.

Now, I didn't say I don't like God's Word, I said there's some things about it I don't like. I know God never wanted me to be a doctor or a nurse, that's just not me. I get a little squeamish about some of that kind of stuff.

I can handle blood tests and all of that. I'm not as bad as the one person who said, I can't stand the sights of blood, especially my own. I'm not that bad, but when you start reading about the oozing sores and all that kind of thing, it's just kind of, eh, you know.

So when we read through this, maybe you do that, maybe you're like I am when you're reading through this here, you're just kind of, ugh, ugh, I want to get through this, I want to get through this. And it's easy to feel like, man, what is, what's this all about?

It seems to be rather tedious. Also, when you read about some of the things that had to be done if a person had leprosy, that they had to be separated out from the community, and if there was a house that had leprosy in it.

Of course, you realize that the term leprosy is a broad term for a variety of different kinds of things, and leprosy in the house probably refers to a serious case of mold that just cannot be gotten rid of, that the house had to be torn down if it was bad enough.

Vessels that were infected by this leprosy, whatever it might be, they had to be destroyed. All that may seem extreme, especially the isolating of people outside of the camp may seem a little extreme.

God's Gracious Protection Through Quarantine and Isolation

But really, when you think about it, these laws regarding leprous diseases in people or in clothing or in vessels or even in houses, they're actually a reflection of God's gracious protection, helping to ensure that the infection doesn't spread, that it is as limited as possible, and in the natural course of things, that the disease can run its course without becoming more of a plague upon the entire community.

As tedious as this seems to us, let's instead look at it as, God is very gracious, and he's very kind to his people to ensure that they know ahead of time what to do about these kinds of things so that any risk to the community can be minimized.

I think there's some principles that can be applied beyond that, some of these principles can be applied, say, for example, to public health situations. We had the whole COVID thing, and I believe in many cases the response to that was overblown, and I don't want to get into all that, but there can be some sensibility to some of that kind of thing.

Those who are vulnerable, those who are truly sick and can pass on sickness to others, yes, quarantine, isolate. Why? For the sake of others, for the sake of the community, and that is not a bad thing at all.

God gives some guidance here, and it's interesting that his Word, though not a physician's diagnostic tool, does nevertheless give some helpful instruction to care for those who are diseased and to protect those who are not.

Thanking God for His Gracious Provision

Let's thank God for his gracious provision of protection. So our Father, we do thank you today for the principles that are brought out in these couple of chapters that, when understood, can be helpful, even in the protection of your people.

So thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, all right, again, have a good rest of your Wednesday, and I hope the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.