Sunday, June 21, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Leviticus 6-7
Key Verse
Leviticus 7:5 — “And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering.”
Devotional Thought
Most of us know the ache of a wrong that was never made right. A tool borrowed and never returned. A debt quietly forgotten. A lie told so long ago that the truth has grown cold. Leviticus 6 opens with God speaking to Moses about exactly these ordinary betrayals: property “delivered him to keep,” things “taken away by violence,” a neighbor “deceived,” a lost item found and then denied with a false oath. Notice how God frames it: to lie to a neighbor about a deposit or a debt is to “commit a trespass against the LORD.” No private sin stays private. Every dishonest dealing is first an offense against the God who sees.
And the remedy is startlingly practical. The guilty man must restore “the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto,” returning it to the rightful owner “in the day of his trespass offering.” Then he brings a ram without blemish to the priest, and “the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him.” Confession without restitution is incomplete; restitution without atonement is insufficient. God cares about both the ledger and the heart. He is not satisfied with a mumbled apology while the money stays in our pocket.
Then the chapter turns to the altar itself, and the picture becomes tender. “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” All night the burnt offering smolders; every morning the priest, in his linen garments, lifts the ashes and carries them “without the camp unto a clean place.” The fire never dies because the need for atonement never ceases. And woven through the laws of the meat offering, the sin offering, and the peace offering is a quiet grace: the priests eat. Aaron and his sons are fed from the altar. God provides for those who serve Him, and He invites His people into fellowship — the thanksgiving peace offering eaten the same day, the vow offering shared on the morrow, the breast waved and the shoulder heaved before the LORD.
We read this on a June Sunday, in the long green season of the year, when the fields are full and the days are warm. It is a good season to settle accounts. If the Spirit brings to mind a neighbor we have wronged — a thing kept, a word sworn falsely, a debt unpaid — let us not wait for a more convenient morning. The fire on the altar still burns; the ashes are still carried out; the forgiveness is still real. Restore what you can, bring the rest to Christ, and let the peace offering be eaten with thanksgiving.
Reflection
- Is there a wrong you have confessed to God but never made right with the person you wronged — a debt, a deposit, a lie — that this passage calls you to restore with the fifth part added?
- The fire on the altar was never to go out, and the priest carried the ashes out every morning. What “ashes” of yesterday’s sin and failure do you need to carry outside the camp today, rather than letting them smother the flame?
Prayer
O LORD, You see every hidden thing, every deposit kept back, every false word sworn over a neighbor. Search us and know us; bring to light what we have buried. Give us courage to restore what we have taken and to speak truth where we have deceived, adding the fifth part rather than offering You a cheap apology. Thank You that the fire of atonement never goes out and that a ram without blemish has already been offered for us in Jesus Christ. Cleanse us, feed us from Your altar, and let us eat our peace offerings with thanksgiving this day. In His name, Amen.