Thursday, June 25, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Leviticus 15-16
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 73
Key Verse
Leviticus 16:1 — “And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;”
Devotional Thought
What does it cost to draw near to a holy God? Leviticus 15 and 16 answer with blood, water, and a scapegoat. The chapter opens in the ordinary messiness of human life—a man with a running issue, a woman in her separation, a bed, a saddle, an earthen vessel. These are not dramatic sins; they are the frailties of flesh. Yet the law declares them unclean, and uncleanness is contagious. Touch the bed, wash your clothes, bathe, and be unclean until evening. Even the vessel of earth must be broken. God was teaching Israel that His tabernacle dwelt in the midst of a people who could defile it, and that He is not casual about sin.
Then comes the remedy, and it is stunning. Once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, Aaron entered the holy place within the vail, before the mercy seat, where God appeared in the cloud. He came not in his own merit but with a bullock for his own sin and two goats for the people. One goat was slain, its blood sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat. The other, the scapegoat, received the confessed iniquities of Israel upon its head and was led into the wilderness, bearing them to a land not inhabited. The people afflicted their souls and did no work. This was the Day of Atonement, and it pointed forward to a greater Priest and a better sacrifice.
Psalm 73 sits beside this reading like a mirror. Asaph nearly slipped, envying the prosperity of the wicked—their strength firm, their eyes standing out with fatness, their mouths set against the heavens. He cried, “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain.” But then he went into the sanctuary of God, and he understood their end. In that holy place, where blood was sprinkled and the scapegoat bore sin away, Asaph found his footing: “God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
We read this in late June, when the year is bright and busy and the wicked often seem to flourish. The temptation is to measure God’s favor by visible ease. But Leviticus reminds us that nearness to God has always required cleansing, and Psalm 73 reminds us that the sanctuary is where our perspective is corrected. The blood has been shed; the scapegoat has borne our sins away; the veil has been rent. Draw near, not because you are clean, but because He has made a way.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you tempted to measure God’s goodness by outward prosperity rather than by nearness to Him in the sanctuary?
- What “uncleanness” are you carrying that needs to be confessed and laid upon the scapegoat rather than managed or hidden?
Prayer
Holy Father, we come before You not in our own righteousness but in the cleansing blood of Your Son, our great High Priest. You dwelt among a defiled people and made a way for us to draw near. Thank You for the scapegoat who bore our iniquities into a land not inhabited, and for the mercy seat sprinkled with blood. When our feet slip and we envy the prosperity of the wicked, lead us into Your sanctuary and show us their end. Be the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 73:1 — “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.”