(Note: In order to share all 66 verses I’m memorizing with my granddaughter this year, I’ll have to double up a time or two.  This is a good time to combine two verses into one week, because these two principles go together like a hand in a spiritual glove. God’s requirements for man – and God’s provision when man just doesn’t measure up.)

Verse #3

Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.  

Leviticus 20:7

I have loved being a parent, but I haven’t done everything right – or at times even well! While I don’t really sit around berating myself, I do, from time to time, analyze some memory that pops into my head.

I wonder and ponder to myself, “If I could do that over, I think I would …” or “God, please help my children to know that I must have been hormonal when I said ….”

Part of the grand reward of grandchildren is the benefit of the “do-over.”  

Kynzie – 3 months old

I’m never cross with my granddaughter!  I always have time for her.  I eat up every single word she says, as if it were the funniest, brightest nugget of conversation I’ve ever heard.  I will drop everything to play a game with her.  I have so much patience with her.

When she snuggles up to me all night long with not an inch of space between us, I never tell her to scoot over.  

I don’t even want her to.

As I compiled the list of 66 verses to memorize with my granddaughter, I initially thought some of them might be a little bit hard.  I wondered if maybe the context of the verse would be lost on her young intellect.

However, I’ve found just the opposite to be true.

Children are masters at taking things at face value. Especially when it comes to the things of God. 

While she may not totally contextualize the concepts, she does grasp the gravity of the words.  When I asked her what she thought that big first word might mean – consecrate –  she took a guess and said, “I think it means God wants us to concentrate.”

Pretty good guess, my little smarty britches.  Pretty good guess. 

Consecrate (verb) – to devote oneself  irrevocably to the worship of God.

Kynzie – two years old

While Kynzie easily takes this verse at face value as an obvious command from God, I did want to be prepared for any questions she might have.  Here’s what I discovered.

God’s people had a hard time obeying even the 10 commandments he had given to Moses on Mount Sinai. There was so much horrific unholiness going on in the culture around them that the lines between sin and obedience became a little blurred.  They needed further elaboration.  The third book of the Bible, Leviticus, is a chronicle of very specific commands to the God’s people and the priests who ministered to them.  When obeyed, these rules would keep God’s people set apart as pure and holy.   Should they not obey, God clearly let them know that their sinful actions would have serious consequences.

To put it all into an easily swallowed capsule, God told them how to keep the main thing the main thing.

They must dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to following his commands.  

“Consecrate yourselves and be holy,” God said, “because I am the LORD your God.”

It takes a lot of concentration to consecrate yourself! What I want to be sure Kynzie gets from this verse is this:  

The consecration is worth the concentration.  

Because God’s rules are always for man’s benefit.

But sometimes, she’s going to feel like she looks in this picture!

Just like her Grammie, she won’t always get it right, but God wants a relationship with us so much that he figured out a way to redeem us from the demise of our disobedience.

When she fails to concentrate hard enough, or when she drives right past the markers on the highway to holiness, God will give her another shot at it.

Verse #4

The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love, and forgiving sin and rebellion. 

Numbers 14:18

How good is our God? He gave us good rules to keep ourselves healthy, pure and in right relationship with him.  He told us to put forth the effort to consecrate ourselves and be holy.  We serve a God who is set apart from any other, and we need to set ourselves apart for him.  Then he lets us know that he isn’t looking forward to any punishment of his people.

He’s slow to get angry with us.  His love knows no bounds. He desires to keep us close to his side, no space between us and him.

Grandmothers have a pretty easy time understanding that one. 

Encouraging intentional adventure as we enjoy the abounding love of our forgiving God,

PS – Tips for memorizing these two verses:

Sing the words of Leviticus 20:7 to the tune of Ten Little Indians. 

Consecrate yourselves and be holy

Consecrate yourselves and be holy

Consecrate yourselves and be holy

Because I am the LORD, your God.

Write Numbers 14:18 on a piece of colorful poster board. 

Let your grandchild color all around the verse while you talk about the forgiveness of God.  Share a story about something you did that was wrong when you were his/her age. Did your parents discipline you? Did you say you were sorry? To reinforce the concept of God’s rules for man’s benefit, talk about what would happen if their teacher had no rules in the classroom.

#1. Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

#2: Exodus 34:14 – Do not worship any other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.