April 11

Leviticus 15 They were desperate for a substitute teacher that day. I knew because they called me personally rather than using the computer to call. The teacher was also the cheerleading coach. She had a family emergency and had to leave in the middle of the day. I told them, “I don’t know anything about cheerleading.” “It’s okay,” was the reply. “The girls know what they are doing. You are there just to observe. If any of the girls get hurt, just immediately send someone to the office and we will take care of it.” I guess you’ve figured out that since I am telling this story, someone got hurt. The girls were doing this thing where one girl stands on the shoulders of another girl and then falls back. The others, lined-up on each side, catch her. The girl falling panicked, and instead of relaxing and coming down parallel to the ground, she came at an angle which prevented the other girls from catching her. She landed on her tailbone. There was a loud pop and a scream of pain, and I just knew that I had just witnessed a spinal chord injury. I did what I was trained to do. I made sure she didn’t try to get up. I sent a student immediately to the office. I stayed by her side until somebody else higher in authority came to assess the situation. There was nothing else I could do. By the way, it turned out that she had nothing more than a bad bruise, but it sure had me scared! That was at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Consequently, the schools did mandatory seminars for substitute teachers on how to handle medical emergencies, which included how to handle situations where a student has lost bodily fluids. AIDS wasn’t the only one, there are many other deadly ones that are transmitted through blood, mucus, vomit, spit, etc. In seven years of substitute teaching I never had to use the information on dealing with bodily fluids, only the one fall. I’m glad I did not have to deal with any loss of bodily fluid. Why does God go to such great length to give these health regulations concerning the loss of fluids? 1) He is our healer. He knew that we would not know that disease could be transmitted through the improper handling of the loss of bodily fluid. 2) These are symbols of sin and justice. Matthew Henry says of some of these verses: If these ceremonial pollutions could not be done away but by sacrifice and offering, something greater and much more valuable must be expected and depended upon for the purifying of the soul from the uncleanness of sin. There it is again. Our souls have been tremendously sullied by the infection of sin. We must be cleansed! Our sin vomits forth, so to speak, from our lives. It requires an emergency procedure and special handling so that the infection in our spiritual blood and spiritual fluids is removed and does not infect others. So the laws were physically useful in practicing cleanliness. They were spiritually useful as symbols of our need to be cleansed by His sacrifice. When we come to the realization that we have fallen and sullied spiritual fluids have come forth. We lie there and call upon the authority on High. He comes with forgiveness, healing and restoration. He cleanses our mess. That is His glory. He takes my sin which I vomit forth spiritually and ejaculate in spiritual adultery, and He cleanses me from the inside out. “Hallelujah! Now it cleanseth! It cleanseth, even me! Hallelujah! Now it cleanseth! Thro’ His blood I am set free!”—Rev. J.B. Weber. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!