February 5, 2016
Deuteronomy 14:1-2
There are people today who feel the need to cut themselves. Some teenage girls feel so insecure that they feel the need to cut themselves. They cut their arms to get attention from people whom they love. They express themselves in this way because it’s a call for help.
In the Old Testament, people who cut themselves and put dots on their foreheads did it to mourn the dead. It was an unnatural practice and an unusual way to mourn. This is the reason why God forbid His people to do it. Jesus encountered a person who was demon-possessed (Mark 5:2-5) who cut himself. But that does not mean that cutting comes from demonic possession. What’s true about the practice is that people mourned for the dead and that it was an act of self-mutilation.
God forbade the practice because we are called to be a holy people (Deuteronomy 14:2). God is holy because He is loving and He loves us unconditionally (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
We don’t have to cry out because we are in grief. We don’t have to cry out because we are wanting help. We can come to God and ask for help during our time of trial, trouble, or difficulty. We don’t need to hurt ourselves. God is there to help us when we need Him.
We can stop hurting ourselves by cutting or tearing a bald spot because God is there to help us when we cry.
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