Leviticus 13:18-23: a reflection

18“When the body has a boil on its skin, and it has healed, 19and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest. 20The priest shall examine it. Behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil. 21But if the priest examines it, and behold, there are no white hairs in it, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. 22If it spreads in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a plague. 23But if the bright spot stays in its place, and hasn’t spread, it is the scar from the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

These verses describe the priest's careful examination of a skin condition, to determine whether it is a serious, spreading disease or merely a harmless scar from a healed boil. The priest looks closely, considers the signs, and if uncertain, isolates the person for seven days and looks again, to see whether it has spread. Careful discernment was needed, neither declaring clean what was still spreading, nor unclean what had truly healed. The examination took patience and close attention.

Notice the careful discernment required: to tell what has truly healed from what still spreads. The priest could not judge hastily; he had to look closely, and even wait and look again, to see whether the thing was getting better or worse. It would be easy to declare clean too soon, missing a spreading disease, or to condemn too hastily what was only a harmless scar. Careful, patient examination was needed to tell the difference between what had healed and what was still at work.

That careful discernment is a picture of the self-examination we need in the life of the soul. Sin, like the skin condition, can look healed on the surface while still spreading underneath; or a thing we fear may be harmless. It takes careful, patient examination to tell whether a sin we thought dealt with has truly healed, or is still quietly spreading. Do not judge the state of your own soul hastily. Examine yourself carefully, as the priest examined the skin, to see whether a sin you thought healed is truly gone, or still quietly spreading beneath the surface. Do not declare yourself clean too soon, missing what is still at work; nor condemn yourself for what has truly healed. Take the time for careful, patient self-examination, that you may rightly discern the true state of your soul, and deal with what is still spreading before it does further harm.

Lord, these verses describe the priest's careful examination of a skin condition, to tell a spreading disease from a harmless healed scar, looking closely, waiting, and looking again, neither declaring clean too soon nor condemning too hastily. Show me in that the careful self-examination I need in the life of my soul. Sin, like the skin condition, can look healed on the surface while still spreading underneath; or a thing I fear may be harmless. It takes careful, patient examination to tell whether a sin I thought dealt with has truly healed, or is still quietly spreading. Keep me from judging the state of my own soul hastily. Help me examine myself carefully, as the priest examined the skin, to see whether a sin I thought healed is truly gone, or still quietly spreading beneath the surface. Keep me from declaring myself clean too soon, missing what is still at work; and from condemning myself for what has truly healed. Help me take the time for careful, patient self-examination, that I may rightly discern the true state of my soul, and deal with what is still spreading before it does further harm. Search me carefully, Lord, and show me what is still at work in me.