For a full description of the (Y4) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Lev. 10
Nadab and Abihu’s actions show us that we can’t simply offer God whatever we wish. They, of course, are not the only demonstration of this truth. We get the first example in Genesis 4, when God rejected Cain’s offering, and even have a New Testament example in Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Cain shows us that we need to give our best to God. Ananias and Sapphira show us that we need to be honest with God in our giving. And Nadab and Abihu show us that God desires our obedience, not simply what we think is good. The truth here is that God doesn’t really care about our gifts. How ‘good’ they seem to us isn’t the point. What matters to God is us; what He really wants is our wholly devoted, fully surrendered heart.
Rather than pleasing Him, God declared that Nadab and Abihu’s offering dishonored His holiness. I believe we do the same when we try to add to God’s grace with our works. As with the offerings of incense, works themselves aren’t bad. In fact, just as with that incense, our works are a God commanded part of our worship of Him. But we need to make sure what we offer is out of obedience to Him and not simply what looks good to us. Our efforts should not be half-hearted or come from what we have leftover, but even the best of our best dishonors Him if we rely on it to please Him or earn His grace.
Ps. 11-12
“Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear form among the sons of men. They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.” (Ps. 12:1-2). With what is on my heart and mind this morning as I read this, it makes me think of the Church.
There is a cancer in this body of Christ. We have allowed so much insincerity, selfish ambition, and outright evil to infiltrate our ranks and it is eating us away from the inside. But if those of us who see it fall to our knees in unity and cry out to God with one voice, He will hear and will step in to restore. “’Now I will arise,’ says the LORD; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he longs.’” (Ps. 12:5b). And we can trust His words because they are purer than ultra-refined silver.
Prov. 25
I heard the phrase recently, “Just because it is a good thing doesn’t mean it is a God thing.” This truth contributed in part to my thoughts on today’s Leviticus passage, and it comes to mind again from Proverbs 25:20. “Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.” Songs, joy, and a soaring spirit are all very good, God-given things. However, as the Preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes, “There is an appointed time for everything.” (Ecc. 3:1a). A huge part of our service, honor, and worship to God we give through other people and we need to be obedient to the guiding of His Spirit, not our own reasoning, as to what is appropriate to offer.