Daily Reading
Daily Thought
Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron and priests of the tabernacle, offered unauthorized fire before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1-2). I’m not sure what the fire was, but it was wrong. So God sent his own fire, not to consume the offering, but to consume the offerers. God not only desires obedience, he demands it, especially from priests.
In the movie Hoosiers, Coach Dale had rules if you wanted to play basketball on his team. One was “Four passes before a shot.” By the end of the season, the discipline would make champions of the Hickory High basketball team, but early on, it made them boring, so one of the stars decided he knew better than the coach. He ignored the rule and started shooting instead of passing. He made some baskets. He got Hickory High back into the game. He excited the crowd. He infuriated the coach, and he got benched.
Near the end of the game, a Hickory high player fouled out, leaving four on the floor. “You need a fifth,” the referee informed the coach, and the disobedient star, the only player available, jumped up, ready to re-enter the game. Coach Dale sat him back down. “My team is on the floor.”
That’s what God said, with more emphasis (fire out of heaven and all that); “See those players who do what I say, they are my team.”
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.”
~1Samuel 15:22
Daily Prayer
Lord God, thank You for Your Word. It lights my path, and shows me how to live. It teaches me Your ways.
God, I tell You I love You. Let me show You, as well, by obeying everything You have taught me, by not only reading Your Word, but doing it.
Amen