Today’s devotion comes from Leviticus 10:1-4.
“1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,
‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”
So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.” Leviticus 10:1-4.
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Lest we think only Nadab and Abihu could fall, we need to remember the story of Moses and Aaron at the waters of Meribah so that we be careful to treat the LORD as holy.
“1 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.
2 There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? 5 Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them; 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
8 “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”
9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.” Numbers 20:1-13.
Rather than follow the LORD’s instructions to speak to the rock, Moses spoke to the assembly.
Preachers and teachers think they can achieve what they want primarily by speaking to the congregation rather than depending on God’s instructions and power to bring about what is needed. We too trust man’s free will to bend to our wise and eloquent words more than we trust God.
Rather than follow the LORD’s instructions to speak to the rock, Moses struck the rock twice.
So to speak, we too are eager to strike the rock twice, rather than just speak to the rock, in the sense that we trust our works more than we trust God’s power through our prayers to God.
Simply, we trust man more than we trust God. We think we have better fire (using an analogy drawn from the story of Nadab and Abihu) than the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Let us learn from today’s Scripture and from the example of Moses and Aaron to treat our LORD as holy as we should.
“4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Psalm 96:4-6.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 