Posted by: Bill Hornbeck | April 15, 2014

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked … But his delight is in the law of the Lord”

Today’s devotion comes from Leviticus 10:4-7.

“4 Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.”  5 So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said.  6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not become wrathful against all the congregation.  But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about.  7 You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die;  for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.”  So they did according to the word of Moses.”  Leviticus 10:4-7.

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We remember from the prior Scripture that “… fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them (Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron), and they died before the Lord.”  Leviticus 10:2.

Like Aaron, we may have relatives that do not know the LORD.  Bad things may happen to them.  We may mourn both that they do not know the LORD and that bad things may happen to them.

But, we must continue to walk with the LORD.  We must continue to do His work.

It is interesting to note that despite the fact that fire consumed Nadab and Abihu, today, we read that they were “still in their tunics”.  Verse 5.  If God could perfectly control the fire that it could consume their bodies inside the tunics but not the tunics, then we can have hope that although we may be surrounded by the wicked (even wicked relatives), God can cause us to walk with Him and continue His work.

And, we notice what Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not become wrathful against all the congregation.  …  You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die;  for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.”  To paraphrase, the LORD was commanding through Moses to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar:  “Continue walking with Me!  Continue working for Me!”

“1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.”  Psalm Chapter 1.


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