Leviticus 10:1-2

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.  So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Wow.  What a way to end the day!  After God’s presence filled the Temple and the people fell on their faces in awe and fear, these two newly appointed priests are killed.  What did they do that caused them to be punished so severely?  I don’t understand Hebrew culture as well as I’d like, so I went hunting…

I found several sources (well, lots really) that shed some light into the matter.  The general consensus seems to be that no one really knows exactly what they men did wrong.  However, there does seem to be agreement that they offered a sacrifice that God hadn’t asked for or taught them how to do yet, and because they didn’t wait for instructions they used fire that wasn’t consecrated (made holy).

Nadab and Abihu put regular fire into their censer.  After their deaths, we find out that the fire should have come from the fire of God’s presence on the altar.  But they didn’t know that, right?  That’s the problem.  They rushed ahead of God and did it in the way that seemed right to them, forgetting the extremely holy nature of God.  I think that if they had waited for God to tell them what to do they would have lived (now, I could be wrong here.  There may have been an issue with their hearts – their motivation, etc.).

Why does this matter?  Well, it seems to provide a general principle for life: wait for God’s instructions before rushing off and doing it my way.  Whether it’s pride or ignorance, or even extreme enthusiasm, doing it my way is never a good idea.  For sure, the times I’ve done it my way there have been disastrous consequences.  And while our society celebrates our ability to do it our way, God’s way is better, safer, and demonstrates our love for and obedience to Him.  So, instead of “I did it my way!” perhaps we should be waiting to get our instructions first.  Then we can say, “I did it God’s way!”  And that’s a much better way to live.

References:

• Bergman, B., Rabbi. “We’re All Still Learning.” Temple Beth-El, San Antonio, Texas. N.p., 31 Mar. 2000. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. <http://www.beth-elsa.org/be_s0331.htm>.
• Graham, Ron. “What Did They Do Wrong? — Nadab and Abihu’s Fatal Error in Worship.” Simply Christians, Eftel, Australia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. <http://members.net-tech.com.au/sggram/f077.htm>.
• Martin, Wiley. “The Consequences of Disobedience.” Olive Tree Messianic Fellowship. N.p., 31 Mar. 2008. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. <www.olivetreemessianicfellowship.com/index.php/Wiley-s-Torah-Study/consequences-of-disobedience.html>.

Romans 1:22

Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.

This is how I feel some days.  Okay, a lot of days.  I start out thinking I know what I’m doing, and end up feeling like a complete fool because I’m completely lost.    Isn’t this at the crux of a lot of our problems?  Pride.  That’s pretty much what it boils down to.  We laugh in movies when the character thinks he or she knows so much and we know they’re making total fools of themselves (dramatic irony, right?).  And yet, in real life we do the same things… except it’s me in the silly seat.

Right now I’m struggling with a situation where I need to be wise in how I handle things, and I really don’t want to behave foolishly.  Part of me wants to lash out in anger and hurt and frustration.  And part of me knows that this isn’t the right thing to do.  There’s a lot of claiming to be wise from both sides of the table, but an awful lot of foolishness being acted out.

Pride is a difficult thing.  It’s sneaky.  It’s the root of most of my issues.  I see it (usually after the fact *sigh*) subtly infiltrating my life when I least expect it to.  There’s pride in my fear.  There’s pride in my interactions with my children.  There’s pride in my interactions with my husband.  There’s pride in my conflicts.  The frustrating part is there seems to be an underlying current of pride in everything.  So, here’s what I’m thinking.  Pride in God and what God has done through me is not necessarily a bad thing.  He created me with gifts and skills and wants me to use them.  I need to take pride in my work and do a good job.  However, pride in my knowledge or my ability to do things on my own isn’t such a good thing because really, without God’s strength and help I tend to make a helpless mess of things.

I don’t want to play the fool and think I know better than the other people involved in this situation.  God’s given them wisdom, too.  But I also realize that none of us are right about everything, and that goes for them as well.    Pride says to act like I know more than them and be condescending.  And God says, “don’t be a fool about it.”  So, help me God not to be a fool, to remember that all Wisdom is Yours.  And help me to know how you would handle this situation with grace, mercy, and love.

Matthew 9:10-13

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

This portion is from David Guzik’s commentary on Matthew 9:

Many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him: We are fortunate that God calls sinners, not just “saints.” Jesus came to benefit those who understood their inherit need for Him (those who are sick, the poor in spirit, Matthew 5:3), but the proud who see no need for Jesus (Those who are well) benefit nothing from Jesus.

i. It isn’t our sin that keeps us from coming to Jesus, but our pride that refuses to acknowledge our need before Him.

I thought this was really insightful!  Jesus accepted tax collectors and the rejects of Israeli society.  He called the lowest and healed the sickest (and the dead – and you can’t get much lower than that).  He sought out the people who were sinful and who needed forgiveness and love.  He didn’t seek out the people who were clean and pretty and proper.

I know it’s easy to think that if I’ve made mistakes that Jesus couldn’t possibly want or allow me in His presence.  But that’s not how He operated when He was here.  He knows my need for forgiveness and is eager for my black and sinful self to come to Him for help.  It’s my pride that keeps me from coming.  It’s not easy to admit I’m wrong, and it’s hard to look at the things I’ve done that I know are wrong.  And Satan doesn’t help the matter because he loves to rub all that in and puff up our pride to think we don’t need forgiveness.

It’s encouraging to know that Jesus didn’t keep company that was all pristine and pretty.  He wasn’t afraid of getting dirty, and He loved the people that needed Him the most.  I’m incredibly thankful that Jesus wasn’t afraid to stoop down and love me and forgive me, despite the messes I’ve made in my life.

Zephaniah 3:17

For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song.

You know, it’s a little scary to read all the prophecy books, because there are some definite similarities between our nation (American) and the nations that God is angry with for their pride, arrogance and cruelty.  A lady at the grocery store where I was checking out told me that they’ve started removing “In God We Trust” from the money that’s being printed!  I haven’t noticed it, but it (sadly) wouldn’t surprise me too much.  We have become arrogant enough to trust in ourselves and declare it to the world!

Ah, but these words are beautiful.  They’re soothing after all the destruction of the prophecies.  I can only imagine the beauty of God’s voice singing!  I think of the most beautiful voices I know (Emmy Rossum, Sarah Brightman, Kari Jobe, to name a few) and it’s even more amazing than that!  I love how His love calms my fears.  He is glad of us!  And, so, despite the depravity and chaos, there is hope and something to look forward to.  As much as I love aspects of life, it will be a great day when God sings over me.

Jonah 4:1

This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

I can so relate to this!  I like to know what’s going on, and sudden changes in plan tend to throw me a little.  I can also understand a little about why Jonah was angry that God changed His mind about destroying Nineveh.  It’s not about the destruction, so much as it’s about Jonah’s reputation as a prophet.  Prophets could be killed for falsely prophecying.  Plus, to predict death and destruction and then have nothing happened makes him look foolish or incoompetent.  How many of us hate it when that happens!  Maybe we predicted a major systems failure that never happened, or we predicted that our students would do awesome on a test (maybe even bragging about our awesome teaching methods) and they bombed it.  Or, maybe we claimed a promise or asked God for a miracle that never seemed to come.

I think this last one is a big one.  There are times when I am afraid to believe God for something or to ask Him for something because I’m afraid of looking foolish if it doesn’t happen.  Our anger and fear of looking silly or of being wrong overshadows and stifles our faith.  Faith can be fragile, and these ugly weeds of, ultimately, pride and selfishness can strangle it before it has a chance to grow.

So, yeah, I can understand Jonah frustration.  That still doesn’t make it right.  But I can understand it a little.  Maybe, in the end, it helps to remember that God isn’t interested in my comfort level, so much as He’s interested in the souls of those around me.  And He will do whatever it takes for those souls to hear His voice, even if it means a change in plans.

As I’m reading through all the prophets and their messages of doom (and the occasional glimmer of hope) it’s easy for me to wonder what on earth I can learn from it.  And then today, as I read a commentary on Obediah, it smacked me in the face!  OUCH!

The man who wrote the commentary points out that the struggle between Israel and Edom (of whom Obediah speaks) is an ancient one that originated in the struggle between Jacob and Esau!  That this struggle is symbolic of the struggle between the Spirit and the flesh.  This fleshly part is pride.  That’s what the Bible says was Esau’s problem, and it’s ours too.  I read that and kept going filing it away as interesting.  Until I read: one way it might be expressed is in self-sufficiency…

Bam!  That caught my attention!  This is something I struggle with constantly!  It’s also an area of my life that I feel God has been working on for a while through all these financial issues.  My first thought when there’s a problem is, “how can I fix this?”  And there’s that self-sufficiency rearing its ugly head.  I had never connected that with pride until now.  So, that right there put the whole thing in perspective.  I asked God to speak to me this morning, and man, did He ever!  To a great degree, the struggles of the past year make sense.  It’s the eternal struggle between Jacob and Esau, Israel and Edom, Spirit and flesh (pride).

I am getting a little better about the self-sufficiency thing.  Not so much because it’s second nature, but more because God has removed my ability to be self-sufficient.  Most times there’s nothing I can do but trust that He’ll take care of things.

Self-sufficient is itself an interesting term.  Self – that’s me, me, me (the essence of pride).  Sufficient – that’s the ability to be enough.  God says His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).  Paul hopes that his courage will  be sufficient so he won’t disgrace his Lord (Phil. 1:20).  2 Corinthians 3:5 says that “our sufficiency is from God.”  So when we believe we are enough by ourselves or in ourselves, we shut out God and make ourselves higher than He is.  What a mistake that is!  Every time I’ve done this, I’ve found that I’m not everything I’ve made myself out to be, and the consequences of my pride are pretty ugly.

So what can I learn from all these prophets?  I look for the metaphor.  And realizing that I fall victim to pride (my flesh) I can learn to recognize those moments of self-sufficiency so I can stop trying to play God and let God be exalted and sufficient for me.  And hopefully, sooner rather than later, I’ll get better at this lesson.

Daniel 5:30

That very night Balshazzar, the Babylonian king,was killed.  And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

I had a couple of observations about this chapter…

First, Daniel has now outlived two Babylonian kings.  This is either a testament to Daniel’s good health (and perhaps his faith in God) or to the danger of being the king of Babylon.  Either way, when Darius takes over, he’s king number three for Daniel, and in each case, God acts to bring Daniel to prominence and make His name known.

Second, God does act fast sometimes.  Here we have Balshazzar partying and using the gold cups from the Temple.  This angers God and He sends a hand to write on the wall that Balshazzar hasn’t learned from the lessons of his predecessor and therefore will lose the kingdom.  That very night Balshazzar is killed when the Persians invade.  One (well, probably more than one) stupid, prideful act took Balshazzar from being the life of the party to being dead.  It’s also interesting that nobody realized they were about to be invaded by the Persians! You’d think a lookout or someone would have noticed a vast army approaching and alerted the king.  Or maybe they did and the king was partying as an act of defiance.  Who knows.  Either way, God acted fast, and Balshazzar died.

Just a couple of thoughts…