Leviticus 16.3 3 “This is how Aaron may enter the Most
Holy Place: Before he enters, he must offer a bull for a sin offering and a
male sheep for a whole burnt offering. (NCV)
I hate to admit it, but Leviticus is one book of the
Bible I have trouble with. It’s not that I don’t understand it; it’s just that
some of what is in Leviticus 10-15 makes me squeamish. Actually, for me it’s
kind of gross: bodily fluids, discharges, menstrual cycles – thanks, but TMI. I
have to make myself read Leviticus.
Today, as I read chapter 16 I think I saw a change in the
way things were to be done. God told Moses to tell Aaron, “Don’t just go into the Tabernacle any old time you get a hankering too
– My tent is a holy place and it must be entered with a holy posture; in spirit
and truth if you will.”
Although the record doesn’t mention Aaron’s comings and
goings around the Tabernacle, it seems maybe he began to get comfortable and
take things for granted, and so God said, “Enough!”
Aaron’s life seems to be a lesson in poor leadership – it’s
not that he was a bad guy, he just made some bad decisions. I see some of Aaron
in me – I too, have made some bad decisions. Leadership calls for a higher
standard and that requires a passion for God that drives one’s discipline. And
if there is anything a leader needs it is discipline. Aaron seemed to be a wee
bit undisciplined and it weakened the community.
Hanging around with God will reveal our foolishness. But
hanging around with God will bring some measure of cure to our foolishness. God
really, really, really wants His children to get it. And He will work with them
to perfect them but sometimes he has to step in and say, “Here’s how you’re gonna do it from now on! Got it?” Aaron may have
felt like someone threw a bucket of cold water in his face.
If we are to follow God we must do it with our whole heart and we must do it by confessing our foolishness and seeking God for wisdom
and discipline. We must. Aaron had to
must; so do we. Granted, I’m building
this from an Old Testament passage but Jesus says in the New: apart from ME you
can do nothing. (Cf. John 15.4) We must follow God with all our heart and we
must abide in Him – live out our lives with His life in us.
I wish I could take some things back. I wish I could
re-write the past…but I can’t. But I firmly believe that God is the God of the
second, third, fourth, and umpteenth chance. God never gives up on me and He
will never give up on you either. He may re-write the rules and make us do
things differently, but it is always all for our good and our growth.
Father, help me to get it by hanging out with You and
humbly accepting Your will however it comes. O that I may be wise and compliant
and humble in Your sight – help me God, Amen.
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