December 28, 2023

Passage Read: Numbers 16-19
Meditation Verses: 16:3-5

Thought

This is such an easy trap to fall into, even and especially today. Today we value equality, we demand equality. We allow for no distinction between people, especially when it comes to the things of God. But we put words into God's mouth, and we distort the words He has spoken to our own gain. All the congregation was holy, but they were not holy and set apart to the same degree and purpose as Aaron and his sons. Even among those who are set apart to the Lord, there are those who are more set apart and less set apart. God still make distinctions, so that not all are equal. That is how God works, and we're fine with it until someone shows up with a covetous heart.

Application

Inequality is standard in God's universe, and by design. There are those whom God has drawn nearer to Himself than me, and there are those who are not as near to Him as me. For my part, I cannot claim a nearness that is not granted by God, but I can seek it according to His regulations, and if He allows me further in, I can take joy in that. But I cannot simply claim an authority that He has not given me. However, any authority He has given me, and any degree of closeness He has granted me, I have every right to. It is not what I declare that is true, but what God declares about me that is true. I cannot take upon myself more than He has granted me, but what He had given me to do, that I must not shrink back from doing. I do not want to be content with what I know of God or how near He has brought me, but I must draw nearer in the ways He proscribes, not by theft or by rabble-rousing.