Deuteronomy 10:6 – 11“The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.
At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day. That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God promised him. I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and that time the LORD again listened to me and agreed not to destroy you.
Then the LORD said to me, “Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”
What do you do when a leader fails miserably? What does God do when a leader fails miserably? When Moses went up on Mount Sinai the first time, he delegated his brother Aaron to lead the people in his absence. Aaron was not a novice; Moses and Aaron had been leading the Israelites together for several weeks since the escape from Egypt. And even before the escape, Aaron and Moses went before Pharaoh and Aaron acted as the spokesperson while Moses did miracles. But the true test of a leader is the actions of that man or woman when the pressure is on and things are difficult. Faced with an unruly group of Israelites, Aaron caved in to popular opinion, molding a golden calf idol patterned after the Egyptian god Hathor. Then when Moses demanded an explanation, Aaron tried to make it seem that he had just thrown the gold into the fire and this idol had come out on its own. When that explanation failed to hold up, Aaron then tried to put all the blame on the Israelites.
What should Aaron have done? Thanks to advice from Jethro, Moses’ father – in – law, Moses had already organized the Israelites into judiciary units. Aaron could have used this structure and approached the judges handling the problems of thousands. Those judges in turn could have passed the word down to those serving under them. But rather than begging God to help him do the right thing, Aaron sat in his tent, hoping that Moses would return in time. When Moses didn’t come back promptly, Aaron directly violated the commands God had already given and created that idol. God was so angry with Aaron that only Moses’ pleading on Aaron’s behalf spared Aaron from instant destruction. But Aaron died well before the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land.
Now God is commanding Moses to set the entire tribe of the Levites apart to do four things: to carry the ark of the covenant, to stand before the Lord, to serve the Lord, and to pronounce blessings in the Name of the Lord. In return, the Levites are to receive an eternal inheritance from the Lord, rather than receiving large amounts of land as the other tribes will receive. At first, this sounds like a raw deal; everybody else is getting lots of land. But in fact, the Levites are getting the best of it. While the inheritance of the other tribes must be protected from attack by neighboring tribes, the Levitical inheritance is an eternal one that cannot be snatched away from them. This inheritance will carry down from generation to generation until the end of the world.
APPLICATION: One day some of Jesus’ disciples came to him, asking to know what rewards they might receive for following Him. “Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.” (This was true; Peter, Andrew, James, and John had walked away from prosperous family fishing businesses.)
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mark 10:28 – 31)
Our testimony as a couple is very simple: In 1986 we dedicated our lives to serving as missionaries wherever God would send us. We have served as missionaries since 1988. During that time, God has continued to supply our needs, as well as allowing us to be channels for donations from others. These supplies have come in various ways and generally never the same way twice; yet, we have never lacked.
We are not giving this testimony to bring any glory on ourselves. The late David Yonggi Cho was fond of saying, “I pray, and I obey.” We pray and we obey. Do we always obey perfectly? Are you kidding? We have all kinds of stories about the times when we missed God’s will and had to beg for His help to extricate us from messes of our own creating. But God is faithful and worthy of our trust and praise.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You that You will give an eternal inheritance to all who truly follow You. Help all those who read this devotional to trust You and to serve You all the days of their lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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