We Exist for God

    Leviticus is a tough book of the Bible for me to read. There is a lot of animal sacrifices and rules and regulations and it can become a bit gory and mundane at the same time. But today, the notes at the bottom of the page that explained one especially sad event really spoke to me. 

    Leviticus 9:23-24 is about God sending fire to consume a burnt offering and the people's reactions to this miraculous event, "they shouted for joy and fell facedown." But then it goes on to say that, "Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD..." the fire then consumed them and they died. Wow, brutal, right?! 

    So, I am thinking, what does this mean, why did they have to die? The notes of my NIV Bible on page 158 explain it this way, "The new community had to be made aware that it existed for God, not vice versa." I have another Bible on my desk and picked it up and just flipped it open to see what it would show me. It fell open to the story of Samson and Delilah in Judges 16 where Delilah is going to get money from the Philistines if she can get Samson to admit where his strength comes from. 

    Prior to this Samson had made some fleshly decisions, especially regarding relationships with women, so you might say, in the final case of Delilah, women were his downfall. Throughout his life though, God intervened through "The Spirit of the LORD" (Judges 13:25, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14) to give Samson mighty strength to overcome his enemies. 

    Rather than use his special gift to glorify God and give God the glory for his inhuman power, he used it to defend his less than holy behaviors and revenge his enemies (that he likely would not have had, had he obeyed his parent advice about the woman he should marry). Samson's life was a constant battle, due to, (not unlike a lot of us), living as though God exists to serve us, rather than we exist to serve God. 

    Back to Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, although I am not going to venture to say I know what God was thinking in this situation, after reading Samson's story too, it makes me wonder if these two sons thought they would piggyback onto God's fire miracle and show the people that they were mighty as well by snatching some of the fire and burning incense as though to the Lord, but really to show themselves "holy" to the people. More of a look what we can do, rather than stay in their lanes as servants of the Most High God. 

    I'm guilty of getting out of my lane, my purpose, and forgetting my place with God. What I find, every time, is that this attitude leads to the demise of relationships, job situations, and blessings. Because trying to usurp God's position in my life is akin to what Satan did, he want to be equal to God, and that was when he fell from grace (Isaiah 14:12-15). We are His created ones, not the One who created us. We would be wise to remember this and not think or act otherwise.