The Right Mindset

Leviticus 10

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

1 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: " 'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.' " Aaron remained silent.4 Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary." 5 So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair become unkempt, [a] and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the LORD has destroyed by fire. 7 Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the LORD's anointing oil is on you." So they did as Moses said.16 When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's remaining sons, and asked, 17 "Why didn't you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the LORD. 18 Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded."19 Aaron replied to Moses, "Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?" 20 When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

It is important to be in the right mindset before we worship God. Before I read anything in the Bible for my quiet time I pray that God will show me what I need to read that day. I pray that I will get wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Do I do that for God’s benefit? No. I do it to prepare my heart, to soften it, so that I am ready to hear what He is saying. He will show me what He wants to whether I ask him or not. The problem is with me. I may not always be willing to hear what He is saying. That is what Aaron is saying here.

Aaron’s sons got lazy. And I may have been able to understand it if they had been doing this awhile and were getting tired of it. We see people get burnt out everyday and do something foolish. But this was right at the beginning. They were told what coals to use to burn the incense, but for whatever reason chose not to. Why would they do that? I don’t know. They had to know there would be some consequence. They were supposed to be the examples for the rest of the Israelites. They were supposed to be above the standard. They were supposed to be what others aspired to. Instead they couldn’t even do a simple task. How disrespectful was that to God? It was the same as if they had spit in His face. That is where His presence was and they used what they weren’t supposed to. They are lucky He only killed them and not the rest of their family. As priests they were responsible for more than themselves. They were responsible for the people of Israel. And by acting as they did they could have really messed them up.

Some people say, “Did God really have to kill them?” Yes. If He didn’t it would show that you didn’t have to do what God said, that you didn’t have to be reverent when you worshipped Him. Aaron got the message. That is why he didn’t eat the offering. He was mad that his sons had been killed and he knew his attitude wasn’t right to worship God. It was actually more reverent for him not to eat the offering. It showed respect for God.How many times do we go to church with the wrong attitude? I have to go so I’ll go, but don’t expect me to be happy about it. For a long time I looked at church kind of like an AA meeting. It was for people who couldn’t be good on their own. As such I resented having to go. I am a good person, I thought. I don’t need to be around sinners. What if I do bad by because I have been around them. Thankfully I have learned that is not the case. Or maybe it is. Just not the way I thought about it. Church is like AA. It is full of sinners. But I am one of them. Being around other Christians won’t help me make bad decisions. It will help me make good decisions. It is like AA because all humans are addicted to sin. We are addicted to it straight from the womb. It is our nature. Just like an alcoholic likes to drink, all humans like to sin. It feels good to sin, at least at first. We need to be around others that will support us and in turn we can support so that we don’t take that drink of sin.

Wasn’t I doing the same thing Aaron’s sons were? I was coming to church to worship with the wrong fire in my incense. I was coming with the wrong attitude. It definitely hurt my relationship with God. It probably hurt Amanda’s relationship with God. It probably hurt the boys’ relationship with God. Aaron, although mad at God for killing his sons, knew that God was God, and that what He had done was right. He was angry at Him but still recognized the need to be respectful. That is why he didn’t eat the offering. It would be better not to worship than to do it with the wrong attitude. He knew he would just be going through the motions and that God wouldn’t accept that. I need to apply that to my life. If I don’t have the right attitude, then one of two things need to happen. Either I get the right attitude, either through prayer or talking or whatever, or I don’t go worship. There have been many time I have thought, I’m not singing that, I don’t like that song. I’m not doing that, I don’t like that. That is entirely the wrong attitude to have. If it is worship I need to put my whole heart into it and do it completely, the right way, no strange fire, no eating when I don’t feel like it, no just going through the motions. Worship, as God wants me to, with the right attitude. There are times when Amanda and I pray at night that I feel like the Holy Spirit says that we should kneel as we are praying. I do it. To not would be the same as Aaron’s sons.

I always focused more on actions than attitude. I have a personality type that stresses actions over intent. As long as the job gets done who cares how the person felt about doing it. But we show God our love by worshipping Him. It is hard to show your love if your attitude isn’t right. How can I go to God with an attitude that is less than reverent, less than completely worshipful, less than everything that is good in me? I can’t.

Drason