Day 32

Learning to Obey

Read: Leviticus 8-10

Once again we have a passage where the constant refrain is “as the LORD commanded Moses.” Moses was careful to do exactly what God said he was to do. Some people have the idea that the Old Testament emphasizes works while the New emphasizes grace. But we are to remember that God’s Old Testament people had been saved by grace. It was to a people whom he had rescued from slavery that God gave the Ten Commandments. Obedience in the Old Testament was to be a response to grace.

And the same thing is true of us today. We are not saved by our works but by the perfect work of Christ. We are not saved by our perfect obedience, for then none of us would be saved. But redeemed by grace, based on Christ’s perfect obedience, we are to seek to do what God tells us to do.

We are called to a life of obedience, even as God’s Old Testament people were thus called. To that end we are to study the Scriptures that we may learn what God’s will is.

In Leviticus 10:11, we learn that teaching was to be one of the functions of the priests. Elsewhere we learn that all of the Levites were to be dispersed among the people to teach (e.g., Deut. 17:8-11; 18:6-7). Yet in the narratives about Israel, we do not see this happening. Could this be why Israel failed to do God’s will?

PRAYER
Father, show us your will as we study Scripture. Give us grace to be more obedient. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.