Daily Manna 25 November
KEY VERSE: Numbers 6:12 – “And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.”
TEXT: Numbers 6:1-12
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. 7 He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.
9 ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; 11 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. 12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.
Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here
Decisions borne out of sound and strong convictions often result in a very strong and firm character. It is usually very difficult, if not near impossible, to get such a person to recount and rescind his stand. People with strong convictions are usually willing to seal their convictions and beliefs with their lives. These are the positions of martyrs. Jesus, in our text today, tests the stand of His disciples. Do they personally have conviction of His person and mission or are they merely following popular opinion? So, He asked them, “Whom do men say that I am?” And, “whom say ye that I am?” Interestingly, the disciples knew what the popular opinions were about Christ; but their belief and conviction was different. They refused to join in the bandwagon belief of the people around them.
They knew and were very sure of who Jesus was. This was why they staked their lives for Him and could be trusted with the truth of the gospel. Nobody can run the Christian race successfully without a strong and personal conviction in the Lord. Many do not personally know Jesus and are not sure of their relationship with Him. They are Christians by default; that is, because they were born into the Christian religion and their parents are active members of a particular church. No wonder then that they have such a shallow relationship with the Lord.
When someone approaches his retirement age in the civil service or any other establishment, he tends to be more careful with his works as he does not want any act that would tarnish all the years he has put in. There have been cases of people who had kept a good record all through the many years they had served in an organisation only to have such clean record spoilt by a foolish act of crime or carelessness. Our passage today focuses on the vow and consecration of a Nazarite. Emphasis is placed on what should characterise the lifestyle of such a person.
Of particular note is the fact that the person must guard against everything that can get him defiled either deliberately or accidentally. He owes it a duty to seriously keep himself from defilement. If he, by chance, gets defiled either through a deliberate act or accidentally, he has voided his consecration and all the years he has put in are considered wasted. He will have to make atonement for his sins and start all over again.
It is appalling to realise that one wrong act of sin can completely ruin all the years of righteous records one has set. Sin cancels all the good account. God does not operate by the wrong idea of weighing our good acts against our bad acts. There must be no sin at all; no matter how small or insignificant it may appear before men. Again, no excuse will be tolerated for sin and defilement. It does not matter if it is deliberate, well calculated or it is unintentional. Sin is sin and it is polluting and damning. Once we have made the decision to consecrate our lives to the Lord and live a righteous life, we must take it upon ourselves to consciously guard against sin. We cannot afford to be careless with our Christian lives. Yes, the grace of God is abundantly available to help us live the life that pleases Him but grace does not absolve us from our personal responsibilities. We must see to it that we are watchful at all times.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Don’t waste your years of consecration by an act of sin!
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 47-48
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Don’t Ruin the Record – by Pastor Enoch A.
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Daily Manna 25 November 2021
