PASSIONATE ZEAL

Today's reading: Numbers 25-28

"Then the Lord said to Moses, Phenehas son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by displaying passionate zeal among them on my behalf. So I have stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to do in my anger." Numbers 26:10-11 NLT

You can read the preceding verses to find out what exactly Phenehas did to stop the killing plague, but I suggest you read even further to see what brought the plague on. Take note of the one single rule of God that had been broken--to have no other gods before Him.

It took a man being so stirred by God, so righteous in his anger, so passionate for God himself to stop the sin before it took root any deeper in the camp of the Israelites.

I don't know about you, but I want that kind of zeal.

The kind that makes me get up and do something.

Or in regards to my own life, to stop what needs stopping.

To live a life so close to God that I know what He would have me do--in regards to keeping Him first in my heart, in my family, in my church, in my portion of the world.