Quick Note – Numbers 9:1-8 – The Desire to Worship

Numbers 9:1-8 – And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” 4 So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. 6 And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” 8 And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

When you miss out on a chance to go to church or to study the Word of God, what is your reaction?  Be honest with yourself, because this is a time for internal reflection.  You can feel safe that you do not need to keep your mask on.  If you are like me, at times, when I am exhausted from a long work week or tired from a Saturday full of activity, part of me internally is happy that I don’t need to attend a Wednesday night Bible study or wake up early to dress up properly to attend church.  I am just tired and want a “break.”  But worshipping and spending time with God should not be a burden to us.  It should be something that we long for, that we desire to do more than anything else.  It should be something that we are excited to do and don’t want to miss out on.  This was the heart of the men described in our passage today. 

In our passage, the Lord asked Moses and the people of Israel to celebrate the Passover.  This was a feast used to help the people of Israel remember the time when God delivered them from Egypt.  It was a time of reflection and worship of the Almighty God.  It took place on the fourteenth day of the first month of every year.  But if a person was unclean (because at the time if you were in the presence of a dead body, you were considered unclean for a certain amount of time), then you were told not to bring anything to the Tabernacle, which meant you could not take part in the Passover and would not be able to worship with everyone that day.  It wasn’t because of sin that they were not allowed to worship but because of an unexpected and unavoidable situation – death of a friend or loved one.  These men in vs. 6 could have easily used this as an excuse to not have to bring an offering and to have the “day off” from worshipping God.  But they wanted to glorify God so much that they went to Moses and told him, “Why should we be exempted from this worship?”  They had a heart that craved the presence of God, that desired to spend time with Him, and that wanted to serve Him.  And they didn’t want anything to keep them away.  So they asked for a time to worship, and God gave them the fourteenth day of the second month as a replacement day. 

We as Christians need to have this type of heart – a heart that longs to spend time with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  With the coronavirus pandemic that occurred last year and is still ongoing, many Christians have gotten used to staying at home, turning on Zoom at the last minute, and listening to a sermon in the comfort of their bed.  Because there is no need to dress up, no need to get up and drive, no need to put in any effort, the heart is distracted up until the last minute before the service begins and sometimes continues to be distracted by all the things that are going on in the home.  They are no longer concerned about going to meet other believers, they just want to enjoy the comfort and ease that worshipping digitally brings.  But this is the wrong heart.  It is a heart that simply wants to check an obligation box to God and move on for the day.  It is a heart that would be happy to miss that time with God if a valid excuse came up.  Rather than being like the men described in this chapter, their hearts are glad to get a “break.”  This is the wrong heart, and a heart I am guilty of having at times.  So let us ask the Holy Spirit to change our hearts – to restore that desire to honor and worship God, to convict us when we are lazy, and to push us to spend time with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  May we be like these men described in Numbers 9, who asked God for an opportunity to worship and to serve Him during the Passover, rather than wait another year for that celebration to come again.  It is a privilege for us to worship God. Let us desire to worship Him.