INTRODUCTION

Today's passage refers to the zeal of one man. Zeal can serve to save a nation or it can cause the shedding forth of innocent blood. The book of Numbers tells of a time when Israel allowed sin into their camp and began experiencing God's wrath. Fortunately, one man took it upon himself to save the nation of Israel from God’s impending judgment. He spared a great number of lives because he was zealous to take action. It should be noted that his zeal was for the Lord’s sake (Numbers 25:11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
See All...). Unfortunately, the Bible reveals others like king Saul whose zeal brought about a far different outcome. His zeal ended the lives of innocent people. According to 2 Samuel 21:2And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
See All..., Saul, in his zeal to the people, slew the Gibeonites bringing a famine upon God’s people in the days of David. The famine only ended when seven men of Saul’s house lost their lives.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For children): Nehemiah had zeal to serve God and encouraged others to likewise serve the Lord. This one man led God's people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, even when faced with vicious threatening from their enemies. Read about the conditions in which they worked in Nehemiah 4:21-23 [21] So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. [22] Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. [23] So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.
  See All....
• (For everyone): Are you zealous for the Lord or just zealously active in temporal matters? What could go wrong if your zeal is simply for people or things? What good outcomes could take place if your zeal is in line with God's will and for God's purposes?
• Does your zeal encourage people to turn toward the Lord or turn away from Him? Are you a magnet for the godly or do you attract the ungodly through your zeal? Is your zeal for the Lord contagious?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask God to use your zeal to righteously affect others.
• Ask the Lord to protect you from harmful zeal.

HYMN

Am I a Soldier of the Cross?

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