#DailyDevotion The Lord God Is Merciful
Easter Week 6 Tuesday
Read Num 9:1–23
Num 9:10-13 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. (11) In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (12) They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. (13) But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.
Oftentimes when we read the Old Testament we might get the idea that the Lord is a stickler for details. And the truth of the matter is that he is. The Lord demands his people live out the law according to what he has given them. But when the Lord revealed his name to Moses he also showed us that his primary characteristics are that he is merciful, kind, loving and forgiving. Today lesson shows us one such example.
The Passover must be kept or the persons who would not keep it would be cut off from the people of Israel. But certain persons would become unclean or be traveling and they would not be able to keep the Passover. Why should they be cut off for no fault of their own? So the Lord has mercy on them. He allows them to celebrate the following month. The Passover is for the Israelite you see not the Israelite for the Passover. But the exception does not make the rule. And the Lord wanted to see if the Israelites would obey him or not.
In Jesus’ ministry he faced similar problems with the people. They had made a number of rules that the Lord had not given so they would not break the Sabbath. But Jesus would not always keep the rules of men but he would always keep the Sabbath according to the commandment of God. His main offense was healing people on the Sabbath and on one occasion he allowed his disciples to pick grain in a field to eat. Was one to do good or evil on the Sabbath? Is healing a child of Abraham good or evil? Well of course it was good. Jesus would remind them the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Mercy is what God wants, not sacrifice. But if we are able to do both, do both.
Ultimately, we see the mercy of Lord in Jesus. In the book of Acts, Peter would tell the early Church that neither they nor their fathers ever kept the Law of Moses so they shouldn’t lay that burden upon the Gentiles. Indeed, the Law of Moses was nailed to the cross in the body of Jesus. God had been reconciled and reconciled Jesus and Gentile on the cross. Now in the body of Jesus we see the mercy, love, kindness and forgiveness of the Lord God. We too should make mercy the overriding characteristic of our lives as well.
Heavenly Father, you showed mercy and kindness to your people Israel without removing your demands of the Law and more so you showed your mercy in the crucifixion of your son Jesus. Grant us faith in that mercy that we too may be merciful to our neighbors. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.