The Daily Word: Thursday, March 12th, 2020
Numbers 16:41-18:32
Mark 16:1-20
Psalm 55:1-23
Proverbs 11:7
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Commentary from Pastor Michael White:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe.’” – Num. 18:25-26
The Levites were a special family in Israel. God set them apart for service in the temple. They didn’t receive an inheritance of land, and that meant they didn’t have crops to eat; so God set them up with a “tithe:” a tenth of everything grown in the land of Israel. The Levites received, “…the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, [and the] firsfruits” (Num. 18:12). But the Levites had to tithe too. They received the tithe from God’s people! But then God reminded them that they were not exempt from the tithe.
This is an important leadership lesson. As a leader, never ask someone to do something that you are unwilling to do yourself! The Levites could boldly ask God’s people to tithe, because they were tithers themselves. The Levites could boldly ask God’s people to serve God, because they lived lives devoted to service!
Do you want to lead well? Find someone to follow. Do you expect someone to serve you well? Find someone you look up to and start serving them first! What you sow, you will reap in due time. And the way you lead is by showing others what it means to follow.
Prayer:
Father, help me to be a leader who leads by example! I refuse to say one thing, but do another. Make me a leader of integrity and purpose, who only asks others to do things I am first willing to do myself!
Archives
See commentary from this day in 2014.
See commentary from this day in 2015.
See commentary from this day in 2016.
See commentary from this day in 2017.
See commentary from this day in 2018.
See commentary from this day in 2019.
© Michael D. White, 2020. All rights reserved.