By Matt Griffies
Leviticus 10:1-2 “Now Nadab andAbihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire be/ ore the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died be/ore the Lord.”
The account of Nadab and Abihu comes to a tragic end but through their tragic end, we can learn some lessons regarding our obedience to God through worship. We can see that not all worship is acceptable and pleasing to God. We live in a world where there are many different religious affiliations available, each often with their own worship styles. The question then must come to mind, “Does God view all worship as pleasing and acceptable?”. The answer can be found much earlier in Genesis with regards to the worship of Cain and Abel. Both were worshiping God but as the story unfolds, it becomes evident whose worship was acceptable and pleasing to God and whose wasn’t. We need to strive to only offer God what He wants … but how do we know what worship He wants from us?
We must study God’s word to determine worship that God would deem acceptable and pleasing. We’ve already determined that Nadab and Abihu were worshiping God so what was the problem? The end of verse 1 of Leviticus 10 states they “offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them”. God had a particular way He wanted to be worshiped but they decided to do what they wanted thinking He would be pleased with any worship presented to Him. In worship, we must seek to do those things that God requests in the manner that He wants them done. To go beyond what He has requested puts us in a similar situation as Nadab and Abihu or Cain where we believe God will accept whatever worship we present Him.
Let’s be careful when it comes to worshiping God. Let’s strive to do those things He has asked from us and not purposefully step out of bounds with regards to what He would declare acceptable and pleasing. We should seek to be obedient in trying to follow His will and not our own will and desires. Although we would not suffer a similar fate as Nadab and Abihu, let’s still not have it said of us as His church that we seek to do our own will when it comes to our worship and not His will.