Find the Phinehas in You!

 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.  Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand;  and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. NKJV (1982). (Nu 25:6–8)

Phinehas took as stand for his God.  The people of Israel had begun to commit harlotry with the women of Moab (Nu 25:1) which was something they'd explicitly been commanded not to do.  They attended the sacrifices offered to the foreign gods where they ate and bowed down to these gods (Nu 25:2), another thing they'd been expressly commanded not to do. And one of the children of Israel was even so bold as to bring a Midianite woman into the came in the sight of Moses and of all the congregation of Israel (Nu 25:6).  And I can only assume that this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Phinehas, a future high priest, a man filled with obvious zeal for his God and the commands of his God, took up a javelin and killed both the man of Israel and the woman, and for this he was given a covenant of peace and of perpetual priesthood (Nu 25:13)  and was reckoned as righteous (Psalm 106:30-31).  Why? Because he loved his God and cared more about the commands God had issued to the people of Israel than he did anything else.  God had given specific commands to his people. Commands that decreed how the people should interact with God, how they should worship and praise him.  Commands that regulated their conduct and speech. Commands that told the people exactly what God expected of them.  These commands were being disregarded and so Phinehas took a stand which is something we need to do today.

How many of us, in our churches. are watching things we know to be against the word of God take place without ever addressing it?  Who among us has seen blatant sin perpetuated in the congregation of God's people and ignored it?  Who is willing to admit that they have sat idly by while "people of God" have defiled the sanctuary, ignored and disregarded the commands of God. and been more of a hindrance to the body of Christ than they have been a help?  I have.  But then I realized how wrong I was for doing so.  I realized that I had a responsibility to say or do something when I say things happening that should never take place in and among the congregation of God's people.  And if I'm not willing to say or do something about it, then I'm just as responsible for the way things turn out as the person or persons who committed the actual act.

I have been guilty of the things I mentioned but I've also been convicted of them. That conviction has led to me finding the Phinehas in myself, taking a stand, and saying, "no more."  No longer will I sit idly by and let the holiness of my God's chosen people be corrupted with the unholiness of the world because some "brothers and sisters" would rather live how they want to instead of how God tells us to.  And today I am imploring those who love the Lord their God with all their heart, all their soul, and with all their mind to do the same.  I am imploring you to stand up and say that today their silence ends, today your idleness ends, today your passivity ends.  I am imploring you to stand up for your God and stand against any and all corruption that has crept in our congregations.

I don't care what it is. If it's sinful behavior, stand against it.  If it's false or watered down teaching, stand against it. If it's division, if it's one group of people being respected and preferred over another, whatever it is, stand against it.  Anything that is going on in our churches and congregations that is not according to the word of God, it's our duty to stand against it.  I am imploring, but I am also pleading with every brother and sister in Christ to find the Phinehas within themselves this day and stand for what is righteous, holy and pure.  Our God has commanded how we should be, how we should praise, and how we should worship.  Anything contrary to what he has commanded cannot be allowed to enter and if it has entered, it cannot be allowed to remain.

Take a stand today and don't worry about what people are going to think, say or do about your actions. Care only about your God and what he's going to think, say and do.  This day let us vow to our God that we will stand up for with is right in his eyesight.  Let us vow to stand against anything and anyone who tries to introduce into our congregations, something that doesn't belong.   Today, let's vow to find the Phinehas within ourselves and put a stop to the things that are plaguing our congregations.  If we don't do it no one will.

Prayer for today: Dear Lord, give us the courage to confront the sin that is in us and the sin that is in our congregations.  Show us how to purify ourselves, our worship, our daily lives so that what we say and do as your people might be truly pleasing to you. Amen.