#201 Return to Owner

“Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests. 2 Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. 3 Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. 4 These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. 5 Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen. Exodus 28:1-5 NIV

God sets apart the priesthood. Before this time there were tribal leaders or heads of family that held this position. They were set apart and adorned in such a way as to attribute dignity and honor. Such was the picture of their office, but also the demand. 

Hosea 5:1

Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor.

Hosea 6:9

And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime.

The Priest were not above the law, nor were they outside of God's wrath. It is interesting to note that those skilled workers, with those talents that we ascribe to and identify both ourselves and others with, were called into service by the One Who had given them such wisdom. Seeing God at the beginning and end of all things leaves very little room for pride. I am not an Olympic grade athlete; I love to fish, yet I am no Kevin Van Dam. There are those moments though when I have prepared, solved the problem, persevered, on the lake or at work, and it use to be only a puffed chest, but lately I have realized that I did not make myself. One of my favorite lines in a movie is when Eric Liddell is speaking to his sister in reference to his service to God and his gift as a runner.  He says, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

1 Peter 4:1121st Century King James Version (KJ21)

11 If any man speak, let him speak according to the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it according to the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.