Thursday, May 1st | Numbers 8

Passage:
14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15 And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering.
16 For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself.
17 For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,
18 and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.
19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”
(Numbers 8:14–19)

Song:
Setting Us Apart by Leslie McKee, Theresa Amundrud, and Trent Smith

Lyrics:
On this ground that you've made holy
In these lives that bear your name
Spirit of God search our hearts today
Realign our souls' affections
And reveal our hidden sin
Spirit of God cleanse us from within

You're setting us apart setting us apart for You
You finish what you start finish what you start
So Spirit move do what you do

Let our passion and our purpose
Be ignited by your love
Spirit of God let your will be done

Purify purify
Fit us for your kingdom
Purify purify
Fit us for your kingdom

Take our hearts take our lives
Fit us for your kingdom
We give it all a sacrifice
Fit us for your kingdom

Prayer:
Take me, O Lord, and make me
worthy of this calling—
not by any strength I possess,
but by your grace alone.
Put your hand upon me.
Sanctify me for your work.
Let me not draw back from the difficulties or the unknown,
but grant that in joy or sorrow, in weakness or in strength,
I may always be yours—
wholly, gladly, and forever. Amen.
—John Wesley