Three Generations of Spiritual Legacy

[S] Numbers 25:11-15 --

 ¹¹"Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.
 ¹²"Therefore say, 'Behold, I give him My covenant of peace;
 ¹³and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God andmade atonement for the sons of Israel.'"
 ¹⁴Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father's household among the Simeonites.
 ¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father's household in Midian.

[O] Here I see a legacy of faith from Aaron to Eleazer to Phinehas sustaining the zeal for God.  Phinehas did not waste any time to 1) destroy the sin being committed before God and His people openly; and 2) to stand between the dead and alive to stop the wrath of God as Aaron had done previously.  God honored that and gave him His covenant of peace and a perpetual priesthood.  How I desire such a spiritual legacy from my father to me and then to my children.  My deepest desire is for my children to attain the same, if not greater, zeal for God and live their lives accordingly against the forces and influences of the society they will live in.  Even though they may be surrounded by the sins of our ugly human nature, they would stay with God and stick to uphold His values.

In contrast to this, Zimri and Cozbi, who were both in leadership in their respective communities fell into this blatant sin.  I notice that even these who sinned greatly and paid their consequences were remembered by God by their first names.  He does indeed care for each one of us until the end waiting for us to return to Him.  I also noted that being a leader is not easy as we're the targets for our enemies to attack.  In fact, when the leaders break down the whole ministry suffers as we see here.

[A] Continue to encourage and uplift the small group leaders such that they would walk closer to God each day because that's the only way to surround them with God's armor of protection.  I also need to stay close to God's word daily by starting off the day with His word.

[P] God, Your personal care even for those who fail You (umm that would actually be all of us including me) amazes me and I'm so grateful for your love of second chance.  Please continue to surround me and my family with You angels of protection and please also encourage all the small group leaders in our church as we have recently initiated a new structure.  Please give us wisdom and humility to thwart all the discouragements our enemy shoots our way.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.