Leviticus 17: -5-7 - This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices
they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest,
that is, to the LORD, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them
as fellowship offerings. The priest is to sprinkle the
blood against the altar of the LORD at
the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as an aroma pleasing to
the LORD. They must no longer offer any of their
sacrifices to the goat idols to whom
they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting
ordinance for them and for the generations to come.
The books of Leviticus contain so many
rules….so many symbolic rituals. Moses
was given instruction after instruction to communicate to the people. This one
was simple….stop sacrificing your offerings any other place than the altar of
God at the door of the tabernacle. God’s presence dwelt in the heart of that
camp….inside the Holy of Holies…and any sacrifice offered to him would only be
accepted at the door of his house. The
blood of atonement had to be sprinkled there…where God had told them too….the
sacrifice had to burned on the altar he told them to build…case closed…no exceptions.
I am sure it was easy said than done….for
the sacrifices they had been offering on their own… meant that they had adopted
the attitude of…” I can do this my way instead of God’s way!” this attitude
seems harmless enough…but God said it plain in verses 8-9, “Say to them: 'Any
Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or
sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent
of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD--that
man must be cut off from his people.”
This scripture is still crying out to us
today…I know that we do not have to offer blood sacrifices anymore…God took
care of that when he allowed Jesus to shed his blood to pay for all our sins. And technically we carry his house around
with us now that he allows his spirit to live inside each of our hearts….so any
offering of praise…or sacrifice we make to him is always at the door of his
tabernacle….but I hope I am not the only one walking this Earth that has a
problem with my attitude. The hedonistic view of...if it feels good…it is a
thing God gave us…is not always the case. We twist the words of the Bible to
fit what we want to do…instead of letting the words of the Bible lead us to the
thing God wants us to do.
Jesus talked so much in the New Testament
about cleansing our hearts….making right our attitudes toward the rules his
father gave Moses. Samuel might as well have written Judges 17:6 for us….
“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did
that which was right in his own eyes.”
We too have adopted an attitude that we have the right to decide what is
right in our own eyes…and forget to check it against the words written down for
us in the Bible…we search scriptures for one we can twist to justify whatever
we want to do…so we can say we remain his child…when in actuality we are moving
far away from his direction in our lives.
We must begin to bring every part of our
lives into God’s control…check what we do and say constantly with his words
from the Bible he gave us to live by.
We must stop justifying and searching his word for ways to sidestep what
he really wants for us…a life lived in sacrifice and love to the father…so grateful
for his presence in our lives that we bring him our time…our deeds….our work…our
money…..our homes….our cars….all the things he blessed us with…and we lay them
at his altar…and we allow him to direct everything we do with them.
Father…you are so patient and merciful to
me. I am humbled to feel your love and
care…even though I am guilty of justifying some of the things I do because I
wanted too…and I did not see the harm…or know your word enough to feel the
wrong of what I did. Fill me this day
Lord with the knowledge of your Bible….let me study to show myself approved…and
lay aside all my former attitudes. Replace
all the things in my life that are done because I want to… with things that I
need to do because your word says for me to. Make me a servant…bold and wise
with the words you feed me with… every evening that I open your book to study. Include
in my morning prayers a request to stay totally within the will of the father…set
forth to me by your word! Amen.
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