Throughout the Old Testament we see God commanding sacrifices and celebrations. These ancient Biblical feasts had powerful and prophetic significance for God's people then and are still relevant for our spiritual growth today. Numbers 28 ushers in two chapters concerning offerings that were to be presented to God at appointed times. These were daily, weekly, monthly and annual occasions to remember and rejoice in the Lord.
As I reflect over our Christian calendar today, we have pretty much reduced these intentional times of mindfulness to Easter, Christmas, weekly services and the occasional participation in the Lord's Supper. We know that Christ fulfilled the law and came as the perfect sacrifice for sin making these required offerings both redundant and offensive, but along the way we have lost the gift that these perpetual reminders were to the people of God. These focused, extended times gave a pause in life's routine to remember who God is, who we are, and in humble recognition respond to Him with gratitude and praise.
The Lord said that these offerings were His food. F. B. Meyer writes that "We often speak of ourselves hungering for God. Do we sufficiently realize that He hungers for our love, our whole-hearted devotion, our fellowship with Him?" That's really hard for our finite minds to comprehend. Not that God needs us in any way, but He longs for us. How often do we leave His desire unsatisfied when we neglect prayer, time in His Word, personal praise and corporate worship? His hunger feeds on the love and obedience of His children. The sacrifices we make of ourselves rise as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
How can we preserve a deep sense of God? How do we keep a regular rhythm of remembrance? Hebrew 13:15 encourages us that instead of celebrating less, now with the coming of our Saviour, we are to celebrate more! The writer of Hebrews says, "Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name."
With the cross as our altar and our lives as the sacrifice may we take time to consider the perfect Lamb slain for us. Lina Abujamra, in her Bible study "Table in the Wilderness", writes "We are likely to forget what we don't make an effort to remember." Considering how our offerings to the Lord rise as a sweet fragrance and in some divine way nourish His heart, may we intensely desire to daily remember Jesus.
"The Lord longs for our companionship. He waits for us to meet Him in the inner chambers of our hearts. Let's not keep Him waiting there alone. Again the loneliness of our Lord comes to me more and more. How few of us are concerned about satisfying His heart. How I hear Him saying, I thirst, Give Me to drink. May my Lord never let me grow cold in my longing to be a cup in His hand for the quenching of His own royal thirst." Oswald Chambers
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