"...And the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." Leviticus 1:9
Pagan deities require food offerings. Often, bowls of choice morsels, strategically placed before the fetish, rot. Or as in the epic myth of Gilgamesh the food gift is cooked and the gods eat it. The Lord also asked for food offerings, but He does not eat them. "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" (Psalm 50:12, 13)
So what exactly is the relationship between the offering and the Lord? Does He just watch the ritual from a distance. Leviticus 1:9 says that the priest shall burn the offering to be a sweet savour unto the Lord. The smoke of the burnt offering becomes a kind of incense; the fragrant residue of something burned; and that perfume is for God. He receives the offering by smelling it. He breathes deeply of the sweet scent and takes it into His own being.
Psalm 141:2 says, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Hmm... my prayer like sacrificial incense? My prayer ascending into the courts of glory and wafting to the throne to be received by God? Prayer, the breath of my soul, (Gospel Workers 254.4) in His nostrils and lungs? Isn't that slightly ironic; me a creature who is dependent on His breath of life, giving breath back to Him? But that is the thing about my Father, He wants to enjoy every intimacy with me. Like a father nuzzles close to his baby and savors the sweet smell of her breath, God loves the breath of my soul and that is... amazing!
"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning." Job 42:12
That is my experience. That is why I write this blog. The post called Renovation explains it all, but some days it is harder to walk on that fact then others. Today is one of those days.
Like many other Americans, my husband was unemployed for a year. During that time we exhausted all our resources. But by God's mercy Pat was able to get another job. To take the job we had to leave our home, our friends and family. But leaving home meant gaining work and work was essential.
Today, we signed the papers to give up our home in Massachusetts. It was as hard to write our names this morning as it was to drive the moving truck up the hill and away from our home, on the morning of June 14, 2012. But still, there are things to hold on to and keep. Here is one of them:
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life...For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me...I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27: 4, 5, 13, 14
Although today, it is hard to see; I want to declare to the world that I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord, even here in the prairie away from the hills of New England. I believe that He is our refuge and our sustenance. I am convinced that He has our good in view and can achieve it. I will reject my sorrow and set my jaw like flint to seek His face. And although, over the last year and a half, life has broken our hearts more than once, we will take that deep, deep breath that signals the end of tears and sigh in the confidence of God's care. Surely, the latter end will be more blessed than the beginning.
