Tag Archive | sacrifice

1 Samuel 15 – Obedience! Obedience!!

Jan28

​Good Morning y’all. We are continuing our study of the first Book of Samuel
with the Good Morning Girls and will be looking at chapter 15 today

I pray you are blessed as you read 🙂

In this chapter we see Samuel give Saul an instruction from the Lord to destroy ALL the Amalekite’s.

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”(v2-3 NLT)

Nothing was to be spared, yet we see Saul and his men choose to do what pleased them. They chose which part of the instruction to obey. Rather than kill ALL as God instructed they chose to keep the king and any other treasure they find worthy.

“Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality”. (v7-9 NLT)

The instruction to Saul was very simple yet he chose to disobey. This really broke God’s heart to the extent that God told Samuel He regretted making Saul King.

“Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night”.(v10- 11NLT)

That’s very deep. I’m not sure I read any where else in the bible where God specifically said He regretted a decision He made. That’s how much Saul’s disobedience aggravated God despite the fact that Samuel warned him and Israel (during his coronation) to be loyal and faithful to God; and to obey His commands.

Samuel met with Saul and challenged him regarding his disobedience to the Lord’s command. Saul replied that he obeyed. His rationale for keeping the animals was so he could offer sacrifices to God. Now my question is, did God ask him for the sacrifice? If God needed sacrifices why didn’t he tell him to keep the animals in the 1st place.

“But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”(v22-23)

I wonder how many times we assume we know better than God. Instead of us to obey Him plain and simple, we twist His commands to suit our selfish motives. This action cost Saul not only the throne but to be completely rejected by God. He had no opportunity to repent. God was done with him completely. Obedience is definitely better than sacrifice.

I’m praying for us that the grace of God will not expire in our lives, that the grace to be obedient the Lord will grant unto us.

I’ll leave us with the words of the Psalmist in Psalms 19: 13-14

“Don’t let me do wrong  on purpose, Lord, or let sin have control over my life.Then I will be innocent, and not guilty of some terrible fault. Let my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you, Lord,  because you are my mighty rock and my protector”. (CEV)

Thanks for joining today. Please feel free to leave your thoughts on the chapter.

Have a blessed weekend 🙂

Leviticus 1 – Burnt offerings

Apr20

Good evening y’all. Welcome back from our spring break.

Today we start our journey into the book of Leviticus 🙂

In today’s chapter, we are introduced to the concept of burnt offerings. Actually all the chapters for this week are about different types of offerings.

Holy Spirit we ask for Your help, for without You we can do nothing. Open our hearts to receive from You today and flood our hearts with Your truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. Be blessed 🙂

God gave Moses instructions on what an acceptable burnt offering is. I asked myself, what was the need for the burnt offering? I realized the reason God was asking for the burnt offering in the first place was because of their sins. This was a sacrifice that would make them acceptable before God. We need to understand that our God is a Holy God. He cannot dwell where there is sin or iniquity.

I observed the following:

1) God gave them specific instructions on what, how and when to present a burnt offering that would be acceptable in His sight. As I was reading the instructions, it suddenly occurred to me that we cannot serve God on our terms. It has to be on God’s terms. He calls the shots and we have to live by his terms if we want to truly enjoy His blessings. We would find that His terms are not burdensome or hard to meet; actually He supplies all we need to meet His terms. That’s how wonderful God is.

2) The person offering the burnt offering has to to place his hands on the head of the animal, that way their sins are transferred unto the animal. The animal takes their place. instead of them dying: it dies in their stead.
“The person bringing it is to lay his hand upon its head, and it then becomes his substitute: the death of the animal will be accepted by God instead of the death of the man who brings it, as the penalty for his sins”.( Lev 1: 4 TLB)

3) The person bringing the burnt offering has to bring it of his own free will. the person must realise their sinful state and need for atonement.
“If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord”.(Lev 1: 3 NKJV)

4) The animal has to be male and without blemish or physical defect.

5) The blood is to be sprinkled around the altar 

So how does all of this apply to us today?

In likewise manner, Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away our sins. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29 MSG). In the same way the animals had to be slaughtered, so Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was killed and his blood shed for us and atoned for our sins. At that point on calvary, He took all our sins upon him. What you and I should have had to pay for, was all transferred unto Him. I can only imagine how heavy aburden that must have been. The weight of all our sin was on His shoulders. He died and offered his life as a sacrifice unto God so that we can be acceptable to God. Jesus Christ is the ultimate sacrifice.

“And He [[a]that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world”. (1 John 2: 2 AMP)

“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus”. (Romans 3: 25 – 26 NLT)

I found an extract from bible.org that sheds more light on the purpose of burnt offering and how it applies to us today

“One of the unique contributions of the whole burnt offering is that it illustrates sacrifice in its purest form. A very valuable animal is given up wholly to God. Neither the offerer nor the priest gains much from the offering, other than the benefit of being found acceptable to God, which, in the final analysis, is the ultimate benefit.

This kind of sacrifice is seldom practiced, and even when it is we may wonder at the wisdom of such waste. The widow who gave her last two mites might be criticized today for her lack of prudence in failing to plan and prepare for the future. The woman who poured out her expensive perfume, anointing the feet of the Lord, was accused of wastefulness. And so we tend to give our worn out old things to God, while we keep what is new and best for ourselves. We know little of giving our best to God, with no hope of anything beyond His approval.

But this kind of sacrifice is what God calls for from those who would be true disciples. Disciples are those who give up all to follow Christ. They are to count the cost of discipleship, and then to gladly pay it. When we give ourselves to God, as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2), we are to do so totally, without reserve, so as to be pleasing to Him. May God enable us to practice this kind of sacrifice in our own lives”. (The Law of Burnt Offerings (Leviticus 1:1-17), Bob Deffinbaugh, https://bible.org/seriespage/2-law-burnt-offerings-leviticus-11-17)

I leave us to ponder and mull on Romans 12: 1- 2

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”. (MSG)

***With God all things are possible***