Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Thursday, October 26, 2017

Audio Link: https://www.spreaker.com/user/reachmanyradio/thoughts-in-worship-10-26-2017

This is devotional thought number 43 in our devotional series, “Removing the Veil: Sanctuary Living in the 21st Century.” Our subject is: Giving the Gift-Giver a Gift


“When anyone presents a grain offering as a gift to the Lord, his gift must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it, and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest will take a handful of fine flour and oil from it, along with all its frankincense, and will burn this memorial portion of it on the altar, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord. But the rest of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons; it is the holiest part of the fire offerings to the Lord.” (Leviticus 2:1–3, HCSB).

Our next stop on our journey through the Old Testament offerings is the grain (or meal) offering. As I have mentioned before, since this blessed subject is so involved and we are doing a basic devotional thought and not a full on Bible study, keen readers will note that much detail is left out. Let’s glean a few lessons.

One of the aspects of this interesting offering is that there is no blood involved. No death of a creature is directly associated with this offering although it was often given in conjunction with the burnt offerings of Leviticus 1. In the meal offering, we see a cooperation between God and humanity. We see that God empowers us to plant and cultivate. He brings the increase. We give thanks and show appreciation by returning a portion of the increase to Him for specific use, while 100% of it is dedicated since He’s is our Provider. We see in this cooperation a way He provided for the priests too. When the sinner brought the offering, one part was offered on the altar for the Lord, demonstrating our dependence upon Him. The remaining portion was given to the priests. The Lord gave express guidance for which grains must be used, with which oil, and which tree (e.g. frankincense). There were other valued constituents, each with their symbolic purpose. Conversely, there were ingredients to be avoided; those which cause fermentation, which represents sin. Since these all were to give a forward look at Messiah, nothing defiled could be allowed into the process.

The grain offering was special in the sense that it showed God’s people’s dependence upon Him; their willingness to dedicate their all to Him; their willingness to contribute to the ministry of the sanctuary; their willingness to contribute to the ministers of the sanctuary; their reverence for the continual provision of God; and their respect for the holiness of God. Do we the same? Do we return a portion of the resources God has provided as a sign of our allegiance to Him? The fact is, those OT believers would have had nothing to offer, except God made provision in the first place. The same is our reality. Can you see how ridiculous withholding from God is, considering He is the Giver of all gifts?

Among the many lessons we can learn from the meal/grain offering, I love the fact that God entrusts us with so much, and it is our privilege to show appreciation by returning a portion of our increase. While we know God does not need anything from us since He owns everything anyway, it’s almost like our children buying us a treat or birthday present using money we have been putting into their piggy banks. From their perspective, they are honoring us and showing appreciation. And although it really is our money they are using, we are nonetheless happy and have respect for the fact that they chose gratitude rather than selfishness in the use of their “borrowed” resources.—L. David Harris...