February 18 - Leviticus 7:1-8:36

Good morning everyone,

Today we will read about more instructions on sacrificial offerings to be made to the Lord, also about the forbidden blood and fat, all of what the priests were to receive and the consecration, that is, the preparation the Priests needed to go through. Although I have read this portion of scripture a number of times, while reading it today parts of it stood out to me as if it was the first time I have laid eyes on it. I love that, it is so super cool. Just thought I’d share :-)

In 7:11-21 we are told about the peace offerings, that they were divided into three kinds depending on their purpose; thanksgiving offering, vow offering and voluntary offering. - The thanksgiving offering was just what it sounds like, an offering they would give when they were grateful for deliverance from sickness, trouble, death or from a blessing they had received. - The vow offering, again, pretty straight forward, was given in fulfillment of a vow. - The voluntary offering needed no special occasion or reason, it was just given as the Lord led them to give.

In 7:30, talking about their peace offerings, God told them, “Present it to the Lord with your own hands as a special gift to the Lord.” They were to take time and effort to express thanks to God. - God asks that we give thanks to Him for whatever blessings we receive from Him. I am and you are the best person to express our own individual gratitudes and the thankfulness we feel towards God and towards others. It is way too easy for us to become mechanical in our prayers of gratitude, often repeating the same words but without the intent to give our thanks as a gift of the heart, one more time … without the intent to give our thanks as a gift of the heart, to God. Does that make sense?

For example: In my family it is our practice to always say a prayer of thanks for our food before eating our meals. Whether at home, a restaurant or anywhere, we take a moment to tell God we appreciate what He has allowed us. Now, I will be honest here, too often, the words that come from our mouths, to thank God, are simply recited. Words that have been heard so many times over the years, that in our haste to eat we quickly throw them out there with little thought to what we are saying. It is on these occasions when we are on “auto” mode, when we have become desensitized, that the words we are speaking to God are not expressing a true gratitude from our hearts. Is anyone else out there like that? You see, it is not that I am, that we are, not thankful, it’s that I, we get so rushed, so anxious to go about our business that we do not speak from our hearts. This is just one example of the many different ways we rush through life, with habitual rather than thoughtful words of thanks to God and the people in our lives. It takes time to commit a random act of kindness, a gift, a card or any action really designed to be loving or helpful, God asks us to not only be thankful but be thankful with a genuine and sincere heart, then let God or that person know you truly appreciate them.

I love the book of Psalms, I love how poetically David and others cried out to God; how they expressed their true feelings from their heart of fear, anger, and yes, love and gratitude towards their Abba, like in Psalm 8 - “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”; and Psalm 118 where it says "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” or Psalm 121 - “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I could go on and on with these, they are all so amazing. The point I am trying to make here with them is that we need to be crying out from our hearts, taking time to sincerely be one with our Father God, our Abba. The difference it will make in your life will be something so beautiful, but don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself and see just how much God will richly bless you.

I pray you all have a great day. To God be all the glory,
God bless you all …