Who’d have thought that Leviticus had anything to do with Valentine’s Day? I love how God uses His Word in our lives…
I can so vividly remember that fall day in more than 9 years ago, as I sat in my small apartment, resting my head in my hands. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I was so tired and confused. God was in the middle of breaking my heart, but I didn’t know or understand. My heart just felt raw and I didn’t understand why God would give me these feelings, this desire to be married, and specifically this desire to marry Jeff Patterson (!), if all God was going to do was disappoint me over and over, allow me to feel hurt and rejection again. Why would He give me this overwhelming desire for something and then not allow it to happen? I loved Him. I followed Him. I was giving my life to serve Him. I had left my dreams of going to grad school, of pursuing writing, or “making something” of myself so that I could go into ministry. Then why was He giving me all this pain? And why was “ministry” so hard. I spent hours a day studying at this ministry training school and hours every Sunday cleaning the church bathrooms and taking out trash. Was this my “calling”? Trash, toilets and tears. *sigh*
But that fall day I will never forget. I was in the middle of my Bible reading, opened to none other than the book of Leviticus. Great, I thought, so much for getting anything encouraging from the Scriptures this morning. But in chapter 6 I read along, and came to this:
“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning … Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” (v.12-13)
And almost as if my Heavenly Father were right there in the room with me, I heard as clearly as an audible voice, “I am giving you material for sacrifice.”
Then it all made sense. God was giving me things, good things–desires for ministry, hopes, dreams, longings, ideas–and all those things were opportunities for me to acknowledge them and offer them right back up to God as a sacrifice of praise. Every good thing that was yet unfulfilled–sacrifice material. Every mundane task that seemed so tedious–sacrifice material. Every hurt or feeling of rejection–sacrifice material.
The fire on the altar shall burn continually; it shall not go out.
God is gracious enough to give us constant material for sacrifice. Things that we can offer up to God all day long.
I sat down that day and wrote a poem entitled Material for Sacrifice. I so wish I had it now. I do remember one line being “Every glance, I offer up to Him.” Now I’m smiling because that every glance was the glance of Jeff Patterson who had so won my heart and broken it all at once. 🙂
So that phrase has stuck with me–Material for Sacrifice. Now I think of it when I’m doing endless dishes or changing diapers or training my kids. When waiting for things or not understanding why certain things are as they are. It’s all material for sacrifice. That the beautiful burning altar of our lives would never go out. The Ultimate Sacrifice has been made, but our lives are to be a living sacrifice which is our act of worship (Romans 12:1). When we offer up everything to God, the aroma is beautiful to God.
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What material has God give you today for sacrifice? What can you offer up on the altar of your life as an act of worship today? I pray our lives would burn continually with a sacrifice of worship to Him.