Thoughts on Numbers 28
“..Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the Israelites and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present at its appointed time [during the year] My offering, My food for My offerings by fire as a sweet and soothing aroma to Me.”
Numbers 28:1-2 (AMP)
There is an overwhelming emphasis on regular sacrifices throughout the length of today’s chapter. Arising from this is a clear need to recognise and understand God’s ownership of everything, though we return some of these to Him as “offerings”. (Haggai 2:8 highlights this… ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts)
Our obedience in committing to a life of timely and regular sacrifice is thus an act of Worship to our God. Also highlighted here, just as we have seen from previous readings is that these regular burnt offerings commanded were not for atonement of sin, but were an expression of Praise and Thanksgiving to God.
And judging by the time and the prescribed rituals involved in preparing the sacrifices before being presented to God, the people must have had a good opportunity to prepare their hearts for worship. We can safely deduce from this that not just the type of sacrifice we present to God is important, but how involved we are, in our acts of Worship.
Will God see that worship as an accepted sacrifice or as a sweet aroma? Worship time is not a time to get distracted or catch up on what you missed in church last week😊. Rather it is a time to concentrate and pay attention not just to the words of the songs we sing but also on the meditation of our hearts individually or as a congregation. Worship becomes meaningless when our hearts are not prepared or made ready before we come before Him.
By contrast, God is delighted and we also get more from it, when our hearts are prepared to come before Him in a spirit of thankfulness.
Therefore, be intentional, spend a little time to prepare your heart prior to worship. Having confidence that our worship, an acceptable and sweet aroma unto God is a worthy investment of our time and energy.
