Sacrifice

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Command the Israelites: ‘With regard to my offering, be sure to offer my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’ (Num. 28:1-2, NET, emphasis mine)

I'm at lunch clipping articles from the international section of The New York Times for a friend who is going to serve abroad for two years, and I'm reminded of the lesson from my quiet time today:

Our sacrifices belong to the Lord. When we give something up to Him, He gets to choose how it's used.

In verse 2 above, God refers to Himself 4 times in respect to the offering laws He is preparing to hand down. The sacrifice would be food He gave, presented to Him at appointed times, in the way He prescribed. Some of that food He used one way (given to priests for sustenance) and some a different way (poured out on the ground). And it was all His decision.

I think that's the hardest part of spiritual sacrifices for me. I realize that I need to sacrificially serve, give, love, pray, praise. Indeed, what have I received that did not come from His hands? I can get my mind wrapped around the fact that I need to put something in His hands. But what I struggle with is doing so without preconditions or presuppositions.

Putting a wayward child into His hands doesn't mean she'll return to Him when I rise from my prayer time. Asking Him to watch over my parents doesn't always protect them from injuries. Putting our nation in His hands doesn't mean my preferred candidate will win Nov. 4. And trusting my dear friend into His hand doesn't mean He won't call her to the other side of the world to serve people in countries I have to learn how to spell.

What it does mean is that I am trusting Him with a little more of me. Just like marriage should grow to increasing levels of intimacy, my relationship with God should open up more and more - where I can put more of what matters to me into His hands and like a child, trust Him to know best. I love praying bold, active prayers ... but a submissive trust should underline every request I make.

So on a day when every clipping represents a sacrifice, I submit my friend - and myself - to Him yet again. And hope that I can learn a little more about trust, a little more about intimacy ... a little more about Him.