"To Obey is Better than Sacrifice"

I recently began reading through the Bible again. When I've finished, this will make the fourth time I have read it through. I'm not saying this to brag. Four times is not nearly enough. Any professing Christian should be constantly immersed in the Word. And I've not been in it nearly enough in the past few years.

My approach to the task this time is to tackle the books that are hardest for me first. I began with Leviticus. I am now reading Numbers. I'm sure that when I'm done with Numbers, I'll probably move on to the minor prophets.

Anyway, yesterday I read Numbers 7. In this passage (which is 89 verses long), each of the princes of the tribes of Israel presents the following sacrifice:
One silver charger and one silver bowl, both filled with fine flour & oil
One golden spoon full of incense
One young bullock
One young ram
One lamb of the first year (for a burnt offering)
One kid of the goats
Two oxen
Five rams
Five male goats
Five lambs of the first year (for a peace offering)

Seems like a lot, doesn't it? It really gets to be a lot when you consider that this was done 12 times. Well, the magnitude of the offering is what really struck me about the passage. Granted, these gifts represented whole tribes. But can we ever really measure how much God is worthy of?

While I was reading this, I pictured each one of the princes standing before the tabernacle with all that livestock and his spoon full of incense and silver bowl and charger. These sacrifices were a major undertaking--a big deal. Sacrifice was the means by which the people of Israel had access to relationship to God.

What do we know of sacrifice today? We think that the 10% we put in the offering plate is a sacrifice. However, if we had to bring a sheep or a goat with us to church every week, how many of us would still go? It is because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us that we no longer have to worry about such things. But God still wants a sacrifice from the believer. God wants us to sacrifice our will. This is a harder thing to do than to bring a young he-goat of the first year. We are so attached to having control over our lives, we must make a conscious effort to give God the reigns.

That is exactly what God expects though. He wants us to follow His leading and trust Him and really give Him our whole selves. Isn't that what Jesus meant when he said that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." God wants it all.

But God is worthy of it all. All the money and livestock in the world can't make up for the sacrifice He made for us. And the fact is, it belongs to Him anyway. God won't force us to love Him, though He has the power to. But through sacrificing our will and being obedient to Him, our love for Him cannot help but grow.

Rainy Weekend

After telling Marley repeatedly all week that we would be going to a pool party at Sarah's grandmother's on Friday, it rains. It wasn't just a little shower either. It was a downpour that lasted and lasted and lasted. I picked Marley and Laney up from daycare in the pouring rain, got them out of the car in the rain, and took them to the party in the rain. It was still raining when we left. There's an upside to this because I was a little concerned due to the depth of the pool there. It's a good foot and a half deeper than Jr.'s and Marley's convinced that she can touch bottom in whatever pool she comes across. I was all set to fight with her over waterwings but, the rain made it a non-issue.

Anyway, we opened the door to find poor Sarah (my niece) in her bathing suit just hoping for a break from the rain. She cheered up a good bit when everyone arrived and all the kids were playing together. But she was a little disappointed I think.

I'm sure my brother was a little upset about the rain, mainly because he was the grill man for this event. He came in about an hour after we got there, soaked. We enjoyed the hamburgers and hot dogs. This was Sarah's 4th birthday.

We woke up Saturday morning to overcast skies. It didn't rain until late in the day though. We went shopping Saturday night and spent probably more than we should have.

Marley decided she wanted to go in big-church with us this Sunday. I picked her up from the nursery after Sunday School and we set out on a grand adventure. She wiggled and talked and she cried when I carried her out during one of the prayers. I had a conference with her in the back hallway and took her back in only to have to leave again. We ended up in the nursery again. I guess we'll have to try that another time hopefully waaaaaaay in the future.

Did I mention that it was raining "pitchforks and plowhandles" by the time church was over? Lewis made a run for the car, drove under the shelter and we loaded up the girls to go home. We stopped at a gas station so I could get something for the pounding headache I had. I ran in and when I came out I paused at the edge of the shelter at the station to see if he would come back and pick me up. Just as I decided to make a run for it, he saw me and started to turn around. Needless to say, there I was chasing the car around the parking lot in the pouring rain. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. It's funny now.

All in all, it was not a bad weekend--just a little wet.

P. S.--Laney has learned to say, "Wuv you" when she hugs me. Sigh . . .