Do you ever lay something down before the Lord with praise & thanksgiving only to snatch it up moments later?
I do more often than I’d like.
I carry worry like a snug backpack & when I suddenly realize the weight of it, I lay it down before the Lord & thank Him that it’s not my burden to bear. It doesn’t take long, however, for that same stinkin fear to sneak away from the altar where I left it, only to slither it’s way back into my heart.
I will also come before His altar & offer sacrifices of praise & thanksgiving about something or someone, only to turn moments later back to the hurt in my heart as if it’s a dear friend.
This morning, I read a verse that struck me with peculiar significance.
Psalm 118:27 talks about coming to God’s Presence in The Most Holy place where His brilliance is almost blinding. It’s there that priests would sacrifice an animal to cover people’s sin. What’s odd about the verse is the 2nd sentence. It’s an imperative that instructs us to,
“Take the sacrifice & bind it with cords to the altar.”
I’m such a literal thinker that I couldn’t fathom why a priest would need to bind an animal with cords on the altar if it was already dead?🧐
It made me wonder if it was a prophetic exhortation for years to come?
Jesus became the Sacrificial Lamb for all sin, dying so that we might have eternal life!
Christians are called to worship God by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & pleasing to Him!
So often we come to the altar of God & proclaim our love for Him, offering sacrifices of thanksgiving & praise, only to do an about face, leaving His face to face the things of this world apart from Him.
What would our lives look like if we tied our very lives to the horns of His altar, becoming a daily, living sacrifice where He rules & reigns instead of our selfish ambitions?
Father, bind us to your altar! There is no other place that offers the kind of refuge like You! Jesus, be Lord over all of the secret places in our hearts & lives. Cut us open & lay bare anything we think we have hidden from you. Holy Spirit, tie us to our Savior Who died for us & help us resist the temptation to snatch back the living sacrifice of our lives.
EZEKIEL 40:28-41:26
JAMES 4:1-17
PSALM 118:19-29
PROVERBS 28:3-5
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