Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


10.08.2004  

Sacrifices

Yesterday, I was hit pretty heavily with dependence. What I mean by that is that I have a natural affinity for reliance upon myself, and that reliance leads me into sin against the Lord, plain and simple. It's a subtle type of sin, one that is sometimes hard to catch, yet one that those older and wiser than I will be quick to identify and deal with. So yesterday God showed me my sin, and it's been sobering.



As I went through the day I was struck by how little I "slowed down" to be with the Lord. That "slowing down" doesn't mean I don't do as much, or that I become any less busy, but it's the idea that as I go through my day, I must not only be constantly communing with the Lord in a posture of prayer, but that I must also be relying upon Him for an overflowing supply of grace. Really, there's no separating the two; the knowledge that we have of God should be ever increasing, and such knowledge ought to lead to a reverence and a deeply rooted desire to tap into His gracious providence all the more. Thus, the posture of our hearts should reflect our dependence upon His grace.



Oh, how easily said, but how difficult to live!



I read this morning from Psalm 50. Twice we are given the mandate to "offer up a sacrifice of thanksgiving." As I thought upon this command from the Lord, I thought of the culture the Israelites were in. They relied upon a God that was Holy, one that required sacrifices (e.g., animal sacrifices) to atone for their sin, lest His holiness overwhelm and consume their sinful presence. They knew sacrifices well, much as we today would know the ebb and flow of our church services. Yet, what did God say in the Psalm? Offer up a sacrifice of thanksgiving. He also says to "call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will honor Me." At first glance, the sacrifice of thanksgiving may not seem to be related to the command to call upon the Lord. Yet, I think they're directly related. How so? The Lord explains that He owns all; nothing we "sacrifice" to Him is something we offer to Him so much as it is an acknowledgement of His Creatorship, Lordship, providence, and sovereignty over all of creation, including Man. To offer up thanksgiving, is a way of expressing the heart's acknowledgement of those rights of God. In much the same way, when we call upon the Lord, we acknowledge not only His Creatorship and Lordship over us, we also acknowledge that He is the one who provides and who works sovereignly in our lives. Thus, when we cry out to the Lord in thanksgiving or in pleas for help, we do so not in a way that degrades Him, but in a way that magnifies His glorious, never-ending, all-sufficient supply of grace into and upon our lives!



Aaahhhh, and is not the magnification (making that which is big and huge but far away to our crippled spiritual eyes) of God's glory the very purpose for which we live? Yes! How can we not, then, cry out in thanksgiving? How can we not plead with the Lord for His will to be done? How? *Sigh*...it's a question I'm constantly asking myself, for I find that sin is subtle, crafty, and ever oblivious to the fact that it is defeated. It cares not that I have victory in Christ, for it will try with all the wiles and cruelty at its immense disposal to bring upon me a despair and blindness from which I will not recover. Nor, for that matter, does sin stop at a simple victory in battle. No, sin wants a total and complete victory in the war, and therefore any reprieve it gives is but a stratagem to lull me into a false sense of security in order to set itself up for the killing blow. Such is the nature of sin. Yet, why should I fear? Can anything separate me from the love of Christ? No! "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing, for sin is defeated in Christ.



It is well with my soul when I see this; indeed, it is well with my soul when I do not, for the Lord still knows who He is, and He is mindful that I am forgetful of that (be quiet, Jewel).

posted by Bolo | 10:01 AM
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