GIVE TO GOD FIRST

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'After you enter the land I am giving you as a home and you present to the Lord offerings made by fire, from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings, then the one who brings his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil.’

‘With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.’

'With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord.’

'When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord, bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. Also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It will be an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner. Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.’

'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, he must do exactly as you do. The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land to which I am taking you and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.’"

Numbers 15:1-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we saw how the Lord passed a terrible judgment on Israel because of their persistent, stubborn disobedience and expressed reluctance to enter Canaan, the land that God had promised to give them.

What was the penalty?

God sent the Israelites back into the desert wilderness for forty years, one year for each day their scouts had surveyed Canaan, returning with a report that contained good and bad news, the people of Israel embracing the latter more than the former. This forty year period would ensure that the sinful generation of Israelites would not see the Promised Land but God would still keep His covenant promise and allow the next generation to inherit the land their ancestors could have had before they blew their chance.

As we turn to Numbers, chapter 15, we see where the Lord provides specific guidance regarding offerings and how He expected them to be conducted by the generation that would get to enter Canaan.

We see where God gives instructions to His people via Moses and we should note that there is a new requirement presented here that isn’t found when the offerings were first instituted. Going back to the Book of Leviticus, we find the Lord providing His expectations for the burnt (chapter 1) and fellowship offerings (chapter 3) but here He adds a wine or drink offering. The people of Israel were not only inheriting a land flowing with milk and honey but also flowing with fruit, fruit that would allow the Israelites to produce wine and so with this, the Lord set a requirement for the offering of drink as well as grain and animal.

After telling Israel that He expected the community to have the same rules, whether native or alien, "for the generations to come”, God gave this guidance:

"When you enter the land to which I am taking you and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal."

Of special interest here is that Israel was expected to offer their best to God from their first fruits, in this case, their ground meal. This wasn’t the first time the Lord broached the subject of first fruits for we find Him mentioning this expectation as far back as the Book of Exodus in chapters 23 and 34. In those Old Testament passages as well as today, we are to give God our absolute best, whether our time, talent, or treasure (what we have).

From this truth, the questions become, “How well do we meet this expectation? Do we give the Lord our finest first fruits or does He just get our leftovers?

I think too often, we allow the temptations of the world to pull on us and drag us away from centering ourselves on the One who has blessed us with the very life we enjoy and everything in it. I know that there have been more than a few times when I have went through a full day chocked full of busyness and then come home to sit down and give the rest of what I had left to the Lord. Certainly, God isn’t getting my best in that scenario.

With this, I did something about it and would encourage you to do likewise. For in shifting my life priorities, I now open my day with time dedicated to the Lord, my best time as I am well rested and recharged. Before anyone or anything else gets a piece of me on any one given day, God gets me first and in doing this, I’ve found that I enter into every day even more energized than before because my time with the Lord at the start of the day fuels me with the Holy Spirit and jump starts me to handle anything and everything that is yet to come through the course of the day’s events. No matter what happens, I can experience what the Apostle Paul did as He wrote to the church in Philippi:

“I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Paul wouldn’t gain that strength if he wasn’t first committing his utter best to the Lord, receiving the Lord’s best in return. I pray that we can do the same and I know it’s possible if we just follow these steps, steps that are proven because I’ve followed them and can testify to their effectiveness.

First, you will to step back and see if you are truly giving God your best. It’s important to be brutally honest in this assessment because it will aid you in the next step.

In that step, you will make the necessary adjustments and corrections within your life to ensure the Lord does get your first fruits. This will require self sacrifice but remember that we only have the hope of salvation as Christian believers because God was willing to surrender His best, His one and only Son Jesus, offering Him up as a sacrifice so our sins could be atoned for, once and for all. He gave up His personal first fruit for us and we need to show our gratitude by giving our best back to Him.

Finally, enjoy the blessings that come when we willingly and willfully choose to reorder our lives so to ensure the Lord gets the finest from us. As the old saying goes, “You can’t out give God” and when we do surrender our best to Him, He in turn will continue to meet our needs with His best.

Give to God first before anyone else, including yourself, and I guarantee you that you’ll never regret it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.