Sacrifice!

Sacrifice!

For I desire and delight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. HOSEA 6:6 AMP

God is a God of order. He's also a God of process and procedure. Right from the Garden of Eden, he lays down the rules on how man is to relate with Him. He prescribes a code of conduct for all who will approach Him. Through all the lives of those who walked with him, we see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all offering sacrifices to God, even though there was no command to that effect. We see the people of Israel receive the law, commanding various offerings and sacrifices. All of these were to flow out of their relationship with God. Their hearts were to flow with appreciation for all that God had done, and the offerings were to be visible expressions of their inner joy.

After a while, it all became a routine. Men would offer sacrifices on the Sabbath, and then go into their places of business and steal, lie and cheat. Isaiah 58 speaks a lot about this hypocrisy: men will pray and fast, yet turn around and cheat others. The same thing has crept into the church: we are quite religious on Sundays and fellowship days, but we are a different bunch every other day. Do we really think that we can deceive the creator of the heart with outward piety and inner filth?

We have commercialized God's gifts and made them ours; we have personalized the Holy Spirit's works and made them ours; we seek man's approval and applause, forgetting that everything we are and have and do flow from God. Today's extract says it clearly: God's delight and desire is FIRST on the state of my inner man, before He even considers the offerings of my life. Well, how can my offerings be acceptable if the inner contents are all filthy? We must stop for a moment and consider our ways so far: what have we focused on in the past?

Sacrifices are commanded by God; offerings also glorify Him, but make mistake about this: Saul offered sacrifices but his heart was far away from God. Solomon offered many sacrifices, but his heart still wandered away from God. The people of Israel saw God's glory, yet it did not stop them from frequent rebellion. I must not think that this carelessness cannot happen to me; I must keep myself under God's daily guidance, so I do not become full of myself and think I can bribe Him with good works or plenty of sacrifices. My heart had better seek after God first, so that all I do become blessed by Him. His time of favour is here.