Numbers 28:2 –
Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions.”
This chapter gets very detailed in daily, Sabbath, monthly, Passover and harvest offerings. As I go through these offering I can only assume they are for Israel as a nation and not each individual or family. Otherwise they would quickly run out of lambs! This is more “nuts and bolts” of the Law and procedures the Israelites must follow. I wonder if this is just a “setup” for Jesus or something God really enjoyed. It does say the aroma was pleasing to Him.
If then why not now? I understand the redemptive power of Jesus and how He ended the blood sacrifice, but if the aroma was pleasing then why not now? Or is this a tradition the Israelites still follow? I often wonder if the offerings were really for God’s senses or for our obedience These aspects of the Law is where the Jewish religion at times in history gets wrapped up in the legalism and lost the relationship.
We also have to be aware of this in our walk. Granted the “legalistic” aspects of Christianity are technically few I see many get overwhelmed with doing X, Y and Z while losing a relationship with a living God. As an engineer type this happens often to me. It especially gets lost with my morning “routine” with God and writing these thoughts. My prayers become more robotic than a dialog. Worship becomes more knowing when to raise ones hand than throwing them up in praise. And worse yet, I start to miss the joy from seeing God’s love in everyday life! We need to struggle to not just make our “daily offering” but to make sure WE are pleasing to God!!