Exodus 29:30-31, 42-45 - "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight....This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you...and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar...I will dwell among [my children] and will be their God."
So here we have a commandment from God. As I was reading Exodus this morning I came to the chapters regarding the consecration of Aaron and his sons prior to becoming priests in the tabernacle. They weren't just appointed, they were anointed. Everything was laid out before them by God, in an orderly fashion, precisely as He would have it, from the cleansing rituals to the clothing that was made with certain linens, fibers and colors, to the exact instructions of which animals and how to sacrifice.
Everything was purified...everything. And a lot of sacrificing occurred. As I read I contemplated passing over all this. I'd read it before, I'd studied it, how much more could I get out of it? I got to thinking, if God put all this work into cleansing and anointing these priests of His physical tabernacle back then, how would that apply to us? In the back of my mind I had the words "clean hands and pure heart." This is what God was doing to Aaron and his sons. I asked that I be shown something new as I allowed my eyes to read about each part of each sacrifice. And wouldn't you know, I did! I saw a correlation between the lamb sacrifice and our command to pray.
He wanted two lambs; one to be offered in the morning and one in the evening. The lamb was an article of sacrifice and pointed to Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb. But somehow I saw this as like the two times a day we should be coming to Him in prayer...in the morning when we arise and at night when we retire. Of course we are to be in communication with Him all throughout the day.
Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Jesus sacrificed Himself for us (Hebrews 9:12) so that we regain access to God, the Father (Hebrews 10:19). The High Priest back then was the only one allowed to meet with God in the Holy of Holies. That's why all the cleansing and anointing...clean hands, pure heart. At the moment of Jesus' death, the veil of the Temple that separated the High Priest from the people was torn from top to bottom (Mark 15:38)...top to bottom indicating that God did the tearing. When we receive Christ, we are allowed direct access through prayer. Amazing, isn't it? There was a time when Israel heard the voice of God and were scared (Exodus 20:19). They asked that He speak only through Moses....now we can hear Him ourselves, in our spirits. Oh, how He has this all figured out!
Giving of ourselves in prayer is to be a continual offering all our life. The animal sacrifices and physical tabernacle are no longer necessary. If we are in Christ, we are the tabernacle and we are the priests, holy before the Lord, able to gain access to our own spiritual Holy of Holies... you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1Peter 2:5). It is only through Jesus Christ. Our time of prayer is like a sacrifice of praise. As Hebrews 13:15 tells us: ...let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Thankfully, it doesn't stop there. When we enter into this time with Him, make known to Him our praise, confessions and petitions, He will meet with us. He will speak to us, if we are able to quiet ourselves and let Him speak to our spirits. But it doesn't end there. He will dwell among His children and be our God, each day in all circumstances.
I don't know that we can grasp exactly what this means to Him, our spending time with Him in prayer. It's why we are here on earth. It's not about us, it's about Him. If He has created us are we only to do just as we want or are we to give thanks to Him for what He has done and will do for us? Has He lifted us out of troubling situations? Has He saved us from the hand of our enemy? Has He done this so He could call us His child?
I was reading an article about Donald Driver, leading receiver for the Green Bay Packers. You know they are playing an important game this weekend, right?! This is an important game for him (as well as Aaron Rodgers...and the whole Pack!). Driver was not always a good guy. Hard times were part of his youth. He has, however, overcome a young life of homelessness, selling drugs and other bad choices. When he met his soon to be wife, she made the comment, "God is testing you. If you want to be with me, you have to stop."
Stop he did. I also read that his son prays every night. There is one prayer he has prayed for some time. "Every night," his mom Betina said, "in this very sincere little voice, he'll say, 'Lord, I hope that you can help my Daddy get to the Super Bowl. I want to see his dream come true.'" For whatever reason yesterday when I read that, it stuck out. The prayers and faith of a child. Go figure I would have this on my heart while reading about ancient sacrifices and purification of the first priests of all time!
Now I'm not saying we pray morning, noon and night about things we want in our lives...or about the Packers winning the Super Bowl. It will be what it will be. I believe the Donald Driver story is a good, inspirational one that shows how one person, through his eventual faith in God, overcame obstacles. Someone had to have been praying for him; now he can do the same. He now is considered a good role model for his children, his son in particular, and other young boys.
If we seek God early in the morning and again in the evening, imagine the outcome. Imagine Him speaking to us and dwelling among us because we have offered up a sacrifice just for Him. How much more will He do when we have done this? How much more will He want to do for us?
As with Donald Driver, it's all about what's past. It's about the mistakes we've made, whether we think they are big or not. It's letting go of the past and securing a better future in Christ. Only through the power of God can we achieve our dreams and goals, because He sets them before us. It's not about winning the Super Bowl so much as it's giving God the glory for how we have come from there to here in our lives. I believe God is giving both he and Rodgers (maybe others...one can hope) a chance to glorify Him. Winning would be the icing on the proverbial cake.
As an aside...in digging into Driver and Rodgers and their faith, I came across a blog post on Rodgers' faith and his connection with the chaplains for the Packers. When I researched these men I knew they were the real thing...it's all about giving God the glory... And the most important thing we can do to glorify Him is first, be in communion with Him, spend time in prayer and listening to Him. We become rooted and grounded.
We should be grateful each morning and evening for what He has done for us, given us and has in store for us. We are His tabernacle here on earth if we have received Christ. We do not need to be in a house made by man's hands and we do not need to speak to God through anyone. He has thankfully removed that veil in our lives once we receive Him. Entering into His presence is our own sacrifice to Him. I hear the Lord speaking right now! It's like communion..."do this in remembrance of Me." Spending time in prayer is our spiritual communion with the Almighty God who wants to spend time with us and wants to know that we consider Him special for all He has done for us, and yet special isn't the right word. It's more than that.
Psalm 141:2 - Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
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