She heard the whispers all around her. It was nothing she had not heard before, and her cheeks burned with shame, but she would not be deterred. She made her way through the crowd, daring not to make eye contact, until she could contain her tears no longer. She fell to His feet, weeping, washing His feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. And then she opened her gift: a precious box made of alabaster and filled with costly perfume. And she poured out every drop upon Jesus.
Suddenly, the whispers changed. Now they called her different names: wasteful, inconsiderate. But Jesus saw what they could not: He saw the gift and the giver, and He accepted her offering for what it was: an act of worship. He saw her sins, which were many. He saw her guilt, shame, and past. But He focused on her worship. He didn't ask for her to be perfect or to bring Him her perfection. He saw her broken offering and said, "She has done what she could." He went on to tell His disciples that her story would endure long beyond that moment...and it has. When it comes to choosing the perfect gift, we face all kinds of social pressure these days. Some people are tough to buy for. But I cannot imagine the stress of trying to find the perfect gift for a King...and yet this is what I do every time I come into the presence of God. I know what He deserves, but I can only offer what I have: my worship. And the beauty of it is that this is exactly what He wants from me.
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The last of Abraham’s altars that we will examine is the altar of ultimate sacrifice. At this point, years had passed and much had happened since the first altar at Sichem, and Abraham’s faith had grown much stronger. We should remember that God will not ask for a great sacrifice when our faith is weak, only when our faith is strong.
Genesis 22 records the story of how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his promised son Issac. Abraham moved forward in absolute obedience. Undoubtedly his mind and heart were racked by questions, but his faith moved him forward. As the writer of Hebrews explains, he concluded "God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (Hebrews 11:19). In Genesis 22:5 Abraham made a definitive declaration of his faith when he told his servants, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." Abraham called this supreme test an act of “worship.” Then he said, "we" (the lad and I) "will come back to you." These statements confirm his profound faith in God. On seeing Abraham’s faith and obedience, God stayed his hand from offering Issac and provided a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham called that altar “Jehovah-Jireh,” which means God sees and God will provide. Know this: life may bring us to places of supreme sacrifice, but in such times, God is with us, God sees our need, and God will provide. |
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