Fire and Ashes

Leviticus 9: 10

On the altar he burned . . .

Recently, Father told me to take all the things I am doing and place them on the altar. In fact, He told me to write them all down on a piece of paper. Putting something on the altar is figurative, in a sense. Most of us don’t have an actual altar to put something upon, but the image of placing something on the altar is still a strong image. Writing something on a sheet of paper gives us a visual anchor to pair with our image of the altar. Paper is tangible so this helps us appreciate this action as real.

So, I took out a sheet of paper and wrote out what Father showed me. Having a list before my eyes made it easier to see what He was teaching me. I understood Him to say that everything from that list needed to go on the altar. So, I dutifully obeyed and thought that was the end of it. The following week, though, the altar, and that list, were back before my eyes.

In my devotional time, I heard within me, very distinctly, to put a match to the offering. I was actually a little surprised by this. I thought I had put those things on the altar to God which is demonstrative of me giving those things to Him, allowing Him to be Lord over each item on the list. I did it, it’s done. Not so fast grasshopper! Light the offering. Set it afire! What happens then? Well, it is a bit hard to go take something off the altar once it has been burned to ashes. And, that’s the point.

In the Old Testament, people put their offerings on the altar and then set them on fire. There were no takebacks as with children playing their games. God requires us to offer and release. I didn’t physically burn the piece of paper though you could if that helped you to have a picture of release. Instead, my sheet of paper is still on my desk where I see it and am reminded that each of those things have been given and released to Yahweh.

Whether it is your job, volunteer work or even hobbies, it is important that we put all of life’s activities in the Lord’s hands, allowing him to guide us and help us manage the expenditure of our energy. I laugh with my retired friends who now wonder how they got everything done when they were working because their time is so full now. That is how we are. We will fill every crack of time and still don’t have time for the “One Thing.” We wear ourselves out worrying about many things when, as Jesus said, there is only one thing which is needful. Don’t be an Ivey. Don’t be a Martha. Be Mary who chose to spend her time and energy, not serving Christ necessarily, but being with him. Lay down your burdens upon the altar of Christ and sit with him.

Delegating

2 Chronicles 20: 20

Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established.”

It is a little bit hard learning to trust someone you can neither see nor hear. If you have never stepped out in faith and believed God for something, then you might appreciate some guidance in learning how to walk in faith. Start risk free with something small. It might be some task you are working on without a lot of success. Maybe you need to write a thank you note and the words just aren’t coming out right. For me, it was leveling a refrigerator.

It was late at night and the freezer door was not staying closed because I had moved the refrigerator and the floor was not level. I had already inadvertently thawed an entire bag of chicken breasts. So, I was lying on the floor turning the leveling legs and it just wouldn’t work. The whole thing defied logic. I was getting tired and frustrated. Finally, I stopped and prayed. Then as I looked back at the refrigerator, I had the idea to lengthen the left side. Now, that was just opposite of what you would think but I did it anyway since I had prayed. You know the end of the story. It immediately fixed my problem and the freezer door stayed closed. I was shocked and flabbergasted but really relieved at the same time. It only took a minute to fix the problem once I prayed but I wasted a lot of time messing with the thing before. I learned an important lesson that night; pray first.

That refrigerator was one of many small ways I learned to trust God. Though I am still learning, now it is much easier for me to trust him in bigger things. As we go, we begin to turn problems over to him more quickly and we learn to take our hands and thoughts completely off of the problem. You will find that you even quit talking about the problem that you have handed over to God because you have such an awareness that it is His problem and He will handle it. It takes seeing Him come through for you a time or two before you really begin to believe He can and will affect our lives here and now. Until you have witnessed it yourself it is easy to think of God as uninterested and removed from our daily lives. Once you know the truth, though, you will be thrilled at how involved with you He really wants to be. Go ahead. Look for some little thing that you can trust Him with and soon you will have fewer and fewer troubles that you have to deal with.