Lord's Day Devotion - Altar Call (Numbers 7)

 Do you have an altar in your home? I don’t mean the real kind at which adherents burn joss sticks and offer fruit, flowers and food such as chicken or special dishes.  For ones own devotions and time out with the Lord, I don’t mean a literal altar but a place you have dedicated to be with Him, preferably without distraction.

 A place where one can speak with the Lord from the heart, and rest in His presence.  A place of surrender to Him and perhaps even to choose to decide some sacrifice you’d like to make with your life or means in order to honor Him and for His glory.  A place to sit still and listen for His voice and response to your desires, requests, petitions and laments.  Or just a place to read His word and to understand it, get wisdom from it and to then decide how to apply it to your life.  

 Have you heard your altar call?

 In the Numbers 7 verses we see that Moses, 

“anointed and consecrated the altar and all is utensils” (vs 2) … when the altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar…” (vs 10).

 I believe that altar to have been the Altar of Burnt Offering.  This altar is described as symbolizing atonement, consecration, commitment and/or surrender to God.  

 If read in context, the above verses relate the first use, the dedication of the Altar of Burnt Offering itself.  Each representative of the tribes of Israel brought the exact same offerings, each showing unity and agreement to this way of relating with God who went with them wherever they went.

 Stop and think about all this symbolism we can get from the literal acts of the Israelites so long ago.  They took all of these rules and regulations seriously because they wanted to obey and honor God.  That was their original hearts’ intentions.

 It started with Moses going to his tent of meeting with God.  He did this on a daily basis.  He couldn’t seem to live without it.  He needed God.  He needed this relationship with Him.  He needed to depend upon God, his Yahweh.

 Saying tent of meeting gives that greater sense of connection than calling it Tabernacle.  At least to me it does.  When we meet with our heavenly father on a daily basis, it is not to perpetuate a ritual or something to tick off a check list for the day.  No it is a place to seek Him and show our dependence upon Him as our life line, like David once wrote,

“... as the deer pants for water so my soul longs after You” (Psalm 42:1).

 Let us approach this altar and throne of grace out of our own heart’s longing, desire and necessity, approaching with confidence.  Don’t live without it.  Let us live to obey and honor our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ and our personal living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1-3).

 Respond and thank Him for your altar call.

Then partake of the broken bread and drink from the cup of wine, in remembrance of all Jesus has done for us through His death and resurrection.  This Lord's Day let's rededicate ourselves to our 'altars' where we meet with Jesus, our friend and confidante. 

 Heavenly Father, I appreciate You because I can come spend time with You daily - without ceasing.  Thank You for opportunities to commune with You through Jesus, and to offer up myself as a living sacrifice upon Your altar of burnt offering - so to speak - and for the time spent with You, listening for Your voice.  Thank You in Jesus’ name.

                                ~ERC  March 2024 ~

 Based on Numbers 7:1, 10-11, 84 and 88 NIV.

Sing, Heavenly Father We Appreciate You, along with the Maranatha Singers.