The Appointed Time
Numbers 9:13, “But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the LORD at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.”
This was a command given to Moses by the Lord just after God had told Moses that people who were away, or ceremonially unclean, could present their offering to Him at a different time. God always makes up for shortcomings. Think about the story of Jonah. He tried to hide from God, and when a storm came up he was thrown overboard, but God provided a whale to keep him alive. Maybe, he was not in luxury suite, but God made the needed provision.
Consider the story of Daniel. Daniel was wrongly accused by his counterparts in the king’s service, and was therefore thrown into the lion’s den where he had to spend the night among a group of angry and probably hungry lions, but God provided for him by sending His angel to shut the mouth’s of the lion’s so that Daniel could escape unharmed.
The Lord God is holy, and therefore He demands our devotion. However, He is also compassionate, and understands that as human beings we have shortcomings, and we are not always going to be able to meet His level of perfection.O.K, WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO HIS LEVEL OF PERFECTION! That’s why He sent His Son into the world so that we could find the perfection that God reauires in His sacrifice, and be made Holy before Him.
God required the Israelites to bring their offerings to Him at a certain time, and through the sacrifice of Jesus the requirements of God have been met, but we are still obligated to bring God our offerings of sacrifice and praise every day.
Hebrews 10 tells us that the praise we bring to God we should bring every day. Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful ; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
God is a holy God, and He requires a Holy sacrifice to be presented to Him; not just once in a while as some people do, but every day is the appointed time that God has ordained for us to sacrifice our lives to Him.
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Father, I thank You for loving me, and providing a way that I might continually bring my sacrifice to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at: http://www.concordianews.org/kids/2009/0904-garden.htm
Yes, You Can Ministry 