Gathering Firewood

“The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not burn out.  Every morning the priest is to add firewood…and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it” Leviticus 6:12.  “The flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp” Leviticus 9:11.

The Lord was very specific when He gave instructions for the offerings from His people that would be pleasing to Him.  First and foremost, the fire had to be attended to first thing each morning to assure it would not burn out.  Without fire there would be not flame, and without flame there would be no offering.  When an animal was prepared for the offering the two sacred elements were the blood and the fat.  These were the offerings that were pleasing and acceptable to God…the blood that was shed enabling the fat to be rendered.  These were the fellowship offerings surrendered to God which resulted in shared blessings and God’s presence.  Notice that there was no place before God for the flesh and the hide of the offering…it wasn’t allowed to be in the holy presence of God.

In considering this Old Testament ritual as a New Testament believer I can’t help but to draw parallels between the two.  We too must rise early in the morning and bring the fuel of our hearts to God’s feet.    We must tend to our spiritual fires, for that is where we will fellowship with God.   He will render the purest and most delightful part of our offerings…our love…our reverence…our commitment to Him.  We must be cautious to leave ‘the flesh and the hide outside.’  The flesh is that world offering that tries to crowd in on our faith…the hide is what we do to cover the flesh once it appears.  Like Adam and Eve where sin crowds in, so does shame.  God wants us to enter with open hands and open hearts to receive the fellowship with Him that the shedding of the blood of Christ affords us.

God is primarily concerned with our fellowship through the death and resurrection of His Son.  It was the once and for all sacrificial death which atoned for our sins, making us acceptable before God.  'Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace'  Hebrews 4:16.

Let us not waste a moment but gather the wood, fuel the fire and fellowship with God.