“A son honours his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is My respect?” Says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name . But you say, “How have we despised Thy name?”
“You are presenting defiled food upon My altar.” But you say, “How have we defiled Thee?” In that you say, “The table of the LORD is to be despised.”
“But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly? says the LORD of hosts. – Malachi 1:6-8
Last week, a few days before harvest, a toxic plankton bloom hit one of my farms killing a tenth of the salmon we were raising. Like a tree casting its fruit to the ground before harvest. Instead of harvesting we spent the whole week removing a half a million pounds of dead fish.
On the outside I displayed an attitude of determined motivation. But on the inside, the mix of disappointment, pressure, and exhaustion; produced a feeling in me that is best described as melancholy despair. Now, after two days rest, I feel fine but in my Bible reading I came across the passage of scripture in Malachi quoted above and I believed it had meaning for me.
God doesn’t ask me to sacrifice animals because Jesus sacrificed Himself for me but what does He ask me to sacrifice?
Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. – Romans 12:1
I find sometimes I offer God whatever’s left in my day. Time that I wouldn’t offer my work or even myself. I’m ashamed to say I have never even fasted or spent a substantial amount of time in prayer. I’ve fasted a few times for work when I haven’t had time to eat breakfast or lunch but never for God.
I’m going to have to make some changes to prevent my company from suffering more of these kind of losses and more importantly hopefully no one figures out I’m to blame for this last one. If I see any bones in the office on Monday I’ll turn and run straight out of there. (sound of bones rattling in a small leather pouch then spilling onto the boardroom table) “The bones tell me… Hey where’s he going?”
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, “How have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes” says the LORD of hosts. – Malachi 3:8-11
Post script
I originally had titled this blog "Lame sacrifices" thinking that title was a clever play on words, but I happened to do a search and came across this blog --> Lame sacrifices where someone has written basically exactly the same thing six months ago. Right down to the same bible verses and title! I'm afraid to look any further in fear that I will discover more evidence that I am an unoriginal blogger.
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