“And Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean (four footed) animal and every clean fowl or bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the Lord smelt the pleasing odor (a scent of satisfaction to His heart) the Lord said to Himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination (the strong desire) of man’s heart is evil and wicked from his youth, neither will I ever again smite and destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. And God pronounced a blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Gen. 8:20 -9:1 (Amplified Bible version).
Noah’s first acts after the flood were to build an altar and to sacrifice to the Lord. God was pleased and his heart was moved to promise human family the under –listed through the faith of Noah:
- I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.
- I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done.
- There will always be seedtime and planting by men.
- There will always be time for harvest and reaping by men.
- There will be time of cold.
- Time for summer.
- Time of winter.
- There will always be day for men to walk and work.
- There will always be night time for men to rest, sleep and refresh.
- The promises will never cease but last for as long as the world exists.
We note from the passage that, a sacrifice that moves God’s heart must first begin with sincere worship, and so Noah’s first assignment after the flood was to build an altar, a place of worship because the Lord takes delight in His children’s worship of Him. (Ps 95, 100).
Such sacrifice must be clean – that is from pure heart and undefiled source. See Genesis 8.20, “Noah took of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar”. Numbers 29.13 “Present an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old. ALL without defect”. Deut. 15:21 “But if there is defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect. You shall not offer it to the Lord your God”.
Psalm 51:17 “My sacrifice (the sacrifice acceptable) to God is a broken Spirit; a broken and contrite heart (broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent, such O God you will not despise”, Matthew 5:23 & 24″. “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First reconcile to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
A sacrifice that must move God’s heart must be proportionate to one’s blessings.
See Deut. 16:16 -17. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord, your God in the place which He chooses: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks; and at the feast of Tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you”
Our righteous and benevolent God who does not want any of His children to miss the blessing that follows giving accepts our giving no matter how big or small so long as it is proportionate to what He has given us. See Leviticus 12:16 & 18;
The poor widow in Mark 12 received Jesus’ commendation not because she gave much but because she gave not just one of the mites but the two that were all she had, her whole livelihood, ( Mark 12:43 & 44).
Another notable figure in the Bible made sacrifices that moved God’s heart to issue him a “blank cheque”. The Bible records in 1 Kings 3:3ff that Solomon the son of David loved the Lord that he went to Gibeon and offered a thousand burnt offerings (probably one thousand bulls because in the Old Testament, Priests and kings offered nothing less than bulls as burnt offerings (see Lev. 4:4, 5. 2 Chro. 29:20 & 21).
After these offerings, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said to him “Ask what I shall give you” (a blank cheque).
God was not only delighted by Solomon’s sacrifices but God was also pleased with Solomon’s request. Several examples abound in the scriptures of those who made sacrifices that moved God’s heart to bless them. We know of Abraham who faithfully and happily agreed to sacrifice his only son, and God’s heart was moved to pronounce these blessings upon him “By myself I have sworn… blessing I will bless you, and multiply I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as sand which is on the sea shore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. (Gen. 22:16 & 17).
The only way to multiply our seeds is by sowing (Jn. 12:24) and as we file out today to sow our seeds, our prayer is that our sacrifices will move God’s heart to pronounce upon us the same multiplication blessings He pronounced upon both Noah and Abraham.
We note also the key roles played by fathers in attracting these blessings to their families and mankind in general, and sincerely pray that as we celebrate this year’s Fathers’ Day with the theme “loving and obeying God” that God will position the fathers spiritually and materially to be blessings to their families and their generations.
Have a joyful celebration as you move God’s heart with your life and offering.
Your brother, Vicar & Archdeacon
- Igein Isemede.