Gifted and Skilled

Gifted and Skilled

Exodus 30: ³⁴ And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. ³⁵ You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. ³⁶ And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. ³⁷ But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

 

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GOD gave Moses strict instruction on how to make the incense.

 

My Observations:

• GOD gave certain people gifts and skills to make perfume.
• GOD wanted a smell sensory experience for the priest.
• GOD also wanted the smell sensory experience for the skilled worker and the surrounding people.

 

Anyone near the tabernacle would be able to smell the incense when it was burning. This mixture was sacred to GOD and was to be used as a reminder of the atonement of sins. We forget GOD easily. That is what free will is. GOD used the sense of smell as a reminder to focus on HIS grace and mercy for just a moment.

 

If someone tried to make the mixture for a casual purpose, that person was supposed to lose the protection that GOD provided. They would not die, but their choice would leave them on their own, away from GOD. Everyone had to be warned about this. GOD prepared everyone for HIS presence.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the specific instructions to make the incense?
• Has GOD ever given you very specific instructions to further HIS relationship with you?
• Have you reflected on the great lengths GOD has taken to be with you?

Sense of Smell

Sense of Smell

Exodus 30: “You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width—it shall be square—and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. ⁴ Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ⁶ And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.

⁷ “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. ⁸ And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

 

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GOD told Moses to build an altar for incense. HE would give the ingredients of the incense later. GOD gave the instructions on when to use the incense.

 

My Observations:

• GOD seems to want us to experience HIM using our five senses.
• GOD may have wanted the priest to experience the sweet aroma to put him in a mindset of worship.
• During the daily sacrifice, which could be a bit smelly, Aaron and his sons were supposed to burn incense to make the experience pleasant.

 

Animal stink. Sacrificing animals twice a day can imprint a bad experience on the priest’s mind. GOD took care of that by having the priest light enough incense to provide an aromatic experience that would be pleasant.

 

The priest could experience what GOD experienced. GOD would get the aroma of the burnt offering and the priest would get the aroma of the incense. The other senses are included in this experience. The gold would shimmer from the light of the flame of the lampstand. Part of the burnt offering would be eaten, satisfying the sense of taste. The garment bells would ring, satisfying a life sustaining sound. And the curtains made from hair were to be touched, giving a tactile experience.

 

The altar of incense was to be used as a reminder of atonement. Once a year, blood would need to be put on the horns of the altar. GOD gave an experience with all senses.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the altar of incense?
• Has GOD given you instructions to uses your senses for HIM?
• How are you experiencing GOD through your five senses?

 

Assigning Fragrance

Assigning Fragrance

2 Corinthians 2: ¹⁴ But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. ¹⁵ For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost. ¹⁶ For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable for such a task? ¹⁷ We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.

 

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“This stinks!” was my exclamation as I took out the garbage as a teen. On my trek to the garbage cans, the heavy bag broke, leaving a wake of rotting eggshells, festering meat and putrid vegetables. My exclamation was not a description, rather it was a cry of frustration. It was freezing cold, dark and I wanted to be in bed. Instead, now I had to shovel up filth on a task I didn’t want to do in the first place!

 

• I have said “This stinks” when I felt something was not fair.
• I have said “This stinks” when I did not like what was going on around me.
• I have said “This stinks” when I thought someone was trying to dupe me or make me do something they should be doing!

 

Paul exclaims “Thanks be to GOD!” as he describes his “prisoner” relationship with JESUS. He knew the world would not choose a lifestyle that would follow JESUS, rather it seeks to indulge in its pleasures as a prize. He gives two fragrances; one that is sweet smelling and one that stinks. Both smells are assigned to what JESUS did.

 

My Observations

• GOD wants me to view what HE did for me as a gift to be thankful for.
• GOD wants me to see opportunity in being in union with JESUS.
• GOD wants me to treat HIS message as precious versus a set of rules that seem to be a barrier to my “fun.”

 

Assigning a fragrance to JESUS is done daily. I mean, when I choose to blatantly sin, I am saying “YOUR rule stinks” to GOD. Fortunately, GOD overlooks my sins when I recognize I need JESUS in my life to forgive me of all my sins. What JESUS did for me is amazing!

 

This is a “sweet-smelling incense” to me because I am truly forgiven. I place my life as a “prisoner” to JESUS, looking away from a life of indulgence to that of handling GOD’s message as precious. I am grateful it is not “my” message that saves people, rather the message of JESUS being raised from the dead that should be a sweet-smell to people.

 

Challenge

• Have you ever assigned a smell to a task or action of a person?
• What smell did the writer assign to JESUS?
• Do you find yourself in a battle to “live for CHRIST?”
• Will you become a sweet-smelling fragrance to GOD by spreading the life-bringing message of JESUS to anyone who will hear you today?