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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.’” (Genesis 8.20-22).
There are several firsts associated with the flood, some of which we will notice here. The flood was the first occasion in which rain was specifically mentioned as a reality upon the earth. The flood was the first occasion in which God is depicted as executing his wrath on mankind in general. The flood is the first time we see a prophet/preacher warning others of the consequences of their sins and soliciting their repentance. The flood is the first mention of the division of animals into clean and unclean categories. Immediately after the flood (see today’s focus text, above) is the first mention of an altar as a structure erected for the purpose of offerings to God. And finally, at the end of the flood, Noah’s sacrifice is the first time we see that’s God’s tastes are totally independent of man’s tastes. Today’s message will focus on this difference as it was manifested upon the occasion of the flood.
There were animals, clean animals, available for sacrifice immediately after the flood. These had been saved in pairs of seven as opposed to twos as was the case with the unclean animals. There was an altar which was specifically erected by Noah for the purpose of sacrificing to the God who had saved him and his family from the destruction that came upon the rest of the earth. Then there was the LORD’s reaction to Noah’s offering; it is here that we focus our attention.
“And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma.” As for me, I don’t like the smell of searing flesh; it is downright nauseating! Yet, the Bible says that when God smelled Noah’s burnt offering, He smelled a “soothing [sweet, other versions] aroma.” This simply goes to show that God’s senses are unlike our senses. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have the notion that God has a nose and a mouth like we have; I think the writer in Genesis is using language which accommodates our understanding as human beings. This enables us to understand that God is pleased with some things while others are not pleasing to Him. His reaction to the sacrifices of Cain and Abel indicated that He had respect to Abel and his offering while He did not have respect to Cain and his offering (Genesis 4.4-5). Having respect in this case is equal to smelling a soothing aroma. In other words, God was pleased. He was pleased with Abel’s offering and He was pleased with Noah’s offering.
However, had man voiced an opinion in the cases cited, he would have declared the thing that Abel and Noah were doing as repulsive and perhaps, even reprehensible. After all, they were shedding the blood of innocent animals and then burning their dead carcasses as a sacrifice to God. The idea of killing animals doesn’t appeal to many folks, say nothing about the stench that is produced when their carcasses are burned in the open atmosphere! We can surely conclude that the way God views acts of worship has no dependence at all upon our human tastes and preferences.
Here is the lesson: When deciding what God likes [respects] in worship, we must not allow our own tastes in things to influence our thinking. The only way to know what God likes is to listen to His voice as revealed through the Scriptures!
Questions:
1. Who told Noah what to offer as a sacrifice? How to sacrifice? Build and altar? Justify your answer.
2. What did God smell when He smelled a soothing aroma? What observations do you have about God’s reaction to the smell of burning animal flesh?
3. How do believers know what God likes? Can we afford to guess or play the odds?
4. Can we safely conclude that when it comes to worship, obedience of heart trumps the item(s) offered (Read 1 Samuel 15.21-22)?
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