8 And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the Lord: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.
9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.
10 And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.
Here we read how part of the offering was burned unto the Lord, but then all the remainder was given to Aaron and his sons, the priest class, being their portion and reward from the Lord. Today, we do not have a specific tribe of priests separate from the rest of us, rather each worthy man may volunteer to administer in the Lord’s rituals, whatever his heritage. And even more broadly, every man, woman, and child may volunteer to assist in the work of the Lord, spreading His kingdom in many different ways. To us who take part in His labor, I can only assume that the same promise made to the Israelite priests applies to us, that we will receive a portion of the Lord’s own.
And that is not only for this life, but more importantly, for life in the eternities. Remember that Jesus promised his disciples they would be given things from their Father for both their earthly needs and for their heavenly reward. The same, I believe, is true for us. At least, it is if we first adopt the burdens and responsibilities of our Lord.
Sacrifice
Eligible oblation
Steps
Explanation
Meat Offering
Flour, oil, frankincense
Giving gratitude for blessings
Separate ingredients burned on altar
Body, spirit, and prayer uniting in gratitude
Ingredients baked into unleavened cakes
Devotion to God’s law, unsullied by pagan practices
8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
This verse continues with the laws that apply to the judges themselves, telling them how they should and should not perform their duties. Today we hear that God is aware of the danger of bribes and the judges shall “take no gift,” as that will lead them to blind their judgment and pervert their decisions.
Even judges who might receive their pay from the people should not see themselves as being subject to the people. They do not act as an agent of the plaintiff or the defendant, but as an agent of truth, an agent of God, Himself. To take a gift from a witness would be to make the witness the master, and that would frustrate the entire judicial enterprise. So, if there are to be gifts and rewards for a judge, let him receive them not from man, but from God, as the natural blessings that come to those who serve well.
4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
God had given His name to Moses to share with the Israelites, and next Moses was to reveal God’s purpose to them. It is notable how clear and specific this prophecy from God was. It was not a vague promise that could be fulfilled in various or symbolic ways, God was very specific that He would literally redeem Israel from their slavery. It was an extremely lofty claim, but God did not shy away from it. He boldly committed Himself to the miracle, just as when He told Abraham that he would have a son in his extreme old age.
I think it is also worth noting that there were no conditions set upon this promise. He did not say that He would free them if they proved worthy, just that He would free them. Later on the Israelites would themselves eligible or ineligible for certain blessings, such as whether the first generation would see the promised land, but this first gift was theirs for free. This is a type for the other gifts that God has determined to give all of us for free, regardless of our worthiness. We all have the gift of life, the gift of agency, and the gift of resurrection, regardless of whether we use those gifts in honorable or dishonorable ways. Like Israel, we are all brought out of obscurity and confinement by the Lord. Whether we will be happy with the lives and freedom that we have been given depends on what we choose to do with them.
In my last post I shared how I have at times been oblivious to the inconsistencies and hypocrisy inside of me. I explained that I have moments where some external factor reveals to me that I am not living in harmony with the ideals and truths that I hold most dear. I also shared how at other times I know what my inconsistencies are, and I am genuinely striving against them, but I am unable to achieve total self-control. I am being truthful in my purposes, even if not in my outcomes. These two states represent my lower states of truthfulness, and today I will conclude by detailing the highest state that I have lived in as well.
Living in Truth)
Thankfully, not all of my experiences have been obliviously hypocritical or frustratingly impotent. I really have had some moments and some areas where I have been in harmony with the truth I feel inside. Having had these experiences in some areas of life is what gives me hope of ultimate victory in all the rest.
Perhaps the strongest of these experiences came nearly six years ago when I committed to an addiction recovery program. I overthrew the lies I had lived with by fearlessly confessing to the truth. The result was that my whole being came into alignment with the sort of person I wanted to be. I was honest, creative, healthy, and hopeful. Who I portrayed myself to be, who I wanted to be, and who I actually was were all the same person, or at least they the closest to being the same person than they had ever been before.
All the credit that I deserve for this state of life was that I was willing to finally reject falsehood. I demanded the truth of myself, and then grace seemed to come into my being and make all of my different parts work together. This was union through divine intervention, as any true union must always be.
Comparison)
Having lived the full gamut I can certainly say which levels of integrity are more happy and joyful. Being oblivious to my hypocrisy had a seductive bliss to it, but eventually the truth always revealed itself, and then I was in for a sharp awakening. Realizing my fundamental failing has been, at times, a crushing experience, for I often don’t have any clue how I am supposed to grow past it.
Trying, but slipping, is actually better than being oblivious. It is more constantly agitated than being oblivious, but it does have a hope to it. Even though I keep falling back to where I started, there is a hopefulness in my scrappy efforts. I’m trying because I think I can make it, and I find a sense of self-decency because I’m really trying to live what I preach.
Best of all, of course, is actually living in the truth. There is such a massive weight that is removed when I feel that I am genuinely being the person I was born to be. It truly does feel like a gift, though, not an accomplishment. Overwhelming gratitude, therefore, is my single, constant emotion.
Have defined these different states of my life, I must confess that the mode of transitioning from one to the is largely still a mystery to me. It is something that confounds and at times frustrates me, how to go from oblivion, to striving, to inner peace. It is a quest well worth the effort of a lifetime, though, and I will continue to seek my way no matter what comes.
I’ve spent more than a week discussing how we desire approval and validation in our lives. It’s a common and basic longing, but there was a lot to unpack on the subject. Let’s review some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
Our Need for Validation and Approval)
It might seem vain for us to need constant validation and approval, and we might have spent quite some time trying to squash those emotions because we viewed them as being beneath us. But this is the same as trying to deny any of our other basic needs. Just as we need food and rest for our bodies, we also have requirements for our emotional health, including these. If you didn’t need some sense of validation in your life, then your heart wouldn’t keep longing for it.
And just as how we can satiate our physical hunger with food that is bad for us, so too we can seek out unhealthy forms of validation. Acknowledging that our hearts need validation is not the same as saying that all validation is worthy. Demanding fame and attention are perhaps the most detrimental ways of dealing with this need, but there are other mistaken ways to deal with it as well. Perhaps the most common of these is tying our peace and happiness to the responses of those in our immediate vicinity. Allowing ourselves to be miserable unless one, specific person gives us a kind word puts us in their power in a way that we never should.
During this study we considered the two kinds of validation and approval that are actually a good thing to pursue, and fortunately each is entirely within our power to obtain.
Approval of Self)
The first method we discussed was to approve and validate your very own self. This means taking the time out of our day to look yourself in the mirror, verbalize all the good things that you have seen yourself do, and express appreciation to yourself for how you are helping your own life and the life of others.
Self-validation also means recognizing our behaviors that we do not approve of and overcoming them. Paul recognized this reality of people betraying their own conscience when he said, “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Romans 7:15). So long as we are disappointed with our own behavior then we are never going to feel fully approved or validated, no matter what affirmation we might hear from others.
Of course, overcoming our evil nature not only brings a sense of self-approval, it also invites the one other kind of approval that is healthy to pursue.
Divine Approval)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galatians 1:10
In this verse Paul denounces the idea of seeking man’s approval, but he does promote seeking the approval of God. And what a relief, as this is actually the far more straightforward target to hit. Playing for the applause of the world means constantly altering one’s behavior to the ever-shifting demands of society. The way to satisfy God, however, has always remained the same. We must keep his commandments.
However, as we discussed earlier, obeying the commandments as they are written is not all that we must do. They provide an essential foundation and will bring a sense of validity in and of themselves, but upon that base we are supposed to actively build. We must put good into the world, taking our talents and using them to shine a light to others. It is in this combination of obedience and righteous productivity that I have felt the greatest sense of validation and approval in my life by far.
I also took some time to discuss that we can cultivate our ability to hear God’s approval of us. It may be that He has been trying to express His appreciation for some time, but He has been speaking in a language that you haven’t recognized. I suggested getting into the habit of seeing all that is beautiful in this world as a way of God telling you directly that He sees you, that He loves you, and that He appreciates what you are doing. If you come across something that seems to uniquely bring you joy, something that touches your heart more than the hearts of others, then consider it a gift from a Father who knows you perfectly and give gratitude for it. The more you give gratitude for these moments, the more you’ll start seeing these “love notes” placed all around you.
Conclusion)
Like many things, validation and approval represent a two-edged sword. On the one hand we can become obsessed with shallow counterfeits, chasing never-obtainable ideals. And even if we did achieve the constant attention of loved ones and the highest fame of the world, we would find ourselves still dissatisfied even so.
But on the other hand, there is such a thing as real validation and real approval. It is when we receive these gifts from our own selves and from God. It is here that genuine satisfaction occurs, that our anxieties are stilled, and we finally repose in peace. This is what it means to live life richly and with contentment, a richness and contentment that the world can never take from us, for the world never gave it to us to begin with.
Our desire for validation and approval were given to us for a reason. Not to be a source of perpetual frustration, but to lead us to eternal glory. Hopefully the principles we’ve discussed here can be helpful for you in your journey. They’ve certainly been helpful to me.
21 And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
Joseph had shown favoritism to Benjamin when he hosted all the brothers for a meal, and at the time I had wondered whether this was only to test whether the other sons of Jacob would feel jealous. But now, with every guise and pretense discarded, he continues to show Benjamin a special preference, giving him a wealth of silver and five times the clothing that he gave to the other brothers. Obviously Joseph’s own life was incredibly deprived for a very long time, and perhaps his indulgence of Benjamin was a form of giving to his past self all the things he never had.
He also sends a great gift to his father, twenty donkeys weighed with the spoil of Egypt, including the life-sustaining grain that is in such short supply. Finally the entourage is ready to return to Canaan and come back with all the brothers’ households and their father.
Or rather, it is ready except for one thing. Joseph has some final parting words to his brothers that I find very intriguing. We will examine them tomorrow.
27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?
28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.
29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
For a third time the brothers bow themselves to Joseph. God has made good on His promises and then some!
Joseph is able to inquire whether his father is still alive under the guise of general politeness. But then his pretended formalities are tested when he sees Benjamin before him. Up to this point Joseph has had multiple interactions with his brothers, but only the ones who betrayed him. This is now the first time that he is seeing someone from his old life with whom he had a positive relationship. He had already been reunited to the worst parts of his past, but now here is the best!
Is it any wonder then that he finally loses it? At least he is able to hold back the tears long enough to retreat to a private room. For all we know, Joseph might have always intended to eventually reveal who he was to his brothers, but I would imagine that at this point he has to do so. He is so close to being a brother to Benjamin again, but only if he reveals his true identity. He doesn’t take that step just yet, but I assume that he expected to do so soon.
24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.
25 And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.
The brothers have some time to prepare for Joseph. Their animals are fed, their feet are washed, and they get out their gift of fruits and spices. Then they carry the gift in their hands and bow themselves before Joseph once more.
Once they had scoffed at the idea that he would ever be greater them, but twice he dreamed of his brothers making obeisance to him and twice now they have done it. And not because they were compelled to, it was their own decision, based on the fact that they saw him as being…well…greater than they.
Not only this, but they also take the greatest of their fruits, and removed them from themselves, to offer them as a gift to Joseph. He literally is taking their best, and once again by their own will. God had elevated Joseph above others first, but now his brothers are elevating him above themselves as well.
8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.
9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
I would very much like to know what Esau’s tone was when he asked, “what meanest thou by all this…” Was it spoken as a sincere curiosity, or as a chiding reproof? Jacob gives an honest answer, that it was to obtain Esau’s grace, though he tastefully omits “because I thought you might kill me!”
There then follows a show of good manners from each brother. Esau refuses the gift, acknowledging that he has enough for himself already, but Jacob insists upon it. This is a good move on Jacob’s part. If he took the gift back now, it would mean he only wanted to save his skin and had no sincerity in the offer.
Jacob further insists on giving the gift by invoking the goodness of God, saying that he had been so kindly dealt with that he must go through with his own act of kindness as well. It is an excellent example of our modern phrase to “pay it forward.”
Spiritual Wanderings 