Giving Our Best To God

# 32 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 2:15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, "Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw." 16 And if the man said to him, "They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires," he would then answer him, "No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force." 17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for men abhorred the offering of the LORD. Eli's sons were out of control! Why should they have to eat stew meat when they can have a char-broiled steak! Not only that, but these fat cats even refuse to do this dirty work and send their servants to make the ungodly demands of the worshipers. In Lev 3:3-5 we read that the fat of the offering was to be burned on the altar “by fire to the LORD.” and this offering was “a sweet aroma to the LORD.” The sons of Eli were depriving God of the sweet smell of a worshiper displaying thanks to God by giving up that which was precious. This is not a small thing. After the flood, Noah offered up a burnt offering and note God's response: Ge 8:21 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. It was the soothing aroma that caused God to make His promise to never again destroy every living thing. But in denying this offering to the Lord and taking it for themselves, they were in effect saying, “we don't need Your promises God.” And so they “abhorred” God. They regarded He and His promises with disdain. It is the sin of idolatry, plain and simple. Putting themselves and their fleshly desires before God. May we ever be thankful for God's promises, may we give our best to Him.