SACRIFICES OF LOVE!

“God is the Lord and He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27).

The “Alter” is nothing but the Cross at Calvary only. Combine yourself with that Cross. The divine love is the rope which binds you with the horns of the altar. “I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love” (Hosea 11:4).

What is the reason for God to draw you with gentle cords and tie you with divine love? It is only for you to have fellowship with Him; for you to dwell with Him. John the Apostle writes, “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (I John 1:3, 6).

When Abraham bound his son Isaac and placed him on the logs of wood arranged in the altar (Genesis 22:9), why did Isaac not oppose or object? Because he very well knew that the one who binds him is his own father. That cord is the cord of the divine will. Since he had fully submitted himself to the will of his father and showed his love on him, he believed that all things will work together for his good. 

Dear children of God, you may also pass through the paths of sufferings and tribulations. But when you surrender yourself to the will of God, He will do everything for your good. Job made himself strong, even though many sufferings came upon him. He consoled himself saying, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Mary submitted herself fully to the will of God though she very well knew what sufferings and sorrows she may have to face by getting conceived without coming together. She said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Dear children of God, do not forget that He will gloriously guide you in the path of His will, by tying you to the altar which is the Cross of Calvary with the cord which is His divine love. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you later.  

To meditate: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself” (Isaiah 44:24).