"An Altar of Earth"
God said to Moses, “An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name, I will come to you, and I will bless you” (Exo.20: 24).
You might have already made an altar of earth by sacrificing some thing or the other in your earthly life for the Lord. It may be a sacrifice of your time and comfort for intercessory prayers. It may be your sacrificial offerings for the missionary work. It may be your sacrificial financial help for an orphanage or an old age home. It may be your sacrificial offerings to your church. You might have offered a portion of your house or land for the Lord’s work. In your office, you might have served your employer in a sacrificial manner, fearing God. The Lord now says to you, “I will come to you and I will bless you” because He has recorded His Name in that very place where you have sacrificed for Him. Dear pastor, you would have continued to sacrifice your time and comfort for serving your congregation members without expecting any reward from the Lord. Dear evangelist, you would have traveled far and wide to preach the gospel at the cost of your health. It is now time for the Lord to come to you and to bless you. You need not ask Him for His blessings because your sacrifices have come up for a memorial before God. He remembers all the sacrifices made by His people at the altar, and needs no reminders from them in this regard. The quantum of your sacrifice hardly matters here. Even if you have given 1$ to our God, it means that you have sacrificed that 1$ because you could have spent that money for meeting your own need. In the sight of God, that 1$ is very precious because you have sacrificially given to Him. God will definitely visit the place of your sacrifice i.e. the altar.
He now comes to you with His hands full of blessings. His blessings may be an abundance of material blessings which are long due. As you read this message, you can see your Lord standing by your side and can hear His small voice, “I have come to bless you” Amen.
by Job Anbalagan