God's Food?

“Make sure to offer to me my offering, my food, my food gift as a soothing smell to me at its appointed time.” Numbers 28:2

God speaks as if the offerings we give Him are His “food”. The people were commanded to bring animal offerings which were burned on the altar at designated times. Every day of the year two male lambs were brought, and on every Sabbath two additional lambs. An offering consisting of two bulls, one ram, seven male lambs, and one male goat was brought the first day of the month. Passover and additional feasts had their own sacrifices.

All of these offerings, day in and day out, would keep the people focused upon their relationship with God. Constant reminders, each sacrifice spoke not just of the peoples’ need for cleansing, but primarily of God’s acceptance. In the end, that is the purpose of the sacrifices. They are God’s way of assuring the people, “I have accepted you.”

But, God also calls them “my food”. It is difficult to think of God as having a “hunger” of any sort. He is complete, whole, and needs nothing. So, how could He ever “hunger” for anything at all? But what if He does? What if God does hunger; what if His hunger is echoed in our deepest desires.

There is no “lack” in God, and within His nature He has perfect “self fulfillment.” It is not as though He is incomplete apart from relationships with something outside Himself. But God is also far beyond our understanding. What if the sacrifices represented something about God that is very real? What if they represent something that can only be compared to “hunger” in one way or another? And, what if that “hunger” is indeed for relationship, fellowship with humans who He created in His own image?

All of us long for real connections with people. I ache deeply when I lose a friend, or feel I have offended someone. I might even say I am “hungry” that some past relationships were restored, or current ones mended. Though God is never the source of offense, could He hunger just as much, or infinitely more, for open and full relationships?

It is through the sacrifices that God told the Israelites they could approach Him. Their constant and set times should have spoken to them of intimacy and relationship. Instead, as we are all tempted to do, they turned it into a matter of religious obedience. The sacrifices would soon be done away with, though. They were only the temporary picture of what Christ would do upon the cross.

There, upon the agony of crucifixion, Jesus gave His life “as a ransom for many.” However we view what actually happened there, the very least has to do with the restoration of God’s relationship with people. Sin was forgiven, the sentence against us was abolished, and through the cross, one time for all time, God and people were reunited. God’s “hunger” for our restoration was completely met.

I realize as I write this that it still sounds so theological and fuzzy and other-worldly. Perhaps that is part of the sacrifice process. Sacrifices are messy, they are ugly, they could even be described as gruesome. Although, I think “gruesome” is a result of modern suburbanite living that sees meat as much as a product as shampoo! But, not to stray from my thought, God is inclined to be involved in all the messiness of real life.

That gives me hope. When I wake and my mind is filled with cobwebs, God still hungers for my relationship. Even worse, when the cobwebs are full of spiders, He still wants to be involved with me. It would take longer to write than this short blog, but this is where my personal struggle is these days. I “know” He wants a relationship with me, but I’m not always thoroughly convinced of it.

Or, even worse, I think my religious activities are really interests Him. But, there was no temple in the Garden of Eden, no chapel on the corner, no altar of sacrifice. God and Adam walked together “in the cool of the day.” That’s when my wife and I take our dog for her walks, “in the cool of the day.”

Is it enough for me to know that God is “satisfied” by our relationship together. Some theologians use that very word, “satisfied”, to describe what Jesus’ death on the cross did. It “satisfied” God’s requirement for righteousness. So, why don’t we live out each day as if that is true? God is not angry, He is not about to jump out of the corner and say “boo”. He is “satisfied”.

As for me? I’m trying real hard to be just a human being who has trusted the best news I’ve ever heard: God has accepted me in Christ! To think that when I trust Him, (even when I don’t have all the answers), He is satisfied, well, that usually makes me smile.