Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Psalms 52-59

“For you have rescued me from death
And prevented my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God in the light of the living.”
~Psalm 56:13

When I am experiencing particularly stressful situations and I do not see a clear solution, I may come to lose all hope that anything will ever improve.
There were times when the Psalmist David felt that he was “wandering,” but he was conscious that God kept His eye on him (Ps. 56:8).
He knew he was not truly alone.

“Of this I am confident: God is on my side” (Ps. 56:9).

The knowledge that Jehovah God stood by him in all his trials fostered a thankful attitude in David that in turn infused in him a serious sense of compromise toward God.
“I am bound by my vows to you, O God; I will offer you expressions of thanksgiving,” (Ps. 56:12).
This kept him going even under circumstances that could have made him lose heart.
Likewise, when I feel that I am at my wit’s end, remembering that God is keeping a watchful eye over me can keep me from stumbling even into a spiritual or emotional death.
Meditating on the vows I have made to God can keep me from giving up.
Instead of being afraid, I will trust in Jehovah (Ps. 56:3).

Leviticus, chapters 6-9

Last week’s reading covered many details on several types of offerings.

These are:

  • Burnt offerings
  • Communion offerings
  • Sin offerings
  • Guilt offerings
  • Grain offerings
  • Wave offerings
  • Sacred portions
  • Installation sacrifice

I will focus on communion offerings, otherwise known as peace offerings.

Communion offerings could be voluntarily offered at any time as “an expression of thanksgiving,” to praise God or to concert a vow (Lev. 7:12, 16).

The consumption of the offering was shared between the person presenting it, the priests and Jehovah.

The person presenting the offering would offer unleavened bread along with the ceremonial sacrifice of a healthy animal.

Neither the animal’s blood nor fat were for human consumption; the blood was sprinkled around the altar and the fat was burnt, Jehovah symbolically consuming the aroma (Lev. 3:2-5; 7:25-27).

The person presenting the offering could bring leavened bread, but this was not to be presented on the altar, as leaven represents sin and corruption (Lev. 2:11; 7:13).

The leavened bread was for the people’s enjoyment, not God’s.

Tradition states that the person presenting the offering ate the meal in the courtyard of the tabernacle (Insight, vol. II, “Offerings,” par. 9).

The flesh of the animal sacrificed had to be eaten on the same day it was slaughtered (Lev. 7:15).

Otherwise the flesh would begin to corrupt and the people who partook in the communion meal would then be ceremonially unclean, a sin punishable by death (Lev. 7:20).

Today we do not have these types of ceremonies in which we can ‘share a meal’ with Jehovah.

It must have been a very spiritual experience.

We can, however, thank and praise God any day, any time, through words and actions that reflect our faith in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ Jesus, which can be likened to an aroma that is pleasing to God.