Study #18: AYIN

AYIN: THE 16TH LETTER OF THE HEBREW ALPHABET

THE AYIN WORD: OLAH (BURNT OFFERING) PART 3

Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:1-2 to “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice to God…that you may prove what the will of God is “.

This is what Jesus did as God’s Burnt Offering. In the Old Testament, the Burnt Offering was presented to God and burnt completely. When the Bible says this was “a soothing aroma to the Lord” (Lev. 1:17), it meant God was pleased with it. Indeed, God said of Jesus: “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”. And Paul himself said that his life’s purpose too was to “please the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:9).

But do we dare to pray, ” Lord, I give my body totally to You”?

If we study Leviticus closely, we will understand that the Burnt Offering had to be cut into pieces to ensure that the animal sacrifice contained no defect in it. Then – and then only – was it laid out on the altar fully.

In Leviticus 9:24, we read how the fire of God fell upon the Burnt Offering and consumed it. But the fire never fell until every last piece of the Burnt Offering was placed on the altar.

Likewise, do we offer our eyes, tongues and all the other bodily parts with their attendant desires to be sanctified by the fire of the Holy Spirit so that our bodies are completely set on fire for God?

Abba Father, today’s devotion is really “cutting”. For it is only as we cut each piece and lay them on the altar one by one that we discover whether we are totally offering our body to You or not. It is so easy to make a statement like ” I Surrender All” without meaning it. Some may call it false bravado, but it is self-deception at its worse.