At times it seems that the scriptures contradict each other, such as the opening verses of Leviticus when the Lord is well pleased by the sweet aroma of Israel’s sacrifice and yet how many verses condemn the sacrifices in later scripture?
The glory of the Lord had descended on the tent of meeting and the children of Israel were obedient to God in bringing not only the sacrifice of bulls and goats but of prayer and worship.
The sin of the golden calf was behind them and those that had truly chosen to follow the Lord and His servant Moses had given freely of their treasure and talent to lovingly craft the Tabernacle that now had been indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God and now they brought worship from the heart.
This is much different from the empty worship of their descendants whom the Lord condemned as empty and something He hated because true worship is found in the choice made by the worshiper to give with a grateful heart.
Believers today can mistakenly believe that the Lord hates religion, that He despises the ritual and the words, the order and the routine but the Lord gave us order and He gave us the way to worship just as we find in Leviticus.
The bible defines true religion as taking care of widows and orphans and Jesus defined His followers by how they took care of the sick, the hungry and the naked, treating even the least of people with dignity and love.
What the Lord hates is empty worship. He took pleasure in the sweet aroma of the sacrifice that Israel made not because He likes a good barbeque and the smell of roasting meat, He enjoys the savory aroma of obedience and a faithful heart.
Jesus taught in the Lord’s prayer to avoid vain or empty repetition in our prayer life, the same is true of giving our tithes and offerings and in the sacrifice in serving with our time and talent.
The Lord does not want us to feed the poor or cloth the naked if we do not have love, because to do so is empty, why do it if there is no meaning to it. It is not that the Lord does not want prayer and worship, it is not that He does not want the worship of our tithes or the investment of our energy into the body of Christ, He wants us to mean it with all of our heart, all of our mind and all of our soul.
