September 26, 2011
Life Stinks
Smoke drifted across the 3000 seat church auditorium, even up to the balcony where I was sitting. The minister was noted for his teaching on the Old Testament tabernacle. He even traveled with an actual size replica of the tabernacle. On this particular night the altar of incense was out front. As he stood next to it grinding spices in a mortar and pestle, he taught on all the symbolic meanings of the incense that was burned in the Holy Place. Then he begin sprinkling the freshly ground mixture on the altar coals. The aroma filled the sanctuary. With my first whiff, my immediate reaction was “God that stinks!” It was not a pleasant fragrance to my nose by any means. Then so clearly the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, “What stinks to man, is a sweet aroma to Me.” That has been a valuable lesson to me through the years, because sometimes, life stinks.
The Tabernacle was a literal object lesson to teach Israel about God and ultimately what Messiah would do. It would have been a strange mixture of sights, sounds, feelings, and smells—lots of blood, cries of dying animals, and the continual smell of burning flesh. If we could have been a casual observer, we might say, “Not only does that stink, but what a waste! Look at all that steak and lamb chops going up in smoke!”
But what stinks to us and appears to be a total waste may be pleasing to God. Paul refers to Jesus’ crucifixion and states, Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (Eph 5:2). I can imagine some cynical Jew thinking as he watched, “Only 33 years old. What a waste of a young life.” But remember God sees from the eternal perspective beyond our view, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, declares the LORD (Isa 55:8).
What does this mean for us? For some of you, life at the moment might stink or you feel as if everything is a total waste. When a woman came and poured an alabaster vial of costly perfume over Jesus, some of the disciples were angry, “Why this waste?” The perfume was worth about one year’s salary. Jesus told them that she had done a good deed to Him. They perceived a stench of waste. He smelled the sweet aroma of a sacrifice.
Paul desired to go to Rome and then Spain, but instead he spent several years in prison—what a stinking waste. However, it was during this confinement he wrote the best of his epistles. Joseph spent thirteen years during the prime age of his life as a slave and prisoner—what a stinking waste. But the Psalmist asserted that God was refining him (Ps 105). God had a far greater plan for him. Joseph even named his sons with reference to this difficult time. Manasseh means causing to forget. Joseph forgot all his troubled past. His second son was Ephraim which means double fruit. Joseph adds, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction (Gen 41:52).
I have to wonder if Paul ever thought, “This stinks. I’m wasting time in jail when I could be out preaching the gospel.” Or if Joseph asked God, “Why am I wasting the best part of my youth. This sinks.” Like us, they could not see the grand scheme of God’s purpose until after it was over.
What might have seemed as such a stinking waste to them was a sweet aroma to God, as He used or prepared them according to His plan.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Does your life stink at the moment? Or does everything seem a total waste? God may be using you in ways you don’t realize or is preparing you for something far greater than you could imagine. And for God, your life is a sweet aroma that will bring you eternal rewards.