20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
- Genesis 8:20-22
An altar is a place where sacrifices are offered for worship. In the olden days people build an altar and sacrifice burned offerings to the LORD for worship. But it is not the same today, we don't have to build an altar to worship GOD or sacrifice the blood of animals because Yeshua was already the last ultimate sacrifice. We have our church or sanctuary, but we can chose a place in our homes, or wherever we are, and that can be an altar where we can worship GOD with our hearts giving a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Why is it a sacrifice? Why is praise and thanksgiving a sacrifice? It becomes a sacrifice when it is difficult to do. In difficult and hard times, we would rather wallow in our sadness and cry than lift up our praise and thanksgiving to the LORD our GOD.
But when we give a sacrifice to GOD, when we do something for HIM that is difficult to do but we give our praise to HIM anyway even when it hurts until it hurts, it is becomes a pleasing aroma to GOD, just like how it was when they sacrificed animals for GOD. Our sacrifices when it pleases GOD brings us new promises from GOD. And so if you are going through hardship and difficult times, give GOD your sacrifice of praise, worship and thanksgiving because then you might please HIM with that sweet aroma of sacrifice causing HIM to bring new promises in your life. As long as you live, the Lord's faithful love will endure and His promise will stand for you as long you remain with Him on earth. Make the most of opportunity in suffering, in difficulty, to offer your sacrifices to GOD today.
