Have you ever been to the store to pick out a really great steak? You’ve got choices. T-Bone, Rib-Eye, Porterhouse, Sirloin, Filet, Strip, Flat Iron, Skirt, Flank, Tomahawk. I worked my way through 3 years of college at a small grocery store and it allowed me to spend ample time in the meat market. It was fascinating to see how and where all the best cuts came from. The location was key, the more the muscle was used, the tougher the cut, the less it was used the more tender. But the biggest key to a great steak was the fat content, called marbling. A 100% lean steak possesses very little natural flavor and can become dry if not prepared with generous external spice and oil. The next time you pick out that perfect steak, be sure and pay attention to the fat.
This morning God’s Word pays attention to the fat. (like that segway?) In fact, so far in Leviticus, God has mentioned the fat of the animal to be sacrificed a whopping 17 times! To be specific, every time it is mentioned, God says it belongs to Him.
“The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord's.” Lev 3:16
So why does God claim the fat of the animal? To better understand, think about fat itself. As any mammal intakes food, it is turned to fuel. If that fuel is not used through immediate activity, it is stored up for later activities. If the later activities never happen, then the fat accumulates. If you think of it like money, it’s a basic debit/credit scenario, but in this case you must use all the money you deposit. If you don't use it all, you’ll end up with a big surplus. And not the good kind like the piles of money Scrooge McDuck swan dives into, you’ll just end up with more fat on your body than is ideal.
In some countries people that are fat are considered wealthy, prosperous, healthy and even more, influential. Why? Well, to get fat you have to have an abundance of good food. And in countries where food is scarce, if you have access to much food, you must be somewhat wealthy to be able to afford enough food to get fat. You can naturally see why the world sees America as a tremendously wealthy nation as we possess one of the highest obesity rates in the world. In America even most poor people are wealthy enough to get fat.
Now move the thought from people to animals. For an animal to be fatty meant that it was eating well and carefully being provided for. God cares for His animals also.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” Matt 6:26
“He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.” Psalms 147:9
So now if you tie this all together you will see that God feeds these animals to the point where they have excess goodness and provision, ie, fat. He has fed them to the point that they are beyond healthy from His love and care. It’s a sign of who He is and how He loves all creatures. As the animals are brought to the altar to be given to the Lord, many of the offerings did not require the whole animal to be burned, but only a portion. The remainder would go to the priests or owner to be eaten. But never the fat. The fat belonged to the Lord.
In many cultures, even ours (think about that well marbled rib-eye) fat is considered a delicacy. It is born of excess provision. Now make the connection. As God blesses a righteous person or nation, they accumulate excess; called in God's Word, “increase”. As a righteous person saves back this “increase”, God requires that a tenth be saved back as a tithe and given to Him.
In Leviticus 7 we see God required the Levitical priesthood to burn on the altar all fat portions He specifically mentions; this was God’s portion, his “tithe” of the animal. The rest (in most cases) they were free to enjoy themselves. The fat that was removed was an excess of goodness which the animal, thanks to God’s blessing, had been able to save up and which God took as His tithe of that animal.
As you think about the fat, think of it as a display of God’s goodness, provision and abundance towards us. As He blesses us to overflowing, He simply asks for us to give back to Him, the “first fruits” or the "fat" of what He has already given us. What an amazingly generous concept, He first gives and then asks us to give back only out of what He has first given us.
The next time you take a bite out of that tasty steak, think about God’s abundant provision in your life and simply give back to Him a portion of what He has already blessed you with.
Praise God for His abundant provision.
Comments