A SWEET AROMA

 It is the desire of every true follower of Jesus Christ to please Him – to be a sweet aroma to Him. But what does it entail to be a sweet (soothing or pleasing) aroma to the Lord? If we take a look back to when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, we see that the Lord gave them specific instructions as to their offerings they were to bring to Him, and how each offering was to be presented. Every offering that was a sweet aroma to the Lord involved burning the offering with fire. “If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord…And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.” (Leviticus 1:3,8).

We see from the example of the Lord’s instructions to the children of Israel that every sacrifice that was a sweet aroma to the Lord involved being burnt on the altar with fire. If you have ever been burnt with fire or any kind of very hot liquid or substance, you know how painful it is. I remember when this happened to me. I was attending a Bible Conference for disabled and able-bodied people. We were in the dining room for our evening snack. My cup of tea had just been poured from the pot. It was steaming hot. When the person next to me moved her arm, it knocked my cup of tea all over my lap. I let out a stream of pain which the entire dining room heard. The Conference nurse and some other people rushed over to me and pulled down my pants right there. As they did, I could see layers of skin peeling off my legs. The nurse rushed me up to the nurse’s station where she dressed the burns and called the Doctor on Call. The Doctor prescribed an ointment and something for pain. My legs were painful for quite some time.

If we are going to be a sweet aroma to the Lord, it is going to involve going through some painful experiences in our lives. “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10). Notice, it is the Lord Who says, “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Some Christians do not believe that the Lord tests His people, but He does. The Lord’s testing can be anything that we are going through. When the Lord says He will test us in the furnace of affliction, that speaks to me of pain and a lot of it. Believe me, I know what its like to be in pain.   

 The Lord always seems to test the people who are already a sweet, or pleasing aroma to Him. For example, take Abraham. He was the first patriate of Israel. The Lord tested him. “Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1).  If there ever was a test for a Jewish family, this was it as Jewish families are very tightly knit together. When the Lord gave Abram this command, it must have torn his heart out, as well as his family’s heart. This is a clear test of who Abram loved more; his family or the Lord. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37). Abram did leave his country and his father’s house and followed the Lord’s leading to the land the Lord had promised him and his descendants after him. But the Lord could not show Abram the land until Lot parted from him. That was Abram’s mistake – taking Lot with him as the Lord did not tell Abram to take anyone with him. After Lot separated from Abram, then the Lord showed him all the land he and his descendants were to inherit. “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (Genesis 13:14).  

Some Christians have no choose in the matter as to whether or not they are going to pay the price to be a sweet aroma to the Lord as suffering and pain just seems to be forced upon them. May I use myself as an example here? I was born with Cerebral Palsy and am confined to a wheelchair. The only choice I had was how I was going to react to the situation. I could react positively and be thankful for all that I am able to do, such as being able to type with one finger, and therefore I’m able to serve the Lord and His people with my writing. Or I could have reacted negatively because I couldn’t do as much as others and just waste my days away. There was a time when I used to feel sorry for myself because I could not do what others could. But as time progressed, I choose to react positively and spend my days writing. I pray every morning that I would please my Heavenly Father that day.

There are many Biblical examples of people having negative situations forced upon them and they reacted positively. Remember when Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egypt? He could have complained and became bitter. But instead, Joseph remained positive and was a slave to Potiphar. When Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph, Potiphar trusted Joseph with all his affairs. That tells us that Joseph was a sweet aroma to the Lord. 

 Daniel and his three friends were brought from Judea to serve King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. While they were there, King Nebuchadnezzar made a decree saying that whoever did not fall down and worship the gold image at the sound of all the musical instruments, which the King had made, would be cast into the fiery furnace. (see Daniel 3:4-6). The Chaldeans accused Daniel and his friends for not bowing down to the image before the King. When King Nebuchadnezzar heard this, he brought the Jewish men before him and asked if this report was true. When Daniel’s friends told the King it was true, the King commanded certain mighty men to heat the furnace seven times hotter, then to bind the three Jewish men and throw them in the furnace. When the King looked into the furnace, he saw four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire. The fourth man looked like the Son of God. The King then called the men out of the fire. When they came forth from the fire, the three men did not even smell like smoke and their hair wasn’t even singed. (see Daniel 3:24-27). These three men remained positive even though they were thrown into the furnace. I am sure they were a sweet aroma to the Lord.

We have all read of how much Paul suffered as he served the Lord with a positive attitude. He did not let his tribulations deter him from serving the Lord, or change his positive outlook on life. When Paul had his thorn in the flesh, he did ask the Lord to remove it three times, but when the Lord responded by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded positively, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Not only did Paul have a thorn in the flesh, but he was being put in prison numerous times for preaching the gospel. He did not waste his prison times. He used these times to write epistles to the churches he had founded. These same epistles are still teaching and exhorting Churches and Christians 2000 years later. Paul faced many tribulations, of which he could have become bitter. But instead, Paul remained positive in each situation. I am sure his responses to his situations must have been a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Even Peter says in his First epistle, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trials which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you.” (1 Peter 4:12). Trials are not a choice, they are a given in the Christian life. Whenever we are placed in negative situations, whether temporary or permanent, we can choose to either react negatively or positively. By reacting positively, we will be a sweet aroma to the Lord.