Guilt is a weight that is hard to live with and even harder to sleep with. It keeps you awake at night, replaying old memories and reminding you of every failure. It is deceitful too. Just as you begin to pray, it whispers that God couldn’t possibly want you near Him, let alone use you again.
But the first thing anyone met in the tabernacle courtyard was the altar, because anyone had to deal with guilt before drawing near to God. That wasn’t man’s idea. It was God’s.
“Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. 2 Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. 3 Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. 4 Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. 5 Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. 6 Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. 7 The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.” (Exodus 27 v 1-8)
You didn’t come to the lampstand first, or even to the ark itself. You came to the altar. God arranged it that way so He could deal with your guilt before you stood in His presence.
- In time, the horns of the altar became a place of refuge, and people in danger would run and take hold of them. When guilt chases you, you have somewhere to run. (v2)
- The altar had pots to carry away the ashes, removing the evidence of what had happened there. God doesn’t keep a pile of your past to show you later. (v3)
- The poles meant the altar travelled with God’s people through the wilderness. Wherever you are today, forgiveness isn’t far away. (v6-7)
There was no way into God’s presence that didn’t pass the altar, and there still isn’t. Thank God, the ultimate altar is the cross of Christ, where Jesus carried your guilt.
So how would you describe yourself today? Failing, grieving, exhausted? Run to the cross, take hold of it, and don’t let go. Lay your guilt down there, because God has already made provision for it.
