November 21–sacrifice 

Good Wednesday to you! Are you baking pies today? Since I’m still in recovery mode, I’m going to try to get a pumpkin baked but that may be about all I contribute to the dinner. I am thankful to have girls who can pick up the mantle and deliver on a feast. This year, I may be set to enjoy food that costs me nothing. 


And that’s fine and good when we talk about a meal but if we try to translate that to spiritual matters, it falls flat. I always think of King David after his disregard for God’s order to not count people, how angry God was. He killed 70,000 of David’s people and the lord sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem before he said “stop”. When David saw the angel of death with his sword drawn, he was so afraid, he knew decided to offer a sacrifice to the Lord right then. He proceeded to find the owner of a near threshing floor and made an offer to purchase it among with a perfect bull to offer to God. The man to whom it belonged (certainly honored by the king’s request) said he would just give it to him to use. 


“But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.”

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24:24‬ ‭NLT‬‬


I love David’s passion when I read this but I wonder about my passion for my offerings to God. Do I often simply offer to Him that which has cost me nothing? Are our churches filled with things we wouldn’t have in our homes but offered to God? Even when we speak of “Offering the sacrifice of praise” what does that mean? Did it cost us something? Our time, our concentration, our devotion? If not, it’s no sacrifice. A result of David sticking to his guns about it must cost me something, this is the very place where King Solomon later building his temple. A sacrifice that costs us is the only real and acceptable gift to our King of the Angel Armies. 


Dear Lord, you are the Holy King of Glory and worthy of our praise and our sacrifice. Help us to understand we should not offer that which costs us nothing. Half-hearted leftovers are not worthy of you our King who has bestowed on us more than we can begin to repay—our salvation, our home in heaven, your great love and mercy. Amen and amen


Love you dear one,

Pam

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