2 Samuel 24:24
And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee
at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of
that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and
the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Here, David was
commanded to build an altar to God in the threshingfloor of Araunah, a
Jebusite. When David was talking to him, Araunah
offered the animals, tools, and materials to David. Then, David tells
him no, he will buy it from him, because he will not make a sacrifice
that costs him nothing.
So many times, us as believers offer
what we think is a sacrifice to God, costing us very little or nothing,
and expect God to be pleased. But one thing is missing from the
sacrifice...the SACRIFICE! The concept of the word itself means that we
are giving up something that is prized, something we value, knowing that
it will be worth giving up for something deeper, something better, and
more valuable. If you give your "sacrifice", without actually
sacrificing something, then the sacrifice is of no effect. We can't fool
God into thinking that it's something we greatly desire that we are
giving up for Him, because He knows our heart, and the things that are
truly important to us.
If I walk by a homeless man, and I'm
moved to give him my favorite shirt, straight off my back, because I see
him struggling, that gives a completely different feel than when I take
some old dirty shirt or jeans that I have no value or care for, and
dump it at his feet. That almost gives a feeling as if I'm just throwing
it away, and the man happened to be laying there. Now in this instance,
the homeless man might be happy for it either way, because he has need
of it, but God is not needy for ANYTHING, especially anything that we
can "give" Him! In fact, we have it in the first place because He first
gave it to us! Giving a worthless sacrifice is just that...worthless,
and not sacrificial in nature.
If we are going to sacrifice,
let's actually sacrifice. But first, let's do our best to obey, because
obedience is better to begin with...
Just a little reinforcement for you.
1 Kings 13. Entire Chapter
There was a man from Judah that came to king Jeroboam in Bethel, and
told him God's warning to him about something that would happen, due to
his disobedience. Right after he gave Jeroboam the warning, the same
thing he said would happen, happened before their eyes. Jeroboam told
his men to hold on to the Judean man, and as he stretched his hand out
while he was speaking, his hand dried up, and he couldn't pull it back.
He asked the Judean man to pray and ask God for his hand to be restored.
The man did, and his hand was restored, as it was before. Jeroboam then
asked the man to come back to his house to refresh himself, and be
rewarded. The man said even if Jeroboam offered him half his house, he
would not go, because the word of the Lord to the man was to not eat
bread nor drink water in that place, and to not even return to his city
using the same path he used to get there!
On his way back, an
old prophet in Bethel met up with him and asked him to come back to his
house and eat with him. The man said no, again, for the same reason he
said no to Jeroboam. The old prophet then told him that an angel spoke
to him and said to bring the man back to eat bread and drink water. The
man went back with him. After they ate, a word from the Lord came to the
old prophet, and he told the man that for his disobedience, his body
wouldn't even make it back to his fathers' grave, which was significant
back then, because many men were buried in the grave of their fathers.
On the way back, the man, riding a donkey, was killed by a lion. The
lion did not eat the man's body, and didn't even touch the donkey he
rode on.
This is a tragic story, but it shows us something very
simple, but very significant. When God tells you to do something, DO
IT! Do it when and how He tells you. If someone tells you the complete
opposite of what you know God said to you, then you should know
something ain't right. God is no liar, nor is he the author of
confusion. Obedience is key in this walk of faith...
