Week 83, Day 4: True Sacrifice
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 24:1-25
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Our reading today has a wonderful object lesson in the concept of sacrifice. David angered God by numbering the fighting men of Israel without His permission or command. As a result, God sent 3 options for David’s punishment. David chose to suffer the wrath of God in a plague for 3 days. As the destroying Angel approached the city of Jerusalem, David went out to the threshing floor of Araunah to offer a sacrifice to Jehovah to stop the plague. Araunah offered to give David all that was needed for the sacrifice, including the wood from the threshing implements and the yokes for the oxen, as well as the oxen themselves for the sacrifice. One of the most powerful verses concerning sacrifice is found in this context. David’s response to Araunah was:
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2 Samuel 24:24)
David refused to make an offering to God which did not cost him anything. This is a part of sacrifice! Unfortunately, many people today do not want to offer anything to God that costs them something. They are willing to serve God as long as it doesn’t get in the way of anything else that they want to do. They will not sacrifice money, time or effort for God–they expect God to give into their wishes and desires! God requires sacrifice on our part, and it is going to cost us something. Romans 12:1-2 tells us that God demands that we make ourselves a living sacrifice. That is gong to cost us. It will cost us money. It will cost us time. It may cost us friends. It may cost us family. If we are not willing to pay the price of making an offering to God, then we cannot (and will not) be His children. If we are unwilling to offer things which cost us something, we are not really offering Him a sacrifice!
Question: When was the last time your offering to God actually cost you something?
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