Friday 9-17-10
"Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. "Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you." However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." 2 Samuel 22-24 (emphasis mine)
David had sinned, he had taken a census of the people, when God had commanded him not to. God had promised to being a severe pestilence among the nation of Israel because of it. As the pestilence swept through the land, David realized that it was his sin which was causing this great tragedy to fall among the people. David besought God that they might be delivered, God speaks through a man in Gad. Through this prophet God instructs David to erect an alter on the threshing floor where the angle of the Lord stopped the pestilence. The man who owned the threshing floor offered all he had to King David to offer to the Lord. He was ready and willing to freely give of his land, possessions and livestock for the sacrifice to the Lord.
David refuses the gift's which Araunah offered him. He told him flat out the he was not going to give God something which cost him nothing. So different than how we think, how I think.. much to often. It is a battle within myself many times to read His word, or to truly read His word. It is much to easy to read without comprehending, read without meditating, read without there be an ongoing heart change. It is so easy to do "blanket" prayers, to not be earnest and fervent in prayers. It is easy to let fellowship with other believers be upon 'surface' things, and not spiritual matters. It's easy to live a life in which all we give to God cost us nothing.
I am convicted. I do not spend the time like I should with God in the mornings. Sure I spend 30 minutes praying than 20-30 minutes reading Proverbs before work begins. But that is nothing, how dare I say that Jesus is the most precious thing to me, when my actions portray something different? I need to spend those first waking hours with my Savior. Humbled at His feet, begging for the grace to walk in His ways. Oh God, may my life truly be a living sacrifice. May my actions bring you glory, may the words that I speak be truth and edify, may the very thoughts of my heart be pleasing in your sight. Are you giving God, that which has cost you nothing?
2 comments:
Yes, often I offer to my Saviour that which cost me absolutely nothing. He gave literally everything for me, and yet I offer Him what is easiest for me to give, not what is hardest.
As in so many things we must do what is hard for us. If spending an hour in prayer is not difficult, make it your goal to spend two. If meditating on God's Word for a mere fifteen minutes stretches your concentration and takes every ounce of God's grace you can acquire then you are offering to Him as you should. If a 500 word essay is assigned do you just slip by, knowing it was easy, or do you go above and beyond submitting 1,000 or even 1,500 words, challenging yourself every step of the way?
If we do not stretch ourselves, doing what is difficult for us, we will never experience the growth that we long to witness in our lives.
I will say that this is something that has been on my heart quite a bit lately, and reading what you wrote, brother, was a very great reminder and very convicting. Thank you for sharing it! There really are too many times where I never give God the best; where I really don't outwardly show with my actions that He is my all in all. Especially when it comes to my own, personal time with Him where I pray and read His Word. It should be my *first* priority. It should make me *want* to go to bed at a decent hour, so that I *can* get up early and spend the amount of time in the Word and in prayer that He undoubtedly deserves! Anyways, I could go on and on here, but thank you again for posting that, brother. :)
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