Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
(1 Chronicles 21:24 (NIV))
Is this your attitude?
King David wanted to create an alter to the Lord at the site of the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Just a few verses before this, we learn that the angel of the Lord had appeared at this very site and was visible to David, to Araunah and to Araunah’s sons. Araunah did something that I am not sure too many today would do. He offered to give the property to David and to also provide David with all of the animals, the wood and the grain for the offering. In essence, David would not have had to make any personal sacrifice to build the alter on what would become the location of the Temple. By today’s standards, David would have been considered a shrewd businessman if he had agreed to these terms.
David was not there to get all that he could for little or nothing!
He knew the importance of personal sacrifice when worshipping the Lord. He knew that everything that he had been given and had attained belonged to the Lord. He was not about to approach the Lord to make a sacrifice when he wasn’t making a sacrifice at all. He wasn’t going to lie to the Lord and make a sacrifice of someone else’s property. David knew that the sacrifice, the gift to the Lord, had to come from himself.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
(2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (NIV))
Do you give to the Lord? Do you sacrifice or do you give when someone gives to you or for you?
Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.
(Deuteronomy 17:1 (NIV))
In other words, we are to give our best to the Lord! David understood this. He knew that if it was to be considered his best, then it actually had to come from him. David knew that he had to pay the full cost.
Are you willing to pay the full price?
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Daily Living Ministries 