October 3rd
THE SACRIFICE OF A YIELDED HEART
Psalms 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
God in the Bible refused several sacrifices. Cain’s fruit of the ground (Genesis 4:4), Saul’s spoil of war (1 Samuel 15:22), and the Pharisee’s proud and self-righteous gifts (Luke 18:11).
Sacrifices of righteousness require trust in the Lord. When Araunah insisted on giving to David everything he needed to make an offering, the King answered, “I will not give onto the Lord of that which has cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24); if it doesn’t cost, it is not a sacrifice.
A sacrifice of righteousness is mixed with obedience, obedience that cost deep down in the soul. Often, the Lord wants that very thing which hurts to give, our ‘Isaac’, the last handful of meal in the barrel, and the last little oil in the cruse (1 Kings 17:12) because when that happens, we have to trust Him again for our inheritance and daily sustenance.
Let us not be afraid to give what the Lord asks of us. Let us not fear to lay at His feet the thing He requires from us. Let’s wake up each morning and make an ‘exchange of wills’, exchange what we want for what He wants. Our sacrifice will then be an acceptable sweet odor in His nostrils.
Psalms 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
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