Psalms 4:5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in Adonai.
God in the Bible refused several sacrifices. Cain’s jealous angry heart (Genesis 4:4), Saul’s disobedient spirit (1 Samuel 15:22), and the Pharisee’s proud and self-righteous gifts (Luke 18:11).
Sacrifices of righteousness require trust in Adonai. When Araunah insisted on giving to David everything he needed to make an offering, the King insisted, “I will not give onto Adonai of that which has cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24); if it doesn’t cost, emotionally or financially, if it doesn’t hurt, it is not a sacrifice.
A sacrifice of righteousness has to be mixed with obedience, obedience that’s invested deep down in the soul. Often, God asks for the very thing which hurts to give, that which requires an investment of faith, our ‘Isaac’, the last handful of meal in the barrel, the last drop of oil in the cruse (1 Kings 17:12); because when that happens, we have to trust Him again for our inheritance and our daily sustenance.
Let us not be afraid to give that which Adonai asks of us. Let us not fear to lay at His feet the thing which 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; we will be His saints gathered unto Him, those that have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. Psalms 50:5
God in the Bible refused several sacrifices. Cain’s jealous angry heart (Genesis 4:4), Saul’s disobedient spirit (1 Samuel 15:22), and the Pharisee’s proud and self-righteous gifts (Luke 18:11).
Sacrifices of righteousness require trust in Adonai. When Araunah insisted on giving to David everything he needed to make an offering, the King insisted, “I will not give onto Adonai of that which has cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24); if it doesn’t cost, emotionally or financially, if it doesn’t hurt, it is not a sacrifice.
A sacrifice of righteousness has to be mixed with obedience, obedience that’s invested deep down in the soul. Often, God asks for the very thing which hurts to give, that which requires an investment of faith, our ‘Isaac’, the last handful of meal in the barrel, the last drop of oil in the cruse (1 Kings 17:12); because when that happens, we have to trust Him again for our inheritance and our daily sustenance.
Let us not be afraid to give that which Adonai asks of us. Let us not fear to lay at His feet the thing which 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; we will be His saints gathered unto Him, those that have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. Psalms 50:5
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