Giving That Costs Something
Key Scripture: 2 Chronicles 24:24 NIV
But the king [David] replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.
The back story of this passage is very interesting. King David has sinned against God but takes personal responsibility and is guided to make amends by building an altar in a certain place to remind him of the incident and recalibrate his relationship with God.
The prophet Gad instructs King David to go to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite on Mount Moriah and buy the property from him and make the sacrifice there. As luck seemingly would have it Araunah welcomed the King excitedly and offered to give the land and provide all the wood and beasts for the offering free of charge.
David declines the offer and says ‘I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God that which cost me nothing’. By doing so David had fulfilled prophecy, Deuteronomy 12:5 - ‘But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go’. David had just legally and fairly purchased the site where Abraham was called to offer his son, Isaac, to God and where both Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples were to be built.
Pastor Jack Hayford, the writer of ‘Majesty’, also wrote a version of David’s commitment in song in the 1970’s. It changed our lives. We determined that we too would have a heart like David, not allowing others to pay our way if God had called us to give or make sacrifice in our lives. It was and is so liberating and exciting to live.
Article provided by Hope Media Ltd and published in the Real Hope Devotional Sep-Oct 2023. Ps John Scott https://www.96five.com/real-