3/7/14

3/7/14

"O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer. But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats? Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory." But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." (Psalms 50:7-15, 23 NLT)

When I was reading this passage this morning, it jumped out at me. After all we are reading about in the Old Testament about sacrifice and ritual and purification, God doesn't really want all of that. God set it up to be a tangible image of redemption for His people. But it didn't spark a lasting heart of thanksgiving. It was set up so the people would bring their gifts to God to thank Him for all he had done for them, but it became just a work. Just a duty. God is saying in Psalm 50, that this sacrifice is meaningless if there is no change of heart. There is no point of all the bloodshed if hearts of thankfulness are not raised up to God. God wants our hearts, and He wants us to thank Him. And that is all. Thankfulness needs to be our sacrifice to Him.

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