What Does It Cost Me?

O. T. #912 "What Does It Cost Me?"
January 25, 2017
1 Chronicles 21-Part 2


LET IT GLOW

Hey, this is good, Ya'll. Hang in there with me to the end and you will find it is so. We see what a planner God is and nothing  just happens. Ready to find out what happened?

Well, 70,000 men died because King David took a census taken of his people. Joab questioned David about it, he insisted. Through that one action, we see David's pride popping through. Instead of trusting God to protect Israel, he was self-sufficient and unbelief was upon David. It's the heart that God looks at, not the appearance. Samuel learned that when he was seeking the next king to anoint, which turned out to be David.

What happened?

• As the pestilence spread in Israel due to this, God sent an angel to Jerusalem with instructions to destroy it.
• Before it occurred, God stopped the angel In verse 15 we read He said, It is enough, stay now thine hand.
• The angel of the LORD stood by the thressingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
• David saw it there between heaven and earth with a drawn hand stretched out over Jerusalem.
• David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. (verse 16)
• David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. (verse 17)
• Then the angel of the LOD commanded Gad to say to David that he should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. (verse 18)

God was about to destroy His beloved Jerusalem, the City of David, when David intercedes. He sees the payment for his sin, as well as his sin's ugliness, devastation, and horror. He is a broken man facing the responsibility of his own iniquity, and throws himself upon the mercy of God. After David admitted his sin, then God stopped the angel from destroying the city.

When come face to face with our sin, do we not be for the mercy of God, too?


LET IT GROW

Ornan and his 4 sons were threshing wheat when David asked him to grant David the place upon which he could build an altar. Ornan agreed to give it to the king, including his oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing instruments for wood, and wheat for the meat offering. I offered it all.

Look at verse 24. David refused the offer of the gift and said, I will buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

So David paid Ornan for all of it and sacrificed unto the LORD God there. He even refused a king's discount. This place remained as the place of sacrifice for David from then on.

The word sacrifice implies giving something that costs the giver in terms of self, time, or money. It require more than a token effort or gift. God wants us to give voluntarily, but He wants it to mean something. Giving to God what costs you nothing does not demonstrate commitment. (Life Application Study Bible)

The Lord had a plan. He wanted David to build a never-to-be-forgotten memorial. Here it is folks. Are you ready to be astonished? This very sight of the thressingfloor was located on Mt. Moriah, the place where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isaac, and was going to be the site of the new Temple Solomon, David's son, would build. Not only hat, on the other end of the same ridge is Golgotha, where Christ Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

What can we give to God today as a sacrifice? How about our time to study His Word and our self to serve Him? Does He want us to give money to His work? Let us seek His will, asking what He wants us to give today. He gave His all for us on the cross.
It isn't "What will it cost me" that I should ask, but "Am I giving it in love?"


LET IT GO

Give to God that which costs me.

Use me Lord for Your glory.

Take me, my time, and my money as a sacrifice today for Your kingdom work.