Daily Affirmations - Day 3 - The Cost of Obedience - It's Personal

Day 3: It's Personal

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You will not despise

David said to [Araunah]— (also called Ornan), Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.” Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.” But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing” (1 Chronicles 21:22-24). 

Heavenly Father, You are Lord of all, Lord over all. We can give You nothing.

The prophet Micah emphasized our inability to serve You from our own "stores": "With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?..." (Micah 6:6). This was the same message Asaph relayed to a people focused on observances:

I am God your God... I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are Mine… The world is Mine, and all that is in it (Psalm 50:7,9-12).

All we have is Yours— is from You, even the very breath that keeps us alive. So You require nothing of us, but that we worship You in spirit and in truth (John 4:24 - NKJV). You show us that the only offering acceptable to You is a humble heart fully focused on seeking God, and desiring to honor You.

David understood this, when he declined an offer for a "full package" of everything that would enable him to sacrifice to God without personal investment: "I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing (1 Chronicles 21:24). He understood that the elements of sacrifice were not the point, but commitment, and investment, and relationship.

Lord, for each of us too, it's personal. You call us to an obedience based on love, trust, personal investment, and full commitment. Examine our hearts and uncover the places where we seek "cheap" alternatives.

Show us where in our daily lives we show up half-heartedly, or decline to "invest" at all. Show us where we offer You "leftovers" or make mindless "sacrifices" based on our own convenience and priorities— in matters of prayer, in matters of studying Your truth, in matters of serving others, in matters of living our faith...

Forgive us. Teach our hearts to seek You with humility and a genuine desire to obey and honor You.

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