Worship Will Cost Me Something
When I raise my hands to worship God, it costs me something. When I kneel in surrender during worship, it costs me something. When I choose God’s way instead of my own as an act of worship, it costs me something.
Pride is a powerful emotion. In some situations, it can be a good thing, like taking pride in one’s work. But when it comes to God and worship, pride has to bow to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Pride has no place in the presence of God. We read story after story in the Bible of men and women who struggled with pride and the consequences of their pride.
David is, more than likely, the most famous king in the Old Testament. His life and reign fill multiple chapters between 1 and 2 Samuel, where most of Israel’s kings only have a chapter or even less. God called David a man after His own heart, yet David struggled with pride. There are several examples, but the one I want to focus on today is in 2 Samuel 24.
2 Samuel 24:1-4 CSB
“The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and he stirred up David against them to say, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the troops so I can know their number.” Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times more than they are — while my Lord the king looks on! But why does my Lord the king want to do this?” Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the king’s presence to register the troops of Israel.”
Even though God stirred David’s heart to count the troops, pride was already there laying in wait. David didn’t question the idea, even after his commander asked for clarification and recognized the error of David’s request.
JOURNAL: Where have I allowed pride to influence my decisions?
2 Samuel 24:10-17 CSB
“David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.” When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’” So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, consider carefully what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.” David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.” So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died. Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and my father’s family.” Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded. Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. Araunah said, “Why has my Lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted.” Araunah said to David, “My Lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. Your Majesty, Araunah gives everything here to the king.” Then he said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for twenty ounces of silver. He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord was receptive to prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel ended.”
David recognized the pride in his decision to count the troops, and God responded to that humility. God gave David three consequences to choose from, but David didn’t really answer God other than that he (David) didn’t want to be handed over to his enemies. So God sent a plague throughout the people, and 70,000 men died because of David’s pride! David recognized that the people were being punished for his own decision and that it was not right. He petitioned God to bring punishment on him and leave the people alone. That’s when God told him to go to the threshing floor of Araunah and offer a sacrifice to stop the plague.
When David arrived, Araunah was more than willing to give his king whatever he needed; and as king, David could have taken it without paying for it. But David knew God was asking something of David, and he had to pay the cost for it. David recognized his worship to God would have to cost him something, otherwise it wasn’t his worship.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with pride. I have to be careful that even in humility, it’s not false pride. Pride is so sneaky! Pride will always separate me from the heart of God. And that’s the one thing I do NOT want to be separated from! As Paul says, I have to die DAILY to my pride and what I want, offering my day as a sacrifice to God and His plans for that day.
If worship is the lifestyle I want to live, it will cost me something. If worship is the lifestyle I want to live, I have to lay down my pride and anything else that can come between me and God. Worship requires humility and surrender.
JOURNAL: What will my worship to God cost me? What do I have to lay down in order to raise my hands in surrender to the God of the universe?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You are worthy of all my worship and adoration. I recognize there is a cost to worship You. I lay down my pride and anything else that is between You and me. I want to worship You with every fiber of my being, so I come to You in humility and surrender my will and way to You. Be honored and glorified through my life. May my worship and life be a sweet aroma to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!
Pride is a powerful emotion. In some situations, it can be a good thing, like taking pride in one’s work. But when it comes to God and worship, pride has to bow to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Pride has no place in the presence of God. We read story after story in the Bible of men and women who struggled with pride and the consequences of their pride.
David is, more than likely, the most famous king in the Old Testament. His life and reign fill multiple chapters between 1 and 2 Samuel, where most of Israel’s kings only have a chapter or even less. God called David a man after His own heart, yet David struggled with pride. There are several examples, but the one I want to focus on today is in 2 Samuel 24.
2 Samuel 24:1-4 CSB
“The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and he stirred up David against them to say, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the troops so I can know their number.” Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times more than they are — while my Lord the king looks on! But why does my Lord the king want to do this?” Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the king’s presence to register the troops of Israel.”
Even though God stirred David’s heart to count the troops, pride was already there laying in wait. David didn’t question the idea, even after his commander asked for clarification and recognized the error of David’s request.
JOURNAL: Where have I allowed pride to influence my decisions?
2 Samuel 24:10-17 CSB
“David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.” When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’” So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, consider carefully what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.” David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.” So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died. Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and my father’s family.” Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded. Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. Araunah said, “Why has my Lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted.” Araunah said to David, “My Lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. Your Majesty, Araunah gives everything here to the king.” Then he said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for twenty ounces of silver. He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord was receptive to prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel ended.”
David recognized the pride in his decision to count the troops, and God responded to that humility. God gave David three consequences to choose from, but David didn’t really answer God other than that he (David) didn’t want to be handed over to his enemies. So God sent a plague throughout the people, and 70,000 men died because of David’s pride! David recognized that the people were being punished for his own decision and that it was not right. He petitioned God to bring punishment on him and leave the people alone. That’s when God told him to go to the threshing floor of Araunah and offer a sacrifice to stop the plague.
When David arrived, Araunah was more than willing to give his king whatever he needed; and as king, David could have taken it without paying for it. But David knew God was asking something of David, and he had to pay the cost for it. David recognized his worship to God would have to cost him something, otherwise it wasn’t his worship.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with pride. I have to be careful that even in humility, it’s not false pride. Pride is so sneaky! Pride will always separate me from the heart of God. And that’s the one thing I do NOT want to be separated from! As Paul says, I have to die DAILY to my pride and what I want, offering my day as a sacrifice to God and His plans for that day.
If worship is the lifestyle I want to live, it will cost me something. If worship is the lifestyle I want to live, I have to lay down my pride and anything else that can come between me and God. Worship requires humility and surrender.
JOURNAL: What will my worship to God cost me? What do I have to lay down in order to raise my hands in surrender to the God of the universe?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You are worthy of all my worship and adoration. I recognize there is a cost to worship You. I lay down my pride and anything else that is between You and me. I want to worship You with every fiber of my being, so I come to You in humility and surrender my will and way to You. Be honored and glorified through my life. May my worship and life be a sweet aroma to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!
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