2 Samuel 24: A Costly Offering

But the king 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.” -2 Samuel 24:24

As king, David could have selected any location to present an offering to the Lord. The location he chose belonged to another man who said David could have it for free. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But not to David. He declared, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Why not? What difference did it make? The answer is found in the last phrase “offerings that cost me nothing.” David knew that an offering must be a commitment for it to have any meaning. Without any sense of giving, there is no offering, but only ritual.

David would have none of it. He had sinned. God had judged, yet shown mercy. David intended to worship the Lord as a result. His offering would reveal his commitment–one that cost.

Interestingly, Jesus would reveal this same attribute. He came to present himself as the ultimate offering for our sins. His offering cost him everything.

Today, we are presented with a choice: will we serve the Lord only when there is no cost or will we serve him regardless of the sacrifice? If we choose to serve the Lord no matter what, we are in good company. David did it, Jesus did it. And by God’s Spirit living within us, we too can offer our lives in devoted service to the Lord Almighty.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.