Devotions: The Necessary First Steps

 

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

And pay your vows to the Most High;

Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

Psalm 50:14-15 New American Standard Bible 1995

 

This psalm is God speaking to the righteous and the wicked. He tells us what is right and acceptable. Before we make our obligatory sacrifices (in those days animals, now service and tithes, etc.) we must first do this:

1. First we are to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. This is similar to the verses where God says He values the humble and contrite heart above sacrifices. He wants a heart that is grateful and repentant. Our actions are a mockery if our hearts do not lead. Part of this sacrifice is magnifying God with thanksgiving, letting others know what He has done for us, attributing miracles to Him, and thanking Him for all He has provided even if it was the product of our dutiful work. Living rightly and godly is also part of this sacrifice for it is submitting to God and living His way rather than ours. In a sense we are offering our bodies to Him by living the way He says.
2. The next requirement is to pay our vows. If we say we will do something, we must follow through. It seems silly to think that someone could make a vow to God and then not fulfill it, but it is common. How often have we foolishly made a bargain with God and said we would do such if He provided this, or fudged on our tithes or taxes? Wedding vows would also fall under this category and how many do not keep them? Keeping our word in general is counted as a vow to God for we are His image bearers and called by His Name. We need to be people of our word because we represent Him, and He cares about honesty and integrity.
3. We need to call on Him in the day of trouble. Again, this seems redundant, but the point is that we need to go to Him and not try some other channel first. When trouble hits, our first response should be prayer, not seeking advice from someone, not trying to fix it on our own. We need to go to God first, before any other gods, and anything that we go to first, or rely upon more, is a god to us.

After these things, then He will rescue us as He promised and we will honor Him. There are times when He rescues us but we do not honor Him because we did not go through these steps first so our hearts were not right. If we are not humble and grateful, if we are not honest, if we do not rely solely upon God, then we will not praise Him for His rescue and likely won’t even be aware that He was the one who rescued us.

What kind of sacrifices do you offer to God? Do you keep your word even in the small things? To whom do you turn first when trouble hits? Are you aware of God’s saving grace in every aspect of your life? Ask God to open your heart, to change and mold it to be like His.

 

 

 

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