God Doesn't Need Anything From Us!

Click Here to Listen to Or Read the One Year Bible Lessons for Today

“O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! 8 I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer. 9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. 10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. 13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats? 14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. 15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” Psalm 50:7-15

We need to be careful not to misread this passage. It does not nullify the idea of sacrifice in the Old Testament. Even the passage says, 'I have no complaint about your sacrifices" But He was not interested in receiving more animal offerings. 

When we sacrifice to God, we don’t give Him something He doesn’t have; our sacrifice is for our sake and not His. - Guzik

What God objected to the most was that the Israelites were starting to put their trust IN THE SACRIFICE rather than the God they were sacrificing to. The idea of a sacrifice is it is given as a sign of trust in obedience in God. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice, if it doesn't cost anything. 

This is why when the widow offered a mere mite in the temple, Jesus said she had put in more than all the others. This is why Isaiah says, "The sacrifice which is acceptable to the Lord is broken spirit, and a broken and contrite he will not despise" Psalm 51:17

So what does God want? What does He accept? 

God described what He wanted more than rituals of sacrifice. He wanted a thankful heart, a life of obedience, and a living trust in Him. - Guzik 

Where do you need to be thankful in your life? Where are you giving things to God or worshipping him with mere empty rituals? Where is God calling you to trust him? What vows have you made to the Lord that you need to keep?

As we trust in God and offer him the sacrifice of a broken heart, He will be with us in trouble and rescue us from danger!


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