Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So, David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Samuel 24:24
Having recognized his sin in the census of 2 Samuel 24, David sought God’s mercy and forgiveness (2 Samuel 24:10-17). The people suffered pestilence because of the situation, and David wanted to atone for his wrongs. Gad the prophet delivered God’s decree to David telling him to go raise an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God (2 Samuel 24:18). Having received the Lord’s demands, David immediately set out to secure the threshing floor from Araunah and offer the sacrifices (2 Samuel 24:19).
As he approached, Araunah saw him coming and went to honor his king and learn the reason for his visit (2 Samuel 24:20-21). Having learned that David needed his threshing floor to build an altar, Araunah demonstrated his humility towards the king and the Lord by offering to give the threshing floor to David along with the animals needed for the sacrifices (2 Samuel 24:22-23). Araunah was willing to sacrifice from his own possessions in deference to his king, an honorable attitude indeed. However, David insisted on buying the threshing floor and other provisions from Araunah for a proper price (2 Samuel 24:24). In the process, David demonstrated a principle of service towards God that we all stand to gain from in our spiritual lives to this day.
David could just as easily have taken the provisions offered by Araunah and made the sacrifices to God. However, he knew that the fault for which the sacrifices were to be given lay at his feet. It was not Araunah’s sins for which David needed to atone. It was David’s sins. David insisted on incurring the cost for the atonement himself, vowing to offer nothing to the Lord which cost him nothing. How many would have been content to take the easiest, least costly path in such a situation? David understood that God deserves the best His people have to offer as He gives His best to them.
This is a stark contrast to the worship and service so many give to God. A powerful biblical example is that of the people of Judah in Malachi’s days. Though they continued to “worship” God with sacrifices, they skimped on those sacrifices. The law required that their sacrifices be without blemish, the best of the best (Leviticus 22:17-25). However, Malachi’s contemporaries dishonored Him by offering the blind, lame, and sick as burnt offerings (Malachi 1:6-9). These offerings were so contemptible that God would have preferred someone just shut the doors of the temple (Malachi 1:10).
Thankfully, you and I would never offer God our leftovers for the sake of our ease and comfort. We would never book our calendars so full of secular events that all we have left for God is an hour on Sunday and perhaps Wednesday. We would never spend so much of our financial resources on our creature comforts that we have virtually nothing to give to the works of the church. We would never pursue worldly wisdom to a degree that left no time or energy to fill ourselves with the wisdom of His will thereby making our lights shine brighter.
It is not that we can take no time for ourselves, nor is it that we can use none of what God has given us for our comforts. This is a call for us all (beginning with myself) to reevaluate what we are offering to the Lord to make sure we are not trying to serve Him at no cost to ourselves. He deserves better. Will we give Him what He deserves? May we determine, like David, never to offer to God that which costs us nothing.