As I was studying this morning, I came across this phrase, the “thanks offering.” In the KJV it is called a sacrifice of thanksgiving, but in other translations, it is a thanks offering.
Psalm 50:14-15 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
The thanks offering was an offering under the Mosaic law, but unlike many other offerings that God required, the thanks offering was optional. I believe it was optional because God was delighted in an offering that was straight from the heart. Many of the offerings that were brought to the temple were commanded to be brought for specific things. Each one served their purpose, and there were usually consequences that came with not obeying the law. However, this one is different. Remember as a child, how your parents would remind you to say thank you when someone gave you something or did something for you? They did this to train you to be polite and thankful. In most cases, we did it because our parents required it. They wanted everyone to know their children were trained by them to have good manners. It became a habit because it was the right thing to do, but it rarely fostered an attitude of true gratitude.
Psalm 50:23 “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
When we voluntarily seek out God to thank Him, rather than pray just asking Him for things, it glorifies Him. The idea of Psalm 50:23 is to show us the person who has a truly thankful heart. He offers thanksgiving as a sacrifice. It is the best of his praise offered back to God. This is honoring and glorifying to God. I believe many Christians miss the mark of truly glorifying and praising God because we are still acting like the child who is trained to say thank you. We may bend the knee and say thank you. We may understand in our minds that everything is from God and we are blessed, but when we are thankful from the heart, the feeling will be consuming, and our thanksgiving will turn into praise! It will be all-consuming, and nothing we can ever do or say will feel like enough when thanking God. This spirit of thankfulness will show in our adoration of God and our love for the things that God loves.
I like to visualize the things I read about. When I try to visualize the Israelites bringing the thanksgiving offering, I can sense the excitement and gratitude in their hearts. I can almost see the careful preparation. This offering was of ultimate importance. Everything had to be perfect. This offering culminated in a sacrifice expressed as an explosion of gratitude in their hearts to God. If you read in Leviticus 7:12-15, you will see great preparation was needed for this offering. In my mind, I see children asking questions about this offering. I see the child asking, “What offering is this one, Papa? Why do we have to do this one?” The father looks at the child and says, “oh no child, we don’t have to do this one, we get to do this one! We are going to thank God for all His goodness to us!”
Just writing this makes my heart swell with joy and gratitude to my Savior. When I approach God with a truly grateful heart, everything else seems irrelevant. Problems take a different light because of what God has done for me. Sickness and pain are lessened when compared to the joy that I experience now and will one day feel for all eternity. The depths of my gratitude can never be fully realized until I can see Him face to face. I understand how blessed I am. God, through eternity past, saw my need and provided for my eternal future when He gave His Son for my sins. He has blessed me with a wonderful family that loves Him and serves Him. He has always blessed me with things that make life comfortable. As I look back on my life, every step, God was there, and I thank Him for everything. He used each of the things that seemed bad, painful, or joyful for my good and His glory. I want my thanks to be more than polite or expected words. I want it to be an attitude from the depths of my heart.
Excellent