1 Chronicles 21:23-30: a reflection

23Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.” 24King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” 25So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering. 27Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 29For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. 30But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the LORD’s angel.

David has come to build an altar and offer sacrifice, and Ornan, the owner of the threshing floor, generously offers to give David everything he needs, the land, the oxen, the wood, for free. But David refuses. No, he says, I will buy it for the full price; I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing. David insists on giving God an offering that costs him something, rather than one that costs him nothing.

Notice David's principle: he will not offer God what costs him nothing. He could have taken Ornan's generous gift and offered it, at no cost to himself; but he refused, because an offering that costs the giver nothing is, in a sense, no real offering at all. Worship and giving that cost us nothing are cheap; David wanted to give God something that was truly his own, at real cost, as a genuine expression of devotion. He paid the full price, that his offering might be truly a gift.

That principle searches our own giving and worship. We can be tempted to offer God what costs us little or nothing, our leftovers, our spare moments, what we would not miss; but David reminds us that an offering that costs us nothing is a poor offering. Real devotion gives God something at genuine cost, something truly our own, not merely what we can spare without feeling it. Consider what you offer God, whether it costs you anything. Do not offer him only what is cheap and costs you nothing; give him what is truly yours, at real cost, as David refused to offer what cost him nothing. An offering that costs us something is an offering of real devotion; give God not your leftovers, but a gift that costs you, as an expression of a love that is willing to pay the price.

Lord, when Ornan offered David everything for free, David refused, saying, I will not offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing, and he paid the full price. Let David's principle search my own giving and worship. I can be tempted to offer you what costs me little or nothing, my leftovers, my spare moments, what I would not miss; but David reminds me that an offering that costs me nothing is a poor offering. Real devotion gives you something at genuine cost, something truly my own, not merely what I can spare without feeling it. Help me consider what I offer you, whether it costs me anything. Keep me from offering you only what is cheap and costs me nothing; help me give you what is truly mine, at real cost, as David refused to offer what cost him nothing. An offering that costs me something is an offering of real devotion; help me give you not my leftovers, but a gift that costs me, as an expression of a love willing to pay the price. Let my devotion to you cost me something, Lord, and not be cheap.