Monday Reading: 1 Samuel 6:7-14
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 6:14
14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there and there was a great stone. And they cut the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Jehovah.
Devotion:
We may read this story about how the Ark of the Covenant was sent back to the Israelites after various plagues came upon the Philistines after they carried it away in triumph and think that it was a bit harsh for the Israelites to use the very cows that brought the Ark back as the sacrificial offering to God, but they actually did the right thing. When God calls on us to give an offering of some sort it is not just something we find and give to Him but something that means something to us. But more than that, it is something that He has supplied for us that we give back to Him.
If you want to give someone very special a gift, you do not go out looking for something you can get for free so you can pass it on but instead you go out expecting to have to pay for that gift with hard earned money. That is the way that we see that the gift that we are giving is something meaningful. When we give to God we should not be looking for free gifts that we give to Him but rather something meaningful and special that we give to Him. What could be more special than the very best that He gives to us?
When the Israelites first saw the Ark coming back to them they must have been overjoyed. They had been taught that the sacrifices that they should offer should be the best that they had. The cows used to pull the cart were milk cows and were certainly a gift from God because He is the one that made sure that those cows walked straight from the Philistines back to the field of Joshua. They could have looked at them and though about how great it would be to have some free veal but instead they knew that they had to give them straight back to God because He had given them back the Ark after they had lost it. God does not want us to go without just so that we can give to Him... If we willingly give to Him, He will make sure that He does support us through our faith.
Points to Ponder:
Do you hold back those special gifts?
Are you depending on God?
