Thankfulness and Faithfulness

Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. [Psalm 50.14-15]

Even in the Old Testament, there existed the knowledge that animal sacrifices were insufficient for Yahweh the Almighty God.

Thanksgiving, on the other hand - even to the point of it being a sacrifice, was seen as something effectual and eternally desirable to God.

If there is one thing perhaps we would struggle with in the verse above, it would most likely be the part about us keeping our vows to the Most High. I cannot help but think of Hannah here who begged God for a child and then vowed to give him back to God. Hannah kept her vow - it was a big deal. But it is here I think modern society (at least Western culture) really is clueless - we simply have no comprehension of what a vow is and what it means. Oh we say we understand the concept of a vow, but if we really did, divorce rates would be nil - instead they are staggering. Furthermore, the only recession in recent divorce rates is most likely attributed to the fact that fewer people are actually engaging in marriage vows but are living together without that covering. So I stand by my statement that we have no clue about vows as a society.

The dreadful truth that follows this ignorance of vows is the rest of the verse above. When we are unfaithful to our word, we must understand that when we are in trouble, God will NOT rescue us!

So there are two important considerations to take away from the verse quoted above: make thankfulness our sacrifice to God, and keep our vows. In other words, thankfulness and faithfulness.

Father help me to not lose sight of these basic principles in my devotion to You.