Responding to God Sense-sationally

Psalms 148—150

Which of your five senses is most important as you express to God your adoration and praise? Which is most likely to stir you to worship? Perhaps you’re an auditory person. If appreciating and/or making lovely music is your thing, does your praise accompany the rendition? Psalm 98:4–5 invites us to “burst into jubilant song with music,” to praise God instrumentally—in one way or another to “shout for joy to the LORD”!

Do you take particular delight in the beauty you take in visually? Does the sight of a sunset, a waterfall or a masterful painting prompt you to hold your breath as your soul exhales its gratitude? Are your spiritual eyes fixed on God (see Ps 141:8)? In the words of Psalm 19:1–3, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

A Costly Offering

"But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them." 2 Samuel 24:24

Araunah the Jebusite was just being polite. When he found out that David wanted to purchase his threshing floor to build an altar, he bent over backward and offered his oxen for the sacrificial offering, as well as the wood on which to burn it. David wouldn't hear of it. If it was going to be a true sacrifice, he knew he'd have to "sacrifice" something. Like his hard earned cash.

With us, it doesn't have to be our cash. It could be our time or our prayers, our gifts and talents. I'm thinking right now of Carolyn, a seamstress friend of mine who barely makes ends meet by sewing and tailoring. Carolyn lives alone in her small apartment with her cat and works late into the night, stitching up a storm. Last Christmas she wasn't able to buy the gifts she would have liked; so she went one better - she stayed up extra late, making presents of skirts and vests. Her friends were going to receive the best she could offer, even if it meant missing a deadline on a commission, even if it meant early hours and sore fingers. Those skirts and vests are, to us blessed folks who received them, more valuable than anything you'd purchase at Sax Fifth Avenue.