WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JULY 14, 2024.

SUBJECT: WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US!

Memory verse: “And now, Israel, what do the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10 vs 12.) 

READ: Psalm 50 vs 7 - 15:

50:7: Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! 

50:8: I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. 

50:9: I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. 

50:10: For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 

50:11: I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beast of the field are Mine. 

50:12: 'If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. 

50:13: Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 

50:14:Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

50:15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

INTIMATION:

God is interested in our heart attitude toward Him. God judges people for treating Him lightly. He demands that we have reverence for Him, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him with all your heart and soul, and keep His commands. If anything is done superficially, it is unpleasant to Him. 

In the passage we read today, God speaks about the superficial religious people who bring their sacrifices but are only going through the motions. They do not honor God with true obedience, praise and thankfulness. He demands genuine thanksgiving and trust in Him. The people were offering sacrifices and forgetting their significance!  We may fall into the same pattern when we participate in religious activities, tithe, or attend church out of habit or conformity rather than out of heartfelt love and obedience. God wants righteousness, not empty rituals. God was saying that His disagreement with them wasn't about a lack of sacrifices on their part; they had been offering sacrifices continually. His complaint against them was the heart attitude they had in making offerings. They were missing the point! 

They thought they were making the sacrifices because God somehow needed their bulls and goats. In this Scripture, God was making it clear that He didn't need anything from them; everything already belongs to Him. God said, "If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you! The world is Mine, and everything in it." He doesn't need to ask anyone for food. The truth was that the Israelites needed those sacrifices. They needed to give back to God and show their trust and dependence upon Him. It wasn't for God—it's for them.

The psalmist, David, says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.” (Psalm 40 vs 6.) The religious rituals of David’s day involved sacrificing animals in the tabernacle. David said these acts were meaningless unless done for the right reasons. Today we often make rituals of going to church, taking Communion, or paying tithes and so on. These activities are also empty if our reasons for doing them are selfish. God doesn’t want these sacrifices and offerings without an attitude of devotion to Him. The prophet Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (First Samuel 15 vs 22). Make sure that you give God the obedience and lifelong service He desires from you.

A sacrifice is a ritual transaction between a person and God that physically demonstrates a relationship between them. But if the person’s heart was not truly repentant or if he did not truly love God, the sacrifice was a hollow ritual. Religious ceremonies or rituals are empty unless they are performed with an attitude of love and obedience. “Being religious” (going to church, serving on a committee, giving to charity, and so on) is not enough if we do not act out of devotion and obedience to God.

Regarding tithing, for instance, your attitude toward your money is actually more important than what you do with it. God doesn't need your money any more than He needed those Old Testament sacrifices. The reason for the tithe is for you to learn to recognize God as the source of all of your money. It's one thing to say you believe God is your source, but it's another thing to prove it. The way you prove to yourself, not God, that you believe God is your source is to give a portion of what you make back to Him. People who don't really see God as their source are going to balk at giving part of what they have away. They are going to think, I need that money! But giving back some of what God has already given you is nothing when you see God as your source.

Some people glibly recite God’s laws but are filled with deceit and evil. They claim His promises but refuse to obey Him. This is sin, and God will judge people for it. We, too, are hypocrites when we are not what we claim to be. To let this inconsistency remain shows that we are not true followers of God. Just because God is silent does not mean He is condoning sin or is indifferent to it. Instead, He is withholding deserved punishment, giving time for people to repent (2 Peter 3 vs 9). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and wants them to turn from evil (Ezekiel 33 vs 11). But His silence does not last forever—a time of punishment will surely come.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Source of everything. In You I live, and move, and have my being. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience and absolute trust in You. I desire to give my whole heart to You, and I rather die than allow anything come between us! So help me O Lord, in Jesus’ Name I prayed. Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!