A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

There are those who will sit around a beautiful table laden with a delicious assortment of food tomorrow.  Surrounded by family (and maybe a few friends) in a warm comfortable home, they will enjoy a special meal together.  Perhaps the conversation will shift toward what they are all thankful for.  Children at the table may chime in with the name of their pet or favorite toy, while the adults will speak of things like good health, a loving family, or the promotion they just received at work. 

There are also those who will not be sitting around a table with loved ones.  Perhaps they will eat, but the meal will be small and like any other day of the week.  Life is a struggle right now, and the answer to “What are you thankful for?” doesn’t come easily.  Perhaps it has been this way for a long, long time.  Battling loneliness and depression, the emotional fog feels heavy, and words of thanksgiving are thick on a hesitant tongue.

The other day I was reading in Psalm 50 and came to verse 14 which says, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.” It was the phrase “sacrifice of thanksgiving” that caught my attention.  We often think of things that we are thankful for out of our abundance.  A sacrifice is costly.  In the Old Testament, God instructed His people regarding acceptable sacrifices.  Most often sacrifices were either animals or grain, both of which required effort, time, and money to produce, and especially with animal sacrifice, it was messy and must have felt a bit traumatic to witness.  Old Testament sacrifices were meant to be a picture of what was to a come…the arrival of a Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God, who would die a messy and traumatic death because of His great love for His people.

We don’t sacrifice animals today (and I’m very thankful for that!), so what does it mean for us to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord? 

Perhaps we could start with offering up our personal desires (or will.)  We can lay the animal of “This isn’t how my life was supposed to go” on the altar and declare thanksgiving over the fact that He is sovereign and His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9).  We could bring the bundle of grain marked “I deserve better than this” and declare thanksgiving over the fact that our Savior was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3), endured the cross out of incomprehensible love for us (Hebrews 12:2), and can relate to us in our weakness (Hebrews 4:15.)  We can bring our jar of loneliness to His altar and lay it at His feet with a thankful heart that rejoices in the fact that He will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and will be with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Fear is an animal that frequently rears its ugly head.  We can lay the animal of anxiety on the altar, and slay it with thankful words that declare faith in a God who consoles us (Psalm 94:19), helps and strengthens us (Isaiah 41:10), and grants a peace that passes all understanding when we pray and pour out our hearts before Him (Philippians 4:6-7).  Perhaps we fear the future and wonder if our needs will be met.  We can offer that up and remember with a thankful heart that He knows everything that we need (Matthew 6:32) and is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

As I ponder the concept of sacrificial thanksgiving, it makes me uncomfortable…and perhaps that is a good thing.  It reminds me that I am but dust, weak and selfish…daily (and sometimes by the hour or minute) in desperate need of His grace and mercy.  Just as the blood was poured out in Old Testament times, it is messy and uncomfortable to pour ourselves out before the Lord.  It requires humility and vulnerability, and therefore a sacrifice of our pride and misguided sense of self sufficiency.  May I always remember that He poured out Himself to death so that He could intercede for me before the throne. (Isaiah 53:12)

He saved me….out of His abundant mercy (Titus 3:5)
He forgives me…out of His abundant faithfulness (1 John 1:9)
He sustains me…out of His abundant riches (Philippians 4:19)
He loves me…out of His abundant love (Ephesians 2:4)
I have the hope of eternal life…because of His abundant grace (Titus 3:7)

“To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:17)