True worship _ 7 April 2018

David builds an altar

18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, ‘Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’ 19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming towards him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, ‘Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’

‘To buy your threshing-floor,’ David answered, ‘so that I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.’

22 Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing-sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.’ Araunah also said to him, ‘May the Lord your God accept you.’

24 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. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

_ 2 Samuel 24:18~25 (NIVUK)

A nation can be faced danger by one person. The scriptures showed us there was a catastrophe in the country of Israel. Over seventy-thousand people were passed away. Every people in the kingdom were in deep sorrow for that. David, as the king of Israel, had to solve the problem. God let him see a way to solve it, which is to honour the Lord in Arauna’s land. 

There are three meanings of the land. First, the threshing floor of Araunah where mountain Moriah was located and Abraham tried to sacrifice his only son, Issac, to the Lord. He has been known as the forefather of faith. Through him, the land can be symbolic of a worship of salvation. Second, the follow was a place to distinguish truth and false hood. God wants to see our fundamental changes. Third, on the ground, the temple of Solomon was constructed. 

My faults can be mended by the grace of God. Sins are never disappeared until true worship offered to the Lord in us. We can be healed through this worship to him. There is an answer in every problem. If you keep hiding things to regret, that will be a huge disaster in the future. He gives us an opportunity to be solved and saved. Pray to God that you need true salvation with your sincere heart. 

/ Photo by Felipe Correia on Unsplash