THAT WHICH COST ME NOTHING

THAT WHICH COST ME NOTHING

Look what I found while studying the word "Threshingfloor". It is absolutely amazing what can be found when one is not looking for it.

Without boring you with the details of how the discovery was made, let me simply say that the story starts back in the book of Genesis. Let me quote it to you-- Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

The word to focus on is "Moriah". It is used only twice in the entire bible. We know that the Temple of Solomon was built on Mount Moriah. It would appear that God Himself picked the spot centuries before, when He commanded Abram to sacrifice his son Isaac there. It was at that site that the Lord "provided the lamb" for Abram nearly 2000 years before Jesus was born.

Abram could have just as well made the sacrifice at any other site, but God specifically told him to go to Moriah. Have there been times in your life when you could not make sense out of what God was impressing you to do? Rest assured that God does not waste time with unnecessary motions. Your life is important to Him.

In the time of King David, a man named Araunah owned the site, and had a threshingfloor there. This was roughly a thousand years before Jesus was born. David had angered the Lord by numbering his armies, as though strength would come from military might, rather than from his God. The Lord let David choose what his punishment should be, but David had hope in the Mercy of God, and asked that he should not fall into the hands of man.

God can, and does often, use our mistakes to bring about a portion of His Divine Plan. Accept God's punishment for your mistakes and blunders. There might be a hidden reason for his "spankings."

Plague came, and many thousands of people died as the angel of death passed over the land. The angel hesitated at the threshingfloor, and David was commanded to build an altar there and make a sacrifice. The site was hallowed once again by the Lord.

Though David did not know the end from the beginning, as the Lord does, he was forced to buy the land from the Jebusite who owned it.

II Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy [it] of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Sacrifices SHOULD cost us something. David knew this, and was very careful to "get it right the first time." It could be a lesson to us.

David now owns the place where Abram sacrificed Isaac, but what good is it? Never mind-- the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. God knew what He was doing when He ordered David to sacrifice on the floor.

Now turn with me to II Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where [the Lord] appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Thus, the site for the Temple of Solomon was chosen many centuries before the temple was actually erected.

How marvelously God works through the years to accomplish what He wants to do.

Have you ever wondered just where YOU fit into the PLANS OF GOD?

I have--- many times. Rest assured-- we are not derelicts on the sea of time.

God Bless!