Thank Offerings

Psalm 50:23
"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

"Thank offerings," what exactly is a thank offering? Well, I would imagine that the Old Testament definition is quite different than one we would use now. So let’s look at some conjecture on this and see where it leads us.

To "sacrifice thank offerings" to me sounds like it must be difficult - it is a sacrifice, after-all, and we are offering it up to God. Perhaps a thank offering is simply being thankful, all the time. Many times in life it is so easy to be thankful, shouting our praises to God Most High. But we all have times in our lives when thankfulness is the last thing from our minds - we are angry, hurt, confused, so many things, but not thankful. Times when offering our thanks to the Lord, in the midst of life, truly is a sacrifice.

The Bible tells us in many places that we need to be thankful at all times, in all things. That’s a difficult task, isn’t it? One that not many can do on a consistent basis. I’m most definitely still learning this one. So, why would God ask that we be thankful at all times? Well, this verse tells us that it honors Him. When we are thankful in all things, we honor Him with our hearts, with our minds, and with our lives. People take note of such behavior in others, because it’s rare and quite beautiful. They take note, and they begin to wonder what it is that we have that they don’t. People, longing for the salvation that only Christ can provide, will see a glimmer of that in us, when we live lives of thanksgiving.

What else does this verse tell us about offering our thanks to God? It says that when we do so, we prepare the way so that God may show us His salvation. Now, in the Old Testament, every sacrifice was representative of the future sacrifice of Christ, so in a literal way, all sacrifices pointed to Christ, our help and salvation. But I think this verse can even apply to those of us who have already received the salvation of Christ. The Hebrew root word for "salvation" in this verse is yesha (which is, consequently, related closely to the Hebrew for Jesus). Yesha is defined as "deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, welfare, victory." Wow! When we are facing difficult times, isn’t this what we all want? We want to see the deliverance of God, His rescue of us, providing us with safety, welfare, and victory.

When we live lives of thankfulness, even in the darkest of times, we open the way for God to show us exactly this. How? Might I suggest, that our idea of deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, welfare, and victory could be greatly different than God’s idea of those things? So, when we are giving thanks to God, we are preparing our hearts and minds in such a way that He can show us His salvation, and we can see it for what it is. Also, we stop trying so hard to fix the situation, fighting against God and all that He is trying to accomplish in and around us, and we simply bow our knee to Him, giving Him thanks, and submitting to whatever it is that He is preparing for us in the situation. He has something for us to learn, something for us to experience of Him. See, it is to our benefit that we would offer thanks in all situations. God is not some egotistical deity that needs our constant reassurance! Far from it. He cares deeply for us, and He sees that in these things, we benefit greatly, opening ourselves up for His care and His salvation.

So, let’s start with today, shall we? Regardless of where we are, or what situation we face, let’s all get on our knees and sacrifice to our glorious God a thank offering. Let’s do our best to live our day thanking Him for all things, big and small, and then let’s see what the result is. Tonight, when we crawl into bed, let’s reflect on the day, and see what God was able to show us and do in and through us as a result of our simple offerings of thanksgiving.