Present Your Body, Not An Animal...

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

Psalm 50:10-11

This psalm is penned by Asaph who was a young priest from the tribe of Levi, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem… Asaph served in Jerusalem for all of David's reign, and no doubt set to music, many of the Psalms that God gave David. He was in Jerusalem when God gave David the great promise that David would have a son who would be the Messiah, and reign forever. This background provides a seg-way into today’s devotion which speaks to the love of God in the midst of our filth and corruption… There is nothing on this earth that doesn’t belong to the Lord… This is a (n) encouraging word for us today which should remind us that the course we travel should be aligned with the will of God… Asaph, the psalmist who penned today’s devotion scripture was a man that observed many things throughout the life that God allowed Him to live… As I stated earlier, through David’s reign and growth, Asaph was their as his music director and was vital in several of the psalms penned by David himself… Having observed the very life of David, seeing the good days and the bad, Asaph pens these scriptures which we study today… Everything of this earth belongs to the Lord, you are a vessel formed from His hand, carved by His words and designed for His purpose; however, just like many creatures created by God, we have decided to walk according to our own desires and plans… I clarify your design in the eyesight of God to inform you today that God doesn’t desire your sacrifices but your obedience… The Lord wants you to know that every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, because He wants you to tune you ear to the fact that He desires more for your life… Slaughtering a bull, lamb, sheep or goat is not what God desires from you since they belong to Him anyway… How would you feel if all the hard work you put into your job was paid with something that you created in the first place? You desire more from your job than just to receive what you have put into it and the same can be said of God… This is why Samuel the prophet asked the question “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” This passage reminds us today that it’s your obedience to the will of God which is what the Lord desires from you; it’s not about the sacrifice of an animal but the sacrifice of yourself to Him… I believe the words recorded hear from Asaph are confirmed some several hundred years later by the apostle Paul when he declared in the 12 chapter of his letter to the Church of Rome, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”


Our lives can truly be abundant if we only learn to serve… The Lord can make rock cry out to Him if He so desires, but yet He still has focused on loving you despite your lack of love for Him… This is why this passage is so powerful; the Lord is speaking through these words to His children informing them that He isn’t worried about what they can give to Him on the outside, but that they love Him on the inside… So many of us can learn a valuable lesson concerning love from this particular passage… We think that material things register as acts of love, when in reality love brings actions by itself… Just because you bring a bull doesn’t mean you love God (referring to our focus passage today), when you seek to deny your earthly flesh and consecrate yourself to His purpose and plan, then the Love you have for Him is on its greatest display… This same principle applies to our daily lives, don’t display your love when you make a mistake, display it when you try to turn from that wrong path in the first place… Show the love that you have for God by devoting time to Him daily and not just when you are in need of forgiveness or a breakthrough… God is in control of everything on this earth with the exception of your heart… He can change the seasons, provide rain for the earth or famine in the land, but you H e cannot force to love Him… This is why He declares today the wild beasts of the field are mine… He created you in His image, but unlike the beast of the field and the fowl of the air He has given you a free will to make choices in this life… The Lord is disappointed when you have to offer a sacrifice that is not of your own will… Every time you offer something materialistic He wants you to know that He is waiting for you to offer your heart… He wants to mold you, He wants to protect you and He wants to exalt you; however, you must desire a better life, you must come to the realization that there is more to life than just what you see and call upon His name… This is why, through all His mess David was able to proclaim that “a broken and contrite heart thou will not despise…” In all his mess, David was a called a man after God’s own heart not because He was perfect, but because His desire was to please the father not with gifts but with His life… Today, make the decision to have same mindset of David; after all, it’s pretty clear that the Lord wants to give you more, but this means you have to give more as well… In a nutshell, it’s about your heart…

BE BLESSED!!!