Grateful for Grace
Psalm 50:14a – Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
Reading: Psalm 50:13-23
What to give God? In the Old Testament the LORD required a host of different sacrifices from his people. And you’d be hard-pressed to say that one offering was more important than the next. But in Psalm 50 Asaph singles out one in particular: “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (v. 14).
A thank offering was a specific kind of sacrifice. It was one of the fellowship offerings that was commanded in Leviticus 7. And it was usually offered in the context of a believer’s gratitude to the LORD. Someone might be grateful for deliverance from enemies or for healing or for some other answered prayer, so he presents a thank offering.
It’s this kind of sacrifice that God says he prefers to receive from his people. For Psalm 50 shows how other sacrifices could be misunderstood. The Israelites looked on these offerings as somehow obligating the LORD to them. If they would just give this bull or this goat, God would have to give something good in return. And they were wrong about that.
But it’s pretty 
hard to misunderstand a thank offering. It’s a response to something that was given to you by God! When you’re thankful, it means that you’re indebted to someone for their generosity and kindness. Your thoughts are lifted from yourself because you’ve received a gift, and you know you didn’t earn it. “If you’re going to misunderstand all those other sacrifices, just forget them,” God said, “and present to me your thank offerings. Just show me your gratitude: me, as God and LORD, Creator and Saviour and King.”
Isn’t that still the whole activity of the Christian life? God has been so gracious. He’s not obligated to be kind to us, but he has been, for the sake of Christ. Jesus came before the LORD his God and presented himself in flawless obedience. With his precious blood he’s atoned for every sin, covered every failing, so he’s given us every reason to come before God with true thanksgiving.
Just listen to the words of Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore… by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” He calls us to a life of sacrifice: everything we are, everything we have, presented to the LORD. Because we’re moved by his mercy, and we’re grateful for his grace.