Sacrifice of Thanks

Daily Scripture Threshing for Today, Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Today's Text: 2 Samuel 24:18-25

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 24:24 (KJV): “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.”

As we draw closer to this year's thanksgiving celebration, our month long meditation on the themes of gratitude, thanks and praise to the Lord is even becoming brighter and brighter. God continues to call us to rediscovering the art of sacrifice of thanks through the heart of David. After his disobedient census brought judgment on Israel, David was moved to build an altar on Araunah’s threshing floor, a place where grain was separated—a picture of God threshing his heart back into alignment. Araunah was happy happy to offer the site and the oxen for free, but David refused, insisting that true worship and true thanksgiving must cost him something.

For David, thanksgiving was never a casual “thank You” tossed lightly toward heaven; it was a sacrificial response that flowed from repentance, reverence, and love. He understood that gratitude to God is authenticated by what we are willing to lay down—our comfort, our convenience, and our reliance on self. In the spirit of Psalm 116, David’s heart seemed to say, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” as he resolved to offer a “sacrifice of thanksgiving” and call upon the name of the Lord.

We must learn this from him. The sacrifice of thanks is not first about material offerings, but about a heart that refuses to cheapen grace. It is the willingness to say, “Lord, I will not give You leftover time, leftover strength, or leftover affection,” because You are worthy of my best. Such thanksgiving is both an altar as well an answer: as David built and offered, the Lord responded, stopped the plague, and turned a place of judgment into a place of mercy and future glory. That same threshing floor became the site of the temple. It continues to remind us that costly gratitude often becomes the birthplace of God’s dwelling and glory in our lives.

Why does God delight in the sacrifice of thanks? Because thankful sacrifice declares that God is our true source, not the gifts in our hands or the resources at our disposal. When we offer thanksgiving that costs us—time in prayer when we are tired, generosity when finances are tight, praise when emotions are low—we honor God above circumstances and prepare the way for Him to reveal His salvation. This is the pattern of the ancient thank offering: a life delivered, returning to say, “Lord, I remember, I acknowledge, and I respond with all that I am.”

David's lifestyle invites us, who love comfortability to grow up to a place where we let our gratitude move from convenience to sacrifice. Invite the Holy Spirit to show you where your thanksgiving has been cheap, and where He is calling you to build an altar of costly praise and obedience. Like David, let your confession, your giving, your service, your worship, and your offerings always say, “Lord, You deserve what is precious, not what is spare,” and watch as He turns your threshing floors—your hard, sifted places—into myriads of answered prayer and lasting testimony.

Action Steps: Identify one area where you have been offering God what “costs you nothing” in time, service, or giving, and choose a specific, costly act of thanksgiving there. Read aloud 2 Samuel 24:18-25, 1 Chronicles 21:22-26, and Psalm 116:12-17, and personalize David’s resolve to offer a sacrifice of thanks. Spend time thanking God not only for what He has done, but for the places He has “threshed” you—tests, corrections, delays—that have become altars of deeper surrender and intimacy.

Quote for the Day: “The sacrifice of thanks is the altar where gratitude meets cost, and where God turns our threshing floors into His temple of glory.” (Simon Olatunji #quotablequote)

Let Us Pray: Almighty God, thank You for the example of David, who refused to offer You what cost him nothing. Teach my heart the true meaning of the sacrifice of thanks, that my worship may be worthy of Your greatness. Help me to bring You my best—in time, treasure, obedience, and praise—trusting that You can turn every hard place into a dwelling of Your presence. May my life be an altar of continual thanksgiving that honors You and draws others to Your saving power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Thank you for embracing the sacrifice of thanks. For more encouragement, read: Psalm 50:14,23; Psalm 116:12-17; Hebrews 13:15.

With all my love and prayers,

Simon Wale Olatunji, Ph.D.

Your Darling Bishop (DaBishop)

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