Colossians 2:23 – These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
2 Samuel 24 reminds me of two things, honour and value. In this portion of Scripture King David had committed a great sin against God and God was angry with him, to the point that over 70,000 persons were killed in God’s wrath. As David sought God for mercy he was instructed to erect an altar to make a sacrifice to the Lord. David then attempted to purchase the necessary materials for the altar (v19).
Honour (v20). Araunah recognized the royal authority of David and was willing to sacrifice what profit he would lose over the sale. Oftentimes we can be accused of treating God as though He is common. When we have needs we pray, when we are having a bad day we pray, when we want to sleep well and have protection, we pray. Now everything I just mentioned has been promised to us by God so we have every right to pray and ask for those things, but often we do so ignoring the importance of who God is. We would dare not go before our presidents and kings without offering an honour gift, but here we overlook the royal, majestic splendour of who God is. Fasting helps to slow us down a bit as we acknowledge that the One we are praying to is not ordinary or common, but He is the One to Whom we can offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice. We cannot just keep asking, at some point we must honour our King. Fasting brings honour to our prayers.
Value (v24). David recognised the great love of his God expressed in splendour and mercies, and he was not willing to sacrifice to His God something that had no value to him. Had David received all the materials as a gift, then it would not have cost him anything. David saw this as an unthinkable thing, to sacrifice unto the Lord that which cost him nothing. Fasting comes at a cost, as we add fasting while we pray we are saying to God I know you will hear and answer but my worship of you will not be cheap, it must cost me something. Cost adds value to a thing. As we pray, it is important that we add value to our efforts with our fasting.
Imagine these two men, both different to each other, one a king and the other a commoner. However both of them understood a principle; when you are approaching a worthy King, you do so with honour and value.
Read: 2 Samuel 24:18-25
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 14; Matthew 16:1-20; Genesis 45; Genesis 46; Genesis 47:1-12
