Give Thanks and Pay Your Vows
Scripture Reading: Psalm 50: 7–23
“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High” Psalms 50:14.
Give Thanks and Pay Your Vows
Father God, we thank you for the grace of appreciating you. We pray that you give us the grace to love you more and more, to recognize your voice, and to relate to you better. Father, let your voice speak on our behalf in the name of Jesus.
Psalm 50:7–23 says, “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. 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. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High: And call unto me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou saweth a thief, thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou giveth thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slandereth thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.”
God is God alone. He is not interested in the flesh of bulls or the blood of goats. He asks that we offer Him thanksgiving and pay Him our vows because He is the Most High.
We should be in a perpetual mood of giving thanks to the Lord Most High so that when we call upon Him in the day of trouble, He will deliver us and we will glorify Him. He says that whoever offers Him praise, glorifies Him, and when we order our conversations aright, He will show us the salvation of the Lord. One recurrent thing in this psalm is how much value God places on praise and thanksgiving. I encourage you to give thanks to God. When you gather with friends, let the gathering not be about the food, but about talking to God, communicating with God in praise and thanking Him for your life. Your opportunities are not endless: there are some who started this year with you who are no longer around. No one can question God concerning anyone’s lifespan, but He has spared your life and you are reading this message today. Take heed: the Lord is calling on you to give thanks to Him and to pay your vows.
Many find it easy to pledge and make promises that they intend to fulfill but never do. God is calling us to an attitude of giving thanks, and beyond giving thanks, to remember to fulfill the vows we made. He also said, whoever offers praise glorifies me. Use your time on earth in thanksgiving and praise. Use right conversations to glorify Him. If you give thanks to God, He will honour your obedience to His voice. Let family times be a time when each one will testify of the faithfulness and goodness of God, when each one will come and sing a song of joy to God, when each one will announce what the Lord has done for them, offer praise to Him, and render right conversations.
Prayer Points:
Dear Lord, bless me with the grace of thanksgiving for every blessing in my life. Grant me the grace to pay my vows to you and remind me of the promises and pledges I have made to you but have forgotten. Bless me with the means to fulfill my promises to you and give you glory always. Amen.
