What was the first thing that came to your mind?
Many scientific studies have shown a strong correlation between an attitude of gratitude and overall well-being. It is good to slow down and just be grateful.
In this busy world, how often do we slow down and just be grateful?
In the Psalms, we see David often stopping and thanking God. In Psalm 116:16-17, for example, we see him exclaim, “O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord,” (ESV).
The ‘sacrifice of thanksgiving,’ David was referring to, is found in Leviticus 7:11-21. One of the sacrificial offerings God instituted was the fellowship offering, or the peace offering. This is a voluntary sacrifice to be made in one of three instances:
- A general thank-you to God for his mercies,
- A vow that someone had made before God was fulfilled (think Hannah bringing Samuel to the temple in 1 Samuel 1:21-28),
- A thank-you to God for deliverance.
This sacrifice was meant to maintain peace or fellowship with God – for our own hearts. God has never and will never break fellowship with us. It is our sin that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).
When the Old Testament church (like David and Hannah) would take time to thank God, they would show their willingness to remain in Him.
We no longer have to make these sacrifices. Ephesians 2:13-14 (ESV) says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.”
Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for us. We can now have peace and fellowship with God. We no longer have to slaughter an animal to show God this. We can just, “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice,” (Romans 12:1, ESV) and walk with God. This is a daily choice we can make. We can constantly choose to love and follow Him.
And this is something to be thankful for.
There is so much more I could have said about this offering. If you want to read more on it, here are links to some of the resources I used:
Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/peace-offering.html
The Biblical Illustrator Commentary: https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi/leviticus-7.html
The Expositors’ Bible Commentary: https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/teb/leviticus-7.html
Links to scientific studies I skimmed:
The Journal of Positive Psychology: https://www.davidbenjaminnewman.com/uploads/1/3/2/7/132771163/jopp-2017-gratitude_and_well-being.pdf
Berkley University: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/2Wood-GratitudeWell-BeingReview.pdf