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"I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing." (2 Samuel 24:24).

Awhile back, a northern district in a particular church denomination had received a grant to help educate their people in worship. They worked with our organization in planning and hosting a worship seminar, but we also invited others from outside their denomination. Using the grant money, they extended scholarships to their district churches, based on the size of the congregation. One church was given six scholarships, another ten and still another received twelve, etc. It all seemed quite equitable. Nearly two hundred people were pre-registered for the seminar, about half that number were folks who had received the scholarships.

Unfortunately, the seminar was held in the middle of winter, and the night before there was a snowstorm, a big snowstorm. I watched the snow piling up outside my hotel window. Fluffy white flakes continued to fall from the sky on into the morning hours. As a result, travel became quite difficult. The snow had drifted across roads. Road clearing crews had difficulty keeping up with the storm.

The final result was that about half of the people who had pre-registered didn't show up for the seminar. Interestingly, though, it was not the people from far away who didn't make it. Actually, there were folks who drove more than an hour through snow-covered roads to attend. Predominantly, the ones who failed to attend were the ones who had no investment. People who lived within just a couple miles of the venue were not there. Why? Because they had received a scholarship to go but they had no real investment in attending.

King David said, "I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24). He recognized that if he had no investment, the sacrifice was meaningless.

Here's the interesting part, though. David knew he needed to offer a sacrifice at a particular place: the threshing floor of Araunah. The owner offered to give David everything he needed to make the sacrifice. The oxen, the wood for the fire, even the piece of property were willingly offered to the king. If David had accepted, the sacrifice would have looked exactly like the sacrifice he finally ended up offering. In outward appearance there would have been no difference.

But David refused. He would not offer something to God that cost him nothing.

Perhaps David was on to something. Maybe the Lord isn't interested in what our worship looks like on the surface. You see, when you and I gather together weekly with brothers and sisters in Christ, we can appear to be involved in actual worship. We can sing and smile, perhaps play our instrument and help lead the congregation. But is that it? Is it just an appearance? Or are we truly making the necessary investment into what we're offering to the Lord? Are our hearts really engaged with Him as we "worship" or does it just look proper on the outside? Are we honestly allowing God to mold and shape us with His Word throughout the week, or do we just come on Sunday morning and go through the motions?

When life's blizzards hit—and they will—if we have no investment, we will falter. Are you making an investment in your worship to the Lord?

Lord, we, too, don't want to offer You something that doesn't cost us anything. Cause us to be drawn to you repeatedly, that we might offer worship that doesn't just look good on the surface, but truly comes from the treasures of our heart.

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