"A Holy Sacrifice"

"Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." (Psalms 50:5) As I was praying this morning, I almost was going to title this "Shhh", as in Quiet; don't ask me why, because I really don't know; maybe God was just telling me to shut up and not say anything. But, now that I think about it, how are we to make a covenant with God? Do we negotiate with God, as if we have something to bring to the table? I know that is how I did things once upon a time, saying things like, "Lord, help me out of this mess, and I will serve you forever", or "Lord, please do this thing for me, and I will give you a tenth of all that I have." God does not need my promises; mostly because my words are not worth the breath it takes to say them; what God desires, is for me to worship Him, and to treat Him as if He is my God! When you look at the 'contract signing' between God and Abram in Genesis 15:17, it was only God that passed between those animal pieces; He alone signed the contract, because only He could fulfill it. When it comes to making a covenant with God, the contract part is pretty much all God's doing, our part is just to trust Him and obey, He does the rest. One thing for sure, we don't get to negotiate our side of the contract, and we surely don't tell God what His part of the contract is going to be; instead, God provides us with both sides, what He is going to do for us, and what we need to do in response; take it or leave it, that is our only choice. Besides, God's part of any covenant that could be made is so much bigger than anything that we might have to offer, how could we even think about competing with His part of anything, as if we have something to negotiate with? All that we can offer Him is sacrifice, and not even as if the sacrifice counts for anything, but just because He deserves to be worshiped; as soon as we start counting up our sacrifices, as if they are worth anything to God, they are made worthless; meaning that they become "filthy rags". Those that are God's "saints" are those that worship Him because He is, not because they need something or want to be blessed; God's saints worship Him because He is their God, their Maker, their Only Hope of life, breath, love, peace; you name it, God has provided the ultimate sacrifice, so what do we have to offer Him?
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, besides Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember Thee in Thy ways: behold, Thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rages; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou art the Potter; and we are the work of Thy hand." (Isaiah 64:4-8)