Give to the
Lord
Nathan Greene
“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds
among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all
gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and
majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families
of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." The world is firmly
established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice,
let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and
everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the
Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and
the peoples in his truth.” (Psalm 96)
While preparing this devotional, I was reminded of a story my church pastor once told me. His
tale was of a land dealing with an eternal night. All of the kings throughout this land gave some
gold, jewels, and even their crowns, Laying these gifts on the altar, but the night pressed on.
Everyone had lost hope, the priests gave their sermons to the people. A poor orphan boy at the
very back praying for an answer when the holy spirit prompted the boy to remember Philippians
4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”
the boy got to his feet, walked toward the altar, and pulled a penny from his pocket. This was all
that the boy owned. He placed the penny on the altar and the night was lifted and light returned
to the kingdom
“Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe
to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.” (Psalm 96:7-8)
We are told to give to the lord as one of the five pillars of worship, but what does that mean
exactly? It means we must give God glory, Crediting him with all of the amazing things in our
lives. It means we must give to God in our works, in all that we do, it must be for him. It means
we must give our offing up to him, Just like the boy in the story, we are to give in a willful spirit
and give all that God has given us. For he will give us all we need in life
“I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back—but God has a bigger shovel. These are the
words of R. G. LeTourneau, a Christian industrialist who gave 90% of all he earned to the lords
work. In giving to the lord with glory, strength, and offering, he will provide us with all we need
to do his works and repeat the cycle. As LeTourneau said, we shovel our givings to god and he
shovels it back in preponderant amounts. More often than not we look past the true meaning of
“I Surrender” By Hillsong United. However, this song perfectly reflects the message of this
week’s devotional.
We all must be like the little orphan boy who gave his last penny to God in a willful manner. We
can learn from R. G. LeTourneau and his giving works of God. So to end this week’s devotional
I’d like to ask you all a question. What have you given to the Lord? And I ask you to think about
ways you can give to God with glory, strength, and offering a willing spirit.
