2 Samuel 24:24
But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
We ought to be careful offering something to God and pretending to be something when we are not. King David feared not be genuine. He feared being fake before God. So, when purchasing the threshing floor (that marked when the angel of the Lord had stopped the destructive plague brought about by David's sin to number the Israelites. David wanted to memorialize the threshing floor, where the angel stopped the destruction for the nation. Araunah, who owned the threshing floor, was willing to give it to the king. But, the king did not use his position of power to gain for himself. The position of power and using power for yourself is a hard aspect for a leader's life. David could have demanded the threshing floor. He could have lowballed the price. Yet, what he does is not only buy it, but he pays the full price. He didn't do it, however, to show off to men. He did it to honor God. He knew he was going to sacrifice to the Lord on that spot and knew that needed to be worthy. We can use our power and our prestige and then worship. In Acts 5 we read about a husband and a wife who lied about selling their land and giving it ALL to the Lord. But, they held back a part and it was the lie to God that caused their death. They could have held back part of the land. I twas because their lie was they sold the entire land they had for so much that this caused their death. King David didn't want to offer to God in a place he did not purchase sacrificially. God wants us to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We ought not worship on the cheap.
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