Praise or Payback

“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.” (Psalm 69:30-31)

What do you do when God delivers you?

Once we are out of the pit, the instinct is to pay God back.

Grace makes us uncomfortable. We would rather deserve our blessings than get a lavish gift that exposes an empty spiritual account. 

The discomfort reveals remaining pride.

In the aftermath of answered prayer, elaborate offerings magnify our devotion. We prepare a thousand bulls to prove that God picked the right person to save. 

It is far more humbling to simply say “thank you” without any attempt to pay him back.

Thanksgiving is what magnifies the Giver. All he wants is a heart of gratitude. “This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull …”

Payback binds you to the Law and breaks off relationship. 

Praise does the opposite. It casts off the weight of the Law, which you could never sustain, and sets you free into intimacy with the Giver of Life. 

Your posture after the deliverance determines your path forward.

Try to earn it, and you will keep God at a distance as you begrudge his generosity.

But embrace unfathomable grace, and your soul will seek the Father in a fresh way. You will bear fresh fruit from the fertile soil of humility (Psalm 69:32). You will fall in love again with the God who has always loved you first.