"No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed." (Deut. 16:16, NIV)

"Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.'" (Hos. 14:2, NIV)

The first verse, from Deuteronomy, is part of God's instruction for three annual commemorative gatherings: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. These feasts were special occasions for God's people to celebrate His salvation and provision, and the offerings played an important part. Each person, no matter how poor, had received something from the Lord, and was expected to acknowledge that with a gift of his own.

This is the foundation of worship: gratitude. Since it is human nature to forget what God has done for us, worship begins with recounting His gifts, listing them if necessary. What do we have that did not originally come from Him? Life? Time? Abilities? Opportunities? Family? Security? As He has given us everything we have, it is a stingy, wimpy worship that won't return a portion in gratitude. In view of that, King David had a good reason to insist on paying for the oxen and threshing floor that were about to go up in smoke: "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." (2 Sam. 24:24, NIV) Worship without sacrifice is pretense.

By the time Hosea came along a couple of hundred years after David, worship in Judah had completed an amazing flip-flop: they had the rules and regulations down pat; it was obedience outside the temple that gave them trouble. Worse, their worship gave them a false sense of security—as long as they went through the motions of performing the rituals correctly, they thought they could do whatever else they wanted and still be acceptable to God. They were wrong.

In pleading with them to stop sinning and return to God, Hosea tells them to bring in sacrifice words of confession and repentance—the "fruit" of their mouths. Fruit, of course, comes from within the plant. It can't be faked or fabricated. Once this sacrifice is offered, God responds with healing love and the assurance of future blessings. © 2003 Robin Hardy


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