In 2 Samuel 24, King David went to a man named Araunah to buy his threshing floor in order to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Araunah offered to provide the king with whatever he needed for the sacrifice, including the threshing floor, at no charge, but David responded, “I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (v. 24).

David didn’t want to give something to the Lord that required no sacrifice on his part. What value would that have?

In the same way, God wants you to offer Him what costs you the most — your pain, your heartache, your broken dreams — because that’s what is most valuable to Him. You can offer Him the most intimate parts of your heart as an act of worship, as your spiritual sacrifice, knowing that in God’s economy, nothing is wasted. He makes whole what’s been broken; He makes beautiful what’s been tarnished.

Today, offer up your broken heart to the Lord as a sacrifice of praise, and know that your pain has great worth in God’s eyes. God will take your sacrifice and turn it into something beautiful.

“The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart” (Ps. 51:17).