God's Price of Gas

In our present context of paying ridiculous amounts of money to fill up our gas tanks, the question comes to mind, "who determines how much a gallon of gas is worth?" Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question but I do know that now that I am paying well over four dollars a gallon, I am treating gasoline quite differently. I find myself counting the cost of every mile that I may have to drive. I also find myself making only necessary trips and trying to combine several errands into one trip when possible. So for me, gas has become valuable not because of what I think it's worth. It's become valuable because of what I've had to pay to get it.

This way of valuing things showed up today in a passage of scripture that I was reading. In Chronicles 11:18-19, a canteen of water goes from being a very ordinary commodity (much like gas) to having a value beyond measure. In the story, King David is encamped in a cave and between He and the closest source of water is the Phillistine army. David makes the statement "Oh, that someone would get me a drink from the well near the gate of Bethlehem". Immediately, three of his men take off, break through the Phillistine lines, get the water and bring it back to David. I'm sure there is much more to the story but the passage does not give the details of this very dangerous errand. I would imagine that the men did experience a violent encounter both when they broke through the Phillistine line and in returning through that line to get back. I would also think that that encounter did not come without some injury. All that we know comes from David's response when he recieves the water.....he pours it on the ground. Yep, that's right, he poured it on the ground. And the amazing thing is, none of the three mighty men punch him in the face. How could these men not be totally offended?
The question is answered when David tells why he refused to drink the water. "God forbid that I should do this! (drink the water)". "Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their own lives?". The Bible says that when David poured the water out, he poured it out before the Lord.
Basically, what David was saying was this, "Because of the risk and the sacrifice that you spent to get this water, it has become something so precious that only God is worthy of it!". The men then knew that their valiant act of humble service had just become a precious offering before the God of the universe.

What I love about this passage is that we have the same opportunity with all of the common things in our lives. We have the same opportunity to take the common tasks that we've been given and by pouring ourselves wholeheartedly into them whether that be to teach children in sunday school, lead songs in church, feed the poor, look after an elderly neighbor or whatever your specific task is, we can make those common things a precious offering before God. Or if we wanted to carry out this passage in a more literal way, you could go to the gas station, put the same amount that you would to fill up your car into several gas containers and then go out into a field and pour them out as an offering before the Lord....my guess, though, would be that God would prefer that you pour yourself into whatever God has called you to because that's worth far more than $4.20 a gallon.