Psalm 50:14-15 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. #Bible
In the old testament offering God a sacrifice of thanksgiving wasn't just to say thanks, but it was accompanied with a animal sacrifice. It was to say thank you to God, but if you were really thankful, the animal proved it.
Performing your vows was like if you made a deal with God, your side of the agreement was to pay your vow again with sacrifice to show God you were really thankful for His help.
Israel had become robotic in this interaction with God, some say even to the point of helping God, by feeding the priests with their sacrifices. Even to the point that God should be obligated.
God simply wanted Israel to be sincere, to remember that they really are beholding to God for their very existence.
God says if you do these things, in the day of your trouble, He will deliver them, and because of your greatfulness you will glorify Him.
God wanted them to remember even when they didn't have trouble, but when they did, that God would listen to their call for help, and of their own volition glorify Him
Another point to be made here is that God even in this age was preparing Israel for the coming of the Messiah. When these sacrifices would no longer be the blood and flesh of animals, but the one and final sacrifice of the Son of God, who takes away the sin of all mankind who would look upon Him and believe. Jesus, who would be everything in what God the Father desires in relationship with Israel, and all of mankind.
So let's remember in our worship, our vows, and in our thankfulness, to be sincere expressing our desperate need for our LORD. Remember robots don't feel, they can't express, and they can't recognize who our Wonderful God is.
