PSALM 40 WHAT GOD DESIRES

Written by , Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia
 
¹ I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
⁴ Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.
⁵ Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.
⁸ I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
⁹ I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.
¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
¹¹ Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.
¹² For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.

¹³ Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.

¹⁷ Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.

The age old question raised by this psalm and other such statements about sacrifices in the Prophets is, “If God did not desire sacrifices and burnt offerings, why did he mandate them?” We might also add to that the question of the need for the gruesome sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. And furthermore, if David really believed this, why did he not stop the sacrifices in Jerusalem during his reign?

Our problem as human beings is that we turn everything into an end in itself. Take for instance the couple who get so caught up in the wedding that they are not prepared for their marriage. Or the example of the clergyman who is so distracted by being absolutely precise in the liturgy that he does not worship God. Or the example of the father who is so focused on his son being “successful” in some endeavor that he drives him so hard that their relationship is destroyed. This was the inherent human problem with the sacrificial system. We substitute the performance of the rite for that which it symbolized. Instead of seeing that the rite was to remind us to become right with God, we used it to try to make God right with us. In all these passages criticizing the sacrificial system, God is reminding us that the sacrifice that is desired is the sacrifice of ourselves. We are to die to self so that we might live to God. The blood of animals, and even the blood of Christ do not get us off the hook in this matter, rather they provide a way for us to follow. Without the death of Jesus we would not have access to the Father, but we still must follow him to get there. If we see the crucified and risen Christ as the ladder to God, we still must climb that ladder if we are to reach the Father. It is through the sacrifice of our willfulness that we climb out of the mud and mire of our sin nature and into the righteous presence of the Lord.

Father, inspire me to see the meaning beyond the symbols you have given to help me know the truth and live by your word. Keep me from mindlessly using the aids you have given me to construct barriers to you. May I see everything as sacraments that point to the reality that is you, and seek you alone. Amen.

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