Alan G. Nute
"Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in; mine ears hast thou opened:
burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I am come;
in the roll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God;
yea, thy law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:6-8).
THE fortieth psalm divides fairly simply into two parts. The latter section describes a strange and acute period of need through which David passed, whereas the earlier part tells of how he looks back to a past deliverance when powerful relief was afforded to him by his God. The two parts fit together. He finds confidence in his present need by recalling to mind God's faithfulness in the past. These two sections provide a context for the three verses which we now propose to consider.
There is no doubt about his present state of acute need. "For innumerable evils have compassed me about" (v.12); "But I am poor and needy" (v.17). David explains that his sufferings arise from two sources. There is the plague of his own heart: "Mine iniquities have overtaken [74/75] me, so that I am not able to look up". This is an experience which we have all shared. Despite the fact that we are fully forgiven and accepted in the Beloved, we are at times dismayed by a fresh awareness of our deep sinfulness. This is particularly the case when we stand in the light of God's holiness, with something more of His majestic glory dawning upon us. But the psalmist's sense of need also arises from the opposition of the enemy. He describes it in the phrase: "They seek after my soul to destroy it ... they delight in my hurt" (v.14). Christians also are attacked in the same way. "They say unto me, Aha, Aha!" All who mix with people of the world know only too well what it is to be treated with this kind of cynical contempt. Even if nothing specifically spiritual is in view, it is enough to stand for what is good and right to be met with the hurtful sarcasm of those who jeer: "Aha, Aha!"
So it is that the psalmist ends his story with this description of his plight: "I am poor and needy". Happily he knows how to face the situation, and he does so in the wisest possible way, that is, by calling to remembrance a past powerful and gracious deliverance given to him by the Lord. That was a never-to-be-forgotten time of need, but David records the marvellous faithfulness of the Lord to him. He was in "a horrible pit" full of "miry clay"; at least that is the only way in which he could describe his plight, even if it is figurative language. He remembered how he felt encompassed on every side, hemmed in and restricted as though in some frightening pit, only able to look up and, when he did that, finding that heaven itself seemed very far away.
Deeply conscious of his unparalleled need, down in that miry mud, he did two things. First he set himself to wait patiently for the Lord, and then he cried earnestly to the Lord. This, then, was the thing to do then and this is the right procedure now. "I will wait," he says, "as I did on the previous occasion. But I will not be supine in resignation, sitting down with folded arms, but will spend my waiting time calling on the Lord. My call was heard. God inclined to listen to me. He stooped to where I was and with His strong hands He lifted me out of the deep pit of my need and, what is more, He placed my feet securely on a rock." The story does not end there. The Lord did not leave him standing, but showed him a new and secure path and, as he trod this path, he discovered that there was a song, a new song, in his mouth. So we find the delivered psalmist declaring to all the wonderful salvation which God had given him.
The central portion of this psalm consists of verses 6 to 8 and seems to set out for us some of the deep spiritual lessons which he had learned during his time of trial and waiting upon God. Why does the Lord allow us to pass through this kind of distress? Not just to have the pleasure of displaying His delivering power, but in order that in those depths we may learn how to know Him better. These experiences teach us lessons that otherwise we might never learn. If you encounter a person with a powerful living ministry, you will always discover that somewhere in their lives there has been an occasion of great distress, what we might even call tragedy. These are the people who can look back at the spiritual secrets which they have learned in their distresses. We realise that these experiences have made them the men of God they now are. Through the horrible pit and the miry clay, through their patient waiting and proving the faithfulness of God, they have learned these secrets which have affected their whole after life. Into this context, then, we fit these verses which reveal some of the powerful lessons which David learned. They can perhaps be summarised in the one word: Obedience. In this inward secret of heart obedience, David was far in advance of most of his contemporaries; he was in fact an Old Covenant saint in the good of a New Covenant experience.
1. Obedience is the Secret of Blessing
There is no abracadabra to holiness, no magic key can be used to unlock the door of life on to a new level; nor is there any once-for-all experience which yields an access of power never again to leave one. The Christian life has this as its secret, that if we are to know the blessing and power of God day by day, we can only do so by constant obedience. So David discovered that priority must be given to obedience; his words can surely have no other meaning. Someone might well ask him: "How can you say that God has not required nor desired sacrifice? Was it not He who commanded the offerings? Was it not by His direction that Moses laid down regulations about them? What do you mean, David, by saying that God has no delight in sacrifices and offerings? Are you not audacious to make such statements?" [75/76]
One answer to such questions can be found in the argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews that such sacrifices were only temporary and that of themselves they could never put away sin. They were just timely expedients until the time of fulfilment should come when Christ would put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The full truth did not dawn until many centuries later, but David discloses in another psalm that he had some understanding of it. He had to confess that he himself had been guilty of two capital sins, adultery and murder, for which no sacrifices were prescribed. He found forgiveness, though, having been shown that there is a heavenly hyssop which can purge away sin and there is a heavenly laver at which men may wash and be clean. For this reason he was able to say: "Thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it; thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering" (Psalm 51:16).
This is one answer, but although it is true I do not think that this is the point which David makes in our passage. Perhaps we can best understand his meaning if we consider Samuel's words to Saul: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). This was before David's time, but he would know that the Amalekites were so desperately wicked that spiritual surgery was needed to excise them from the political body. It had to be done, and done thoroughly, so king Saul was ordered to carry through the task. When, however, he saw the flocks and herds, he decided that some of them were too good to be killed. The prophet came on the scene and -- with an attempt at pious bluff -- the king said to him: "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord". Samuel, having a sensitive ear, called his bluff by asking the searching question: "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Saul did his best to keep up the bluff by explaining that the special animals were being reserved as a sacrifice to the Lord. Back came God's reply: "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" (1 Samuel 15:22).
David reading of this story, found the words penetrating to his soul. He recognised that very often the people of God are in danger of substituting sacrifices for obedience, offering this and that and the other as if to buy God off. This attempt to avoid obedience by substituting offerings and sacrifices is such a prevalent evil that the Lord's prophets throughout the Old Testament are found reiterating the message given by Samuel. "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me" cried Isaiah (Isaiah 1:13), while Jeremiah takes up the message: "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them ... concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice ... and walk ye in all the way that I command you" (Jeremiah 7:22-23).
Again God said to His people: "Yes, though ye offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them. Let judgment roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream" (Amos 5:22 & 24). Then there are Micah's memorable words: "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:6-8). David had begun to learn that there was a priority in the matter of obedience, that inward things matter far more than externals, that spiritual and moral values are far more important than ceremonial. The Lord Jesus strongly emphasised this same truth which was greatly needed among the religious people of His day.
It is sadly possible for us to give priority in our thinking or preaching to matters which are external, to pay great attention to Scriptural procedure while failing in moral matters. We must realise that baptism and the Lord's Table are of no value unless we are living out their true significance in our daily life. Loyal attendance at meetings, regular reading of the Bible and prayer can provide a subtle danger if the mask a disobedient spirit. David may seem to overstate his case when he uses such emphatic language as "Not desired" and "Not required", but it only shows us how strongly he felt about this matter of heart obedience.
2. The Path of Obedience
The question arises as to how we shall tread this path of obedience. How shall we know what God really does desire? Three things are mentioned here: [76/77]
i. A Surrendered Will
"I delight to do thy will." Only of One was this absolutely true, even the Lord Jesus, so it is right and proper that the Epistle to the Hebrews should apply these words to Him. The writer tells us something that we might not otherwise have known, that it was when Jesus came into the world that He uttered these words. I like to think that they were upon the lips of our Lord Jesus when He left the throne on high on His journey to the manger in Bethlehem. "In the roll of the book it is written of me." This means more than that the Old Testament taught that Christ would do the will of God, but it is a legitimate interpretation that He affirmed that He was going to do that will of God which was prescribed for Him in the Word of God. Over and over again He was able to say: "That the Scriptures might be fulfilled". He, above all others, was the Man of the surrendered will. He said that He had come down from heaven to do the Father's will and at the end was able to affirm: "I have finished the work which thou bast given me to do". In the first place, then, these words pointed forward to Christ.
In writing the words, though, David spoke of his own experience. He first trod the path which Christ was later to tread so perfectly, and he pointed the way for us to follow. "Then said I ...". David remembered all that God had done for him and taught him, and his response is: "Lo, I am come ... to do thy will". These are the words of the servant coming into the presence of his master, and he accepts that there is a book in which the will of that master is prescribed for him. How do we know the will of God? It is written in the volume of the Book. There God's will is revealed to us. God's standards have not changed. The commandments of God need no modification to conform to modern conditions in this twentieth century. "In the volume of the book it is written," and so our duty is prescribed.
Duty may not be the best word to use. Some Christians give the impression that to do the will of God is a most irksome procedure and that the life that is surrendered must necessarily be a life that is grey and gloomy. This is far from the truth. The life that is dedicated to do the will of God is a happy life, a life of liberty and joy in the Lord. His commandments are not grievous. With David, we can find delight in doing God's will.
ii. Opened Ears
The psalmist claimed that God had opened his ears. Not infrequently folk have detected in these words a reference to the slaves of old times and the procedure described in Exodus 21:6. At the year of release a slave could claim to be freed but there were some who were settled with a family, who loved their master and were happy to go on in their life of service. If after interrogation the man insisted: "I will not go out free", then his master took him to the doorpost and bored the servant's ear through with an awl. From then on the man with the pierced ear became known as a willing permanent bondslave of his master. This is an interesting and delightful illustration of the true dedication of a child of God, but it was not what David was referring to.
The slave only had one ear pieced, whereas David affirms that both his ears had been opened. What is more, the word he used is not the one employed to describe piercing but a totally different one which implies digging, as in the excavation of a well or pit. What does he mean? "Mine ears hast Thou excavated"? Well, is it not true that heart disobedience is often related to ears that are deliberately closed? If we are to walk in the pathway of obedience we need to ask the Lord to unstop our closed ears and make a way through for communication and revelation. Isaiah's servant of the Lord tells us: "The Lord God hath opened mine ear. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught" (Isaiah 50:4). The surrendered will must be accompanied by opened ears.
iii. A Yielded Body
In the Epistle to the Hebrews there is an interesting alternative to this phrase about the opened ears. The words are: "A body hast thou prepared me". In keeping with some other Old Testament quotations in that letter this is taken from the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. It might at first sight appear to be playing fast and loose with the words of the Old Testament. Actually there is not a great deal of difference, simply the substitution of the whole body for the hearing members. It is as though the Lord Jesus said: "If You have My ears, You have My whole body", and no doubt that is what David also meant. The ears are regarded as a gateway to the whole man, a channel by which comes the revelation which results in the handing over of the whole body to the will of God. [77/78]
When Jesus spoke of the body prepared for Him He was referring to His unique and sinless body, but by His grace we may hand over our faulty human bodies to be the vehicle of the will of God. And especially we need to do this with the mind, for it is as our minds are renewed that we learn the perfect will of God. It is possible to be lost in a cloud of mysticism when we talk about making sacrifices to God. We use such expressions as: "Bringing a basket of first-fruits", or "Breaking our alabaster jar of ointment". It is easy to use pious phrases and pictorial language. The Bible is more down to earth; it talks of hands, feet, ears, mind -- the whole body, telling us to glorify God in our bodies as well as in our spirits.
3. There is Power for Obedience
We might be wondering if these words of the psalmist are only calculated to mock us. We ask: Is there power available for us to glorify God in this way? Indeed there is, and it is here disclosed: "Yea, thy law is within my heart". This confirms what has already been said, that David was an Old Covenant saint with a New Covenant experience. In the old days if you had gone to an Israelite and asked to inspect the law of God, he would have told you that it was to be found on the two tables of stone. You would not be permitted actually to see them, but you would be informed that that was where they were to be found. Had you, however, gone to David and said: "Excuse me, but where is God's law?" he would have replied: "It is here in my heart".
"Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119:11); this was his testimony. Many years later Jeremiah told of what would happen under the New Covenant: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it" (Jeremiah 31:33) and his younger contemporary prophesied of the new heart and the new spirit saying: "I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). We note that in these prophecies of the New Covenant there is on the one hand an emphasis on the law of God and on the other on the work of the Holy Spirit. These two are brought together in the New Testament in such Scriptures as: "That the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit" (Romans 8:4).
Let us make no mistake about this: the law has not changed; the commandments have not been abrogated. They are not even weakened but are more stringent for a child of God than for the Old Testament saint. By His Sermon on the Mount, Christ has permanently deepened the demands of the law. What has changed is the relationship. By and large the law of old days was external; it made requirements but did not lift a finger to aid men to keep them. Men then knew the standards but lacked the power to obey. When we come to the New Testament, however, our attitude to the law is entirely different. It is no longer external, but internal; no longer graven on stone but "written in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3). And we note that this writing is done by the Spirit of the living God. It is the Holy Spirit who is the dynamic force for walking in the path of obedience and for bringing about that transformation into the image of Christ with which the chapter ends. Christ is the personification of God's law. He lives it out perfectly. He alone completely fits these verses concerning David's delight in doing God's will. But the marvel is that because He now lives in us, we may appropriate the psalmist's words and by the Spirit's enabling present our bodies as living sacrifices to God.
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