Psalm 40

"I delight to do your will"

There's a squabble between the Psalms and the book of Leviticus. You see the fight break out here in Psalm 40: "You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering." Really? Is that so? Then what is the book of Leviticus all about?

This theme comes up repeatedly in the Psalms, this marginalizing, if not outright dismissal, of the sacrificial system detailed in Leviticus. 

The historical backdrop here is Israel's experience of exile. How was Israel to be faithful to Torah without the temple? Either because it was far away or had been destroyed? As we know, during the exile the synagogue system emerged to step into the void left by the loss of the temple. Given this, we can see how a shift of emphasis away from the rites and rituals of Leviticus would emerge. 

But this historical context noted, the deeper concern of the Psalms, the timeless truth that was true even when temple existed, concerns the inner life of the person, our heart. Rites and rituals describe external behaviors, but they fail to capture the inner drama of our relationship to God. True devotion isn't dutiful compliance to a list of regulations. True devotion is an open, responsive, and faithful heart. Consequently, throughout the Old Testament, Israel's failures are blamed upon stoney, calloused, hard, and unresponsive hearts. What God wants is a heart that sings "I delight to do your will." And the key word here is "delight," the joy and pleasure of life with God.