Those who truly worship God both praise and obey!
Psalm 40:6-8
6 In sacrifice and
offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an
open ear.
Burnt offering and sin
offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said,
“Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book
it is written of me:
8 I delight to do
your will, O my God;
your law is within my
heart.”
After reminding us of
God’s wonderful care and His wonderful works on man’s behalf, David turns our
attention to an appropriate response. God is not interested in mere rituals,
but in the heart behind the actions.
From David’s day to ours, however,
man has been prone to worship God externally, without the support of a devoted
heart.
1 Samuel 15:22
…“Has
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of
the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat
of rams.”
King Saul had not obeyed
the word of the Lord. And his excuse was that the choicest of the spoil was
taken for sacrificing to the Lord. God rejected both his actions and Saul, as king
of Israel
This was an ongoing
problem for Israel
Jeremiah 7:21-26
“Thus says
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings
to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought
them out of the land
of Egypt land of Egypt
Man has always fooled
himself, in thinking that he can worship God on his own terms, but actions that
are not the result of obedience and submission are worthless to God.
Through God’s Spirit, Biblical
doctrine should inform us, producing godly actions and behavior. Apart from
God’s revealed truth, we cannot know the mind of God and therefore cannot obey
and practice His ways. Most of the epistles in the New Testament begin with a
section devoted to doctrine, followed by practical application of that teaching.
God is very interested in
our hearts. As professing believers, we should always check ourselves and
evaluate where we are. We don’t want to become unbalanced, being driven by
behavior without true devotion or by mere emotion without follow-through. Today
there seems to be a trend to giving more importance to our own devotional
feelings than the kind of worship God’s Word says He really wants. Feelings
should not drive our worship.
The kings of Israel
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
“And when he sits on the
throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this
law, approved by the Levitical priests.19 And it shall be with him,
and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear
the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these
statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up
above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the
commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may
continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Both behavior and heart
are mentioned in these verses, and careful reading would produce fear of the
Lord, obedience and a godly heart. The Word of God must produce the same
results in our lives today. God through His Word will transform our hearts.
We must check our walk, as
well as our hearts. Actions that do not proceed from a devoted heart are only religious
legalism or activism, and they do not please God at all. A superficial faith
that does not produce godly behavior is equally displeasing to God. How easily
we distort the clear teaching of the Word of God! Even in this psalm, God is
walking us through the careful path of true worship that is acceptable to Him.
Those who truly worship
God both praise and obey. Obedience is the response of a truly trusting, devoted
heart. We should be alarmed when one or both are missing: when we do not love
God’s Word, or when we do not find pleasure in obeying it.
May we be committed to
learning and knowing God’s Word, to obeying God’s teachings and may all this be
done from a heart that is dedicated to our Savior.
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