LentDay 33
A willing heart
Week 5 · Friday · Psalm 40: He Drew Me Up From the Pit
For today
God did not want sacrifices for their own sake; he wanted a willing heart. As Holy Week approaches, notice where that willing heart is most fully seen.
Begin with these verses
verse 1I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. verse 2He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. verse 3He 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.
verse 6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. verse 7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come — it is written about me in the scroll: verse 8I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
In Christ
How this psalm points to Jesus
The New Testament quotes this psalm · verse 7
Hebrews hears these verses on the lips of Christ, who came to do God's will, and by that will we are made holy through the offering of his body once for all.
verse 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. verse 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight. verse 7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’” verse 8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). verse 9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. verse 10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Optional. Kept only on this device, and never counted.