Of the readings in the
Revised Common Lectionary for 16 January 2014 (Thursday before the Second Sunday after Epiphany), I chose to reflect on Psalm 40:1-11.
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire Psalm 40:6a
The selected passage from this reading is but one of several in the Hebrew Testament to deprecate the importance of the temple observances. Above all else, God desires that we act rightly and faithfully. The sacrificial system in the Hebrew Testament was established as a means to that end, and not as an end in itself. Yet even tho the temple is destroyed and the sacrifices are in abeyance. people still mistake what God wants. For many people, their worship and faith consists of little more than saccharine praise of God. Yet that too is not an offering God desires. Praise of God, if it leads one to act rightly and faithfully can be a valuable means to doing as God wills. Yet we must remember that as with the temple sacrifices, praise is but a signpost to the Way and is not the Way.
