Daily Scriptures: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=328
Psalm 40:5-10
40:5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted. 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 40:7 Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. 40:8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” 40:9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. 40:10 I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
Delighted To Serve
Have YOU ever been on the grind? Have YOU lived daily going from one thing YOU had to do to survive to another? Living life scrambling from one hustle and bustle to the next. Few things exciting YOU and fewer things to look forward to. This is the grind. Living from paycheck to paycheck, scraping by if at all. This is the grind. The grind is not a bad thing when placed in context. There is a proverb that says when you get off your knees get on your feet. Grinding is so much better than giving up, and yet the grind can and will exhaust YOU. When all YOU do is what YOU “got” to do, YOU miss the joy and delight of what YOU get to do. Take a moment and think about what delights YOU.
Our text from Psalm 40:5-10 speaks of the deeds and actions that YHWH has done for the people of YHWH. These actions are multiplying exponentially. In return, YHWH does not ask for sacrifices or offerings. The blessings of YHWH do not come with strings attached. Being blessed is not a response to work put in, that would be a payment. Being blessed is not something we can pay for with anything money or status can buy. There is nothing the CREATOR needs from the creation that the CREATOR could not create. There is a response however that YHWH honors. Not one born from duty or obligation but from a loving caring heart. The writer of this Psalm responds to the wondrous acts of YHWH by saying, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” The writer encourages the reader and us to serve YHWH out of a desire not out of duty. To look forward to expressing the goodness of the CREATOR. To not hold back in sharing what YHWH has done and is doing. GOD does not need our stuff. Whenever GOD asks something of us it is not because GOD needs it but because we need to want to give it. Our giving and response is a status check on our heart. Where our treasure is our heart will be also, and still giving all our money and none of our hearts will not please GOD.
Lent 2023 continues to be a time to challenge us to grow beyond a transactional relationship with YHWH to a transformational one. We are called to respond with delight, excitement, vibrancy. Serving YHWH is not about the grind that is grueling but about the grace that is gratifying. Delight YOURSELF in the LORD and the LORD will give YOU the desires of YOUR heart.
Points to Ponder: What effect is the grind having on YOUR faith? Health? Happiness? How many blessings can YOU name in 30 seconds? Try it now………………. Now tell someone else about YOUR blessings and only share because YOU care.
40 Days of Lenten Meditations 