Psalm 51:16-17

Psalm 51:16-17

16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
and were I to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice of God is a spirit broken;
A heart broken and crushed, God, you will not despise.

BRING THE SACRIFICE THAT GOD DELIGHTS

Don’t you love the sense of accomplishment? Doing something that none of your friends or family has done before. Being first in something (or somewhere). Finishing an assignment or a marathon. Feels good doesn’t it? In meritocratic Singapore, it’s hard to hide from the drive of progress and accomplishments.

Have we subtly projected this onto our spiritual life as well? Managed to do our quiet time 51 days in a row. Attended all chapel and church services (for one semester). Been on mission trips. Preached a sermon where people came to know the Lord. Wrote an awesome theological essay. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that these things are bad, but why are we driven to do them?

Some of us do it thinking that it would please God, or to show that we are more spiritual than others, especially when we are Christian leaders. It feels good to accomplish my spiritual duties for God, but God showed me that it is all about my pride—to prove my dutifulness and love to God.

In Psalm 51:16, David realized that his sacrifices were of no use to God because they could not cover up his intentional sins of adultery and murder. Eugene Peterson’s The Message translates vv. 16-17 pointedly: “Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. All God was looking for is a broken and contrite heart.”

No accomplishment in our spiritual life can take the place of a truly broken heart before God. I learn that I all I needed to prove my love for God was to humble myself and repent with a contrite heart. It’s not that we don’t do the other things, for after all, the psalmist does talk about offering sacrifices in the last verse, “then you will delight in sacrifices of righteousness, burnt offering & whole, then bulls will be offered on your sacrifice altar” (v. 19). But this time they are offered not to show “what a good boy I am” but “what a good God he is!”

Ilango Yagambaram
(M.Div., Yr 2)