The Natural Responses to Thankfulness
It's hard to believe that a person is really thankful for something if in some way that thanks isn't expressed. We've become very good at making "thank you" a cliché; like saying "how are you?" and responding "fine". Worship should always result in a fresh surrender to our Lord. This is a natural response to thankfulness. Devotion results in dedication. A fresh commitment to the Lord should always result from time spent thinking about our "unpayable" debt to Christ. Notice how David illustrates this fact:
I. David's Commitment, vs. 6-8.
A. The Truth Concerning Religion, vs. 6.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.," vs. 6.
David must have thought about the observance of the Mosaic Law here. He thought about the word sacrifice. He thought about the word offering. He must have thought about the burnt offering and the sin offering. But he also thought about one other thing. Even though these all speak of God, they're not God. They were all external evidence of the God that lived inside of him. David knew that what he was doing wasn't saving him. It was a natural response of thankfulness for all that God had done for him. A church life can be faked but a Christian life will be lived. The same is true for today, we can still be baptized and break the bread and yet be far from God. David saw through this, he knew that sacrifice without sincerity and ritual without reality was a worthless religion. Notice not only the truth concerning religion, but also the truth concerning reality.
B. The Truth Concerning Reality, vs. 6-7.
"...mine ears hast thou opened..." vs. 6. "Then said I..." vs. 7.
Listen carefully here! There are two steps to coming to reality. First open your ears! The word open is a Hebrew word that means open through a process, one shovel full at a time. God has to give us instructions one small bit at a time. Also notice the second step. It comes in a small but decisive word "then". The tragedy is that so many people never get to then. Then David realized he'd been chosen to be a bond slave to God. Then he realized that the natural response to God's goodness was thankfulness. Not only do we see the truth concerning religion and the truth concerning reality, but also the truth concerning ritual.
C. The Truth Concerning Ritual, vs. 8.
"I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.," vs. 8.
Once we come to grips with the fact of religion and reality we understand our life is to be lived to a single end...the Master's will. Jesus said, I do the things that please the Father. He prayed, Not My will but Thine be done. It was Jesus who became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross... David is making one bold statement here! What a fire may burn on the outside is a mere flicker to what burns on the inside of a man thankful to God! Notice not only David's commitment but also David's confession.
II. David's Confession, vs. 9-10.
A. The Righteousness of God, vs. 9.
"I have preached righteousness..." vs. 9.
David declares that telling people about God is righteousness. Paul used the word righteous over 60 times in his great epistle to the Romans. Why did David preach righteousness? He'd seen it work! It was a natural response to thankfulness. Righteousness works during the perilous times and it works during the prosperous times. Sometimes one of the hardest jobs we have as preachers is telling people God is always right! But we can rest assured He is! Not only can we see the righteousness of God, but also the richness of God.
B. The Richness Of God, vs. 10.
"...I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.," vs. 10.
To preach righteousness apart from tenderness would destroy grace. It would be a cold comfort to know that God always did what was right and it didn't matter how we felt about it. Listen! With God's Law there is love. God's holiness and His heart are inseparable. God is working a lot harder than we know to get us all to heaven some bright day! When we understand then our natural response will be thankfulness.