Old offerings, new sacrifice
Pamela Kennedy
May 30, 2025
Add to Favourites
Listen to this daily worship
Psalm 51: 16-19 (NIVUK)
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
“How would they know? They’re never gonna know.”
It’s a meme backing track, playing on the idea that it’s possible to pull the wool over others’ eyes to our own advantage. If we’re honest, we do it all the time...or at least I do! The photographs we take are set in the best locations, away from the clutter. We put on better clothes when we know we’re going to be seen. Our houses have areas that we’d rather not have visitors see. As do our lives…
David knows it’s possible to bring sacrifices to God without repentance of heart. It’s possible to go through the motions without having been moved.
He wants what God wants: change from the inside out. For himself and, by extension, for God’s people. The king’s broken and contrite heart was their own.
The sacrificial system is still going strong, but as his psalm comes to an end, David prays that the gap would be closed and that the people of God would worship Him right – inside and out.
Prayer:
Father,
Where there is any pretense in my worship of You - any super-spiritualising, any loud and convoluted prayers on street corners – would you call me back to Yourself. Lord, keep my heart soft, and after Yours. I pray this for Your church too, scattered and gathered. Strengthen us to resist the cult of celebrity, of image, smoke-machines and flashing lights. For those in positions of influence within Your church, keep them very close to You. For Yours, and Yours alone, is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen
Login to comment.