Psalm 8:1
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Palm 69. The Mind of the Spirit met with the spirit of my mind in verses 30-23-32:
Psalms 69:30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psalms 69:31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
Psalms 69:32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
This is a Messianic psalm; it points to the promised son of David, Jesus the Christ (Psalm 69:9 with John 2:17; Psalm 69:21 with Matthew 27:34; see Romans 1:3; Acts 2:30). So many of David’s psalms include specific references to Christ that some have suggested all of David’s psalms should be read in that light. I am inclined to agree. Not that none speak directly or even exclusively to some event in David’s life, but rather that even then, we can see Christ bearing our sorrows, joining us in our grief, protecting us, guiding us, uplifting and delivering us. In the Psalms, we see David, Christ, and ourselves in Christ.
Along the still waters, I thought about the passage where the Mind of the Spirit captivated the spirit of my mind (Psalm 69:30-32). David saw what the humble see, and it made him glad (Psalm 69:32). He recognized that the LORD is better pleased with sincere and personal worship than with the ritual offerings prescribed by God through Moses. Even during the Old Testament, David could see that GOD likes it when we praise Him with a song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving better than when we attempt to impress Him with the offerings of our ox or bullock.
The Spirit has expressed this in the Old Testament at least four other times: to Saul, the Spirit said, “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22); “to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice” (Psalm 21:3), He desires mercy rather than sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6), “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required” (Psalm 40:6), and when David was broken in the shame and reproach of sin he knew that God would not be impressed with any amount of sacrifice, so he cried: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering” (Psalms 51:16). So he presented the sacrifice God always respects: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
Immediately after David presented his sacrifice of a broken spirit in confession of his sin (Psalm 51:1-14), and before David testified to the sacrifice God will always respect, he said, “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise” (Psalm 51:16). This sounds like Psalm 69:30. This pleases Him more than sacrifices and burnt offerings.
This does not mean the sacrifices commanded of the Old Testament saint were invalid or unnecessary. God forbid! For God commanded these offerings. But only when the heart is sincere and humble will He take pleasure in any of them, for “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar” (Psalm 51:19).
Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment. He answered:
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31).
The scribe who asked Jesus this question responded:
“And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33).
Jesus affirmed that the scribe answered with discretion: “And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
I marvelled: this humble acknowledgment makes one only “close” to the kingdom. To be delivered from the darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear son (Colossians 1:13), one must repent and turn from darkness to the light (Acts 26:18-20; see Luke 24:47). One must confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and, believing He arose from the dead, they must call on His name to be saved (Romans 10:9-13).
The humbe see it and are glad! The heart is only truly alive as it seeks GOD (Psalm 69:32).
In the valley, the Spirit spoke to me. He made me see that the Old Testament offerings were lesser than the broken body of His Son, and the blood of bulls and goats was wholly inadequate to wash away sins (Hebrews 10:4-11). He could not even countenance them as acceptable symbols when offered with a cold or indifferent heart. We mix our offerings of praise, giving thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15), with the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit (Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 57:15), pleading the blood of the Lamb provided by GOD for us (John 1:29, 36; see Genesis 22:8, 10-13). As I looked upon the Lamb of God, He spoke: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil, filled my cup with His grace; then He called to goodness and mercy who hastened to follow me as we walked the harvest.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
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