“E'en Though It Be a Cross.”

Psalm 40

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,

but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering

you have not required.

Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is in my heart” (Psalm 40:6-8).

“You have given me an open ear…” Literally, “You dug out my ears”: a reference to the ear canal God "excavated” in both sides of my head.

To what end? That I may hear, of course, but preeminently that I may hear what God has to say and put it “in my heart.” And then, with my entire body, willingly, joyfully  comply. The author of Hebrews, quotes the Greek version of the Old Testament: “a body you have prepared for me,” substituting the whole for a part. Hearing involves putting my entire body on the line. 

The New Testament puts these words in Jesus' mouth as he assures his Father that he will do his will no matter what it will cost. (Hebrews 10:5-10). On this occasion, his Father's will was the cross.

God's will may indeed entail something akin to a cross. Can I hear it and bear it manfully, not as my duty but as my "delight" (40: 8)?

Bearing up isn’t easy, but if I make a start, grace will do the rest. "The readiness is all," Hamlet said.

David Roper