I desire to do your will O God; your law is within my heart. –Psalm 40:8
I cannot help but think of our Lord, Jesus Christ as I read this verse. Paul in Hebrews 10:5-7 quoted it along with a few preceding verses while explaining why it was necessary for our Lord to shed His blood and die for our salvation. First He said, “Sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. –Hebrews 10:8-10
There was no secret as to who Jesus Christ was or what He would do, because all the events of His life were written in the Book of Life before one of them came to be. Even if you looked as far back as Genesis 3:15, you could already begin to read about what would be the life of our Savior. When He walked the earth, in response to people questions, He often said, “Do you not know that it was written,” or “For it is written.” Jesus not only did the Father’s will, He actually found delight in it. In John 4:34, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me to finish His work.” Hebrews 12:2 tells us that, for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, He chose the Father’s will and set aside His own (Not my will, but Yours be done).
Dear friends, let the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ serve as a blueprint for our lives. Not only did He know the will of His Father and store it within His heart, He actually took delight in it and spent His life fulfilling it. The will of our Lord is written all through the pages of Scripture, and when we set our minds on this Word long enough, it sips into our hearts, and literally guides our steps. “We must each of us be like our Lord in this, or we shall lack evidence of being His disciples.” –C. Spurgeon
David also understood the importance of storing the law within his heart. In Psalm 37:30-31, he writes, the mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his mouth speaks what is just. The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip. Do I even need to write anymore? If you desire to do the will of the Lord, I suggest that you start by getting it into your heart through reading and meditation of Scripture. And again as Charles Spurgeon writes, “Where there is not heart work, no pleasure, no delight in God’s law, there can be no acceptance.”
I leave you with the words of our Lord in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. From out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” What is stored up in your heart dear friend?
Grace and peace be with you.
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FROM THE OVERFLOW OF THE HEART