Open Ears

 October 10, 2021

Psalm 40 is one of those psalms that has nuggets strewn throughout its 17 verses. “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined to me and heard my cry” is how it begins, continuing with, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.” 

Sometimes I’ve had to wait for his answer longer than I wanted, but he has never failed to deliver, strengthen, and guide me when I’ve waited. He has as verse 3 says, “put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God.” This has been literally true over the years, as he has given me songs that yet need to be recorded, but are in my head and heart. 

Tonight, it’s verse 6 that claims my attention: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears you have opened.” The first part of this verse is pretty straightforward; there is no sacrifice I could offer worthy or valuable enough to pay for my sins. I could as Paul said, “give all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned,” and it wouldn’t be enough. So, because I have nothing worth offering to God, he himself  provided the sacrifice in the death of Jesus Christ, his Son. 

It’s the second half of this verse that intrigues me. At first glance, it says that God took the initiative and opened my ears, enabling me to hear and believe his Word of salvation. This much is true, but I think it goes deeper. In Exodus 20, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and in chapter 21, expands upon them. In an age where slavery was common and accepted, God puts boundaries around how masters are to treat those who serve them. 

“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” —Exodus 21:2-6 

This legislation was intended to limit what could be done to a slave. Today, we consider all forms of slavery evil, but lest we imagine ourselves to be better than those who bought and sold people as property, most of us would complain bitterly if we had to do the work we blithely pawn off on our mechanical slaves—appliances, automobiles, heavy equipment. We pride ourselves on our superior ethics and values, all the while we live easily off the devices that serve as our slaves. Take them away, and many who preach loudly would soon change their tunes. But I digress.

Relationships of respect and genuine caring could and did develop between masters and slaves, and even though servitude was limited to seven years, when the time of manumission came, if treated well, the slave might choose to stay with the master. If this happened, the slave would have his ear pierced as a sign that he chose to continue serving the benevolent master, even though it wasn’t required of him. That is what this verse of psalm 40 is referring to: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,” ie. “I am not being forced to serve,” but “I choose to serve as long as I live, and I place my head against the doorpost so you can open my ear with the awl as sign of my loyalty to you.” 

God has opened my ears. I listen to him, but even more, I choose to serve him as long as I live.