My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Psalm 51:19, from today’s readings
God gave the Israelites a system of sacrifices, some of which were required when a person sinned. But once they had the system in place, the Lord had to teach them how to use sacrifices properly. A rich person might decide to cheat his neighbor and just factor in a sacrificial sheep or goat as part of the cost of getting the nasty business done successfully! Isaiah rants against such practices.
We, too, are asked for small sacrifices during Lent–abstinence on Fridays. The psalm today shows us the vital “inside meaning” of our refraining from meat–it’s not so much what we are not putting into our stomachs, as it is how we are offering our hearts to God. We are not keeping a rule to gain points–we are contrite and obeying because we know we have a long way to go before we are the holy men and women God had in mind when he created us. If you have that realization, the psalmist says, God will not spurn you at all–you can relax into his arms, knowing his joy in you and his care for you has no limits.