“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have pierced — burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.” (Psalm 40:6 NIV)

Why would God pierce our ears?

I remember a Jeanne Mayo sermon about a servant who loved his master so much that when his six years of servitude was up, he refused to go free. Life in his master’s house was better than he imagined. And the Lord, in the Old Testament, had made an allowance for such a circumstance.

“But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.” Deuteronomy 15:16-17 NIV)

Friend, we are well off with Jesus. We are welcomed and loved as sons and daughters. Life in Christ feels less like servitude and more like coming home. 

We needn’t offer bloody sacrifices any longer, only ourselves. We bend our ear to the door and ask Him to mark us with the earring of ownership; tagged like sheep belonging to the Shepherd. To belong is better than going out free. What is freedom without love? What is love without boundaries for well-being? 

We also note; God desires male and female servants. It’s man’s aim to exclude women and thus, inadvertently, amputate gospel efforts. Didn’t the resurrected Jesus speak first, to women? If we are going to reach the whole world (Matthew 28:19) we cannot afford to exclude half the workforce.

Male or female, this ear-to-the-door dedication is what the Lord desires from us. He longs for a bowing of self to a generous and holy God. Our undying devotion and unwavering admiration is nothing less than He deserves.

“Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:7-8 NIV)

Lord, today we lay our heads against Your door. Might it be the Passover door? The trusty frame with Lamb’s blood spilled for the sake of our story? We press our ears against that door, we want to be marked as forever Yours. We submit, again, to Your perfect authority. Have Your way with our lives, they belong to You completely. Amen.