Psalms 40:8

I delight. It was Christ’s joy to obey His Father; His was a joyful obedience. When the law is inscribed in the heart, obedience becomes a pleasure. Instead of being regarded as a series of external regulations, perfunctorily to be followed, the law is seen as a transcript of the character of God. A true knowledge of God has led to an intelligent appreciation of the divine character, and has created a desire to copy that character. A sense of the infinite cost of salvation calls forth further appreciation, so that it becomes the Christian’s highest delight to live in harmony with the principles of heaven (see 1 John 5:3; see on Prov. 3:1).

Law. Heb. torah (see on Prov. 3:1).

Within my heart. Literally, “in the midst of my bowels.” With Jesus, the keeping of God’s law was a matter both of intellect and of feeling, of the mind and of the heart (see Deut. 4:29; 6:5).

Verses 6–8 point out one of the primary objectives of the teachings of the Messiah. To the Jews the externals were the sum total of religion. Jesus taught that these were only a means to an end and that the end itself was harmony with the will of God. The basic function of the plan of salvation is to restore in man the image of God, and any system of religion that subordinates this function to adherence to ceremony and tradition thereby obscures the primary purpose of true religion.