Psalm 40 Continued…
Psalm 40:1-5 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Psalm 40 seems to have some nicely divided sections. In verses 1-5 we see David sharing his convictions about who God is and what he has done. There is no doubt that David wrote this psalm, but when he wrote it is another matter. Some place its composition during his outlaw years when he was the special object of King Saul’s hate, and there certainly seems to be an echo of 1 Samuel 15:22: But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” We see that in verses 6-8 of Psalm 40.
But the psalm could just as easily have been written during the time of the Absalom rebellion. Absalom began his revolt by holding a sacrificial feast. Indeed, he tried to cast dust in David’s eyes by requesting permission to leave Jerusalem in order to go to Hebron to pay a vow he had made to the Lord (2 Samuel 15:7-8). Hebron, of course, was the focal point of the rebellion and the meeting place of Absalom’s clans. David’s words in verse 6 of the psalm might well be an echo of David’s warning to the Absalom rebels who concealed their insurrection under a shell of religion.
The words themselves, of course, are prophetic. They are picked up and quoted by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 10:5 as speaking primarily of Christ: Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.” This is what makes this Psalm (at least in part) a Messianic Psalm.
In the first five verses of this Psalm we see a song of praise to God for answered prayer. David recalls his “patient waiting for the Lord” (v. 1) and God’s answer. The Lords saving act for the Psalmist lifted him out of “the slimy pit” (v. 2; literally, a roaring pit), the bottom of which was “mud and mire” (a quagmire, or even quicksand), and put his “feet upon a rock” (v. 2). Such deliverance called for a “new song” (v. 3) of praise unto our God. The song of praise merges into a hymn of adoration in praise of the “wonders” (v. 5). Implied is the thought that the number and wonder of God’s purposes for His people are so great that no human mind can set them in order, or figure up the total—“they would be too many to declare” (v. 5).
It was David’s unwavering conviction that sooner or later God always came through for him. The reason is given in verses 1-3a; it is based solidly on his own personal experience. In other words, he gives us his own testimony.
It is his conviction. And that is the thrust of the opening verses of this Psalm. David’s personal conviction. That is what should drive you and me in the telling of our own story as well. We can see so clearly how God has come through for us in our own time of need time and time again.
PRAY
Thank you Father for the wonderful works you have done in my life!