Psalm 40 Continued…
Psalm 40:11-13 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased, O Lord, to save me; O Lord, come quickly to help me.
There is a sharp break when we come to verse 11, a break so sharp that some have suggested the psalm is a composite—that is, that fragments of two of David’s psalms were later patched together by an editor (perhaps King Hezekiah) and welded into one. It is just as likely that David wrote the whole psalm as it now appears in our Bible and that in the first verses he is looking back over past triumphs and in the closing verses he was occupied with present troubles.
So far we have seen David’s CONVICTION (verses 1-5), his CONSECRATION (verses 6-8), and his CONFESSION (verses 9-10). And now we see David’s CONTRITION.
David is no longer reflecting on the past, he is facing his current troubles. David was used to facing trouble. He faced it as a fugitive from Saul and he faced it as a fugitive from his son.
These verses lead us to the conclusion that David was hemmed in by those difficulties and disasters which followed relentlessly upon his heels after his sin with Bathsheba. That sin led, step by inevitable step, to the Absalom rebellion.
But we don’t do justice to these verses if we apply them only to David. They could just as rightly be applied to the Lord Jesus. Words similar to these could have flowed like hot lava from His lips at Gethsemane. For this is, primarily, a Messianic psalm. These words could have been used by Jesus when He told His Father that it was His will that had to be done, when His heart broke there in the garden as He thought of the torments which lay ahead. Let us reverently take this psalm and read it again, but this time imagine that they are spoken from the lips of Jesus.
Let’s look slowly at these verses from both men:
Verse 11: Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me.
[Jesus] The Bible tells us that Judas had received blood money from Israel’s religious leaders; he had accepted the sop from Israel’s rightful Lord; the devil himself had entered into his heart. Already he was marching through the dark streets of Jerusalem with a mob of men at his back. The high priest was already summoning the Sanhedrin to an extraordinary and illegal midnight session. We can hear Jesus talking here about His suffering as Peter, James, and John slept peacefully in the Garden of Gethsemane, only a stone’s throw away, just when he needed them most.
[David] David utters the trusting wish and confident expectation that in the future he will continue to be the recipient of the kindness and guardianship of God; that is, continual preservation through God’s lovingkindness and . . . truth. This brief prayer rises from a heart that has known both the lovingkindness and the truth, and now expresses thanksgiving as well as an appeal.
Verse 12: For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.
[Jesus] Jesus identifies Himself with those sins committed by men. Within a few short hours they were gathered up in one enormous load and placed upon Him. He looked into the dark depths of the cup; he saw there the wrath of God against our sins; He identified Himself with those sins. To think that Jesus, the sinless, spotless Son of God, had to become so identified with our sins as to make them His very own! Oh the shame of our sins—He could not lift up His head for Shame! Oh the sum of our sins—more than the hairs of His head! O the sight of our sins—“and my heart fails within me!” That mighty heart of His that never showed fear or cowered before the mob, that never flinched in the presence of hostile political power, failed him at the thought of our sins.
[David] His prayer became more urgent. David began his prayer by asking the Lord to continue to show him mercy (literally, “compassion”), loyal love, and truth because of the many troubles and sins that surrounded him. The troubles he was experiencing were directly related to his many sins.
Verse 13: Be pleased, O Lord, to save me; O Lord, come quickly to help me.
[Jesus] The Lord’s actual recorded words were: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)
[David] His prayer became more specific as he asked for a quick deliverance (make haste) from his troubles, and the downfall of his enemies.
Deliver me from my enemies was the deeper meaning behind David’s remorse, and it was like the very language our Lord used during His Gethsemane agony. His appeal is for rescue from enemies who seek the psalmist life. David believed that God would save him again as He had before.
We all find ourselves in times of trial and trouble. But what all of us do not have is the frightful view that David had of sin. This made the discovery of a Redeemer even more welcome. In all his reflections upon each step of his life, he discovered something was wrong.
The site and sense of our sins must at the least distract us, if we do not at the same time have faith in the Savior. If Christ has triumphed over our spiritual enemies, then we, through Him, shall be more than conquerors. This may encourage all that seek God and love his salvation to rejoice in Him, and to praise Him. No worries or poverty can make those who fear the Lord miserable. Their God, and all that He has or does, is the source of their joy.
PRAY
Father thank you for saving me from my sin.