February 10, 2014

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: PAST TRIUMPHS AND PRESENT TROUBLES (Part 1)

A psalm of David.

 ALL FIVE PARTS ARE ON THIS PAGE

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5) 

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

 

1 {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

 

 

Introduction to Psalm 40

 

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 in the middle of it—“Samuel said, “Does the LORD delight as much in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the LORD? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. 

 

We remember how Saul forfeited his right to reign over Israel.  Having solemnly reminded Saul of his calling and coronation, Samuel the prophet sent him on a special mission from God.  Amalek, the ancestral foe of Israel was to be utterly destroyed—Amalek, and Amalek’s King Agag, and everything that is connected with him.  But Saul kept Agag alive and he also kept the best of the sheep and the oxen alive; and then, when challenged by the prophet, angrily excused himself by saying he had kept the animals for sacrifice. But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22)NIV. There is an echo of that in verses 6-8 of this psalm: “Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in; Mine ears hast thou opened: Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I am come; In the roll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God; Yea, thy law is within my heart.”

 

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—“Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]AMP” (Hebrews 10:5).  That is the reason that this psalm may be typed as Messianic; that is, referring at least in part to Christ.

 

The psalm divides into 5 sections:

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

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.

 

 

Introduction to Part 1

 

Part 1 of the psalm is 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 “an horrible pit” (v. 2; literally, a roaring pit), the bottom of which was “miry clay” (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. “Respecteth not” (v. 4) is literally “has not turned to.” The song of praise merges into a hymn of adoration in praise of the “wonderful works” (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” (v. 5), or figure up the total—“they are more than can be numbered” (v. 5).

 

It was David’s unwavering conviction that sooner or later God always came through on behalf of His own. 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.

 

 

 

Commentary

 

1 {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined[1] unto me, and heard my cry.

 

The psalm begins with David’s joyful report to the congregation about his deliverance and an encouragement to them to trust the Lord.  God did something wonderful for him after a long period of prayerful, patient waiting.  Using figurative language to describe his distress and relief, he affirmed that the Lord saved him from his dilemma (like being in a slimy pit with mud and mire; v. 2) and established him firmly on a rock (v. 2).

 

The hopeful expectancy with which he looked to God to answer his prayers for salvation made it possible for him to endure the period of waiting (Isaiah 40:31).  The expression I waited patiently actually suggests “I waited and waited and waited.” And while he waited, he continued believing, hoping, and praying.  This is applicable to Christ.  His agony, in the garden and on the cross, was a horrible pit (v. 2) and miry clay (v. 2).  But those that wait patiently for God do not wait in vain.    It looked to David as though the answer to his prayers would never come.  But it did!

 

That is just how it is so often with us.  We can wait no longer, circumstances are closing in, and it’s getting dark.  We think: “Hurry up, Lord!  It’s getting dark.” God, however, is never to be hurried.  He takes His time, and works to an unfailing schedule.  He smiles at our impatience knowing that His timing is perfect and cannot fail.  So, David says, “The Lord . . . heard my cry!” God does act, but in his own good time and wisdom.  Just as He did with Jeremiah (see the psalms 39:3),“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit” (v. 2). Jeremiah had to undergo just such physical hauling up when he was pulled out of the mud at the bottom of a cistern hewn in a rock (see Jeremiah 38:6-13).  But on another occasion Jeremiah declared, “They have dug a pit for my life” (see Jeremiah 18:20, 22) with clear reference to a spiritual experience.  Here then, the psalm makes use of this kind of strong pictorial language that goes right back in its usage to David himself (see, for example, Psalm 18).  In that way he describes what it means to be rescued from the kind of hell that Psalms 39 speaks of. God’s forgiveness wipes the slate clean, so that the sinner can begin life over again as if the past has never even happened.  No wonder, then, the psalmist can declare “He put a new song in my mouth” (v. 3), a song of praise and personal thanksgiving to our God. Notice (a) even the psalm has to be a gift from God, it is not his own words; (b) He is our God; we all share in the joy of this new beginning; and (c) the joy he now possesses becomes a witness to others.  It draws them (at His appointed time) into putting their “trust in the Lord” (v. 3).

 

 

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

 

The imagery shown here describes his past hopeless and helpless situation.  God, by His grace, had taken him from no footing to sure footing.  That was David’s testimony—“He pulled me ‘out of the miry clay!’ in which my feet were stuck fast, and made me safe upon the ‘rock[2]!’”  Now to sing forever (v. 3) the praise of God!  So there was reason for David’s conviction.

 

It appears that this poor sinner (Wasn’t he, in fact, the author of Psalm 39?) had come to public worship and there had made this great declaration.  Theologically speaking, however, he said more than he knew.  The “horrible pit,” or pit of tumultRSV was a phrase used to describe the lowest level of Sheol, the abode of the dead. “I was not only on the brink,” David said, “but in the very bottom of the pit, and I was desperate and in danger,” as this phrase signifies (psalm 18:16; 69:1, 2).  He was close to death, but in his vivid imagination he was already in the realm of the dead.  Any disaster, but particularly disease, was regarded as involving the sufferer in the sphere of death (2 Samuel 22:5). Thus healing or restoration could be described as deliverance from Sheol (1 Samuel 2:6), the place of the dead.  The horrible pit is pictured here as the underworld, a great cistern, the bottom of which was miry slippery clay were no foothold could be trusted.  From that miry death he cried to the Lord, waiting upon Him in the steadfast faith that He would help.  And from His lofty dwelling God, like a gracious father bending down to hear his child’s voice, heeded his prayer.  He restored the psalmist to health, lifting him, as it were, to the security of a rock.  To reach him, God would have had to go down into those depths Himself before He could bring him up out of the mud.

 

Those that have been under religious despair and discouraged, and by the grace of God have been relieved may apply verse 2 to themselves; they are brought up out of a horrible pit.  Christ is the rock on which a poor soul alone can stand firm. 

 

 

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust[3] in the LORD.

 

That new song is a hymn of praise which the psalmist’s own experience of God’s wonderful acts led him to create.  When tempted to turn to arrogant and foreign gods for help or to pagan priests who give false prophecies in their name, he remained loyal to the Lord.

 

Salvation is really a matter of whom we trust.  Human nature is such that we would trust almost anyone rather than the Lord.  It is the case with most of us, myself included, that when trouble crops up we turn to others for help, instead of taking our troubles to the Lord; He should be the first person we tell, not our last resort.

 

The word fear, as it is used here, means that he stood in awe of God, who seems to have such great power, either to save or to destroy, and he trembles at His judgments and gives Him that reverence, and worship, and obedience which He requires.

 

 

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside[4] to lies[5].

 

Blessed is that man, says David “that maketh the LORD his trust[6].” Blessed is that man (the Hebrew word for a person of position in society) who makes the Lord his trust, and does not go astray in search of false gods; for example, the deception of materialism.  God filled the psalmist with joy, as well as peace. That is what salvation is all about.  It is not a matter of trusting a church or a creed, but of trusting Christ.

 

“The proud,” or, the mighty, that is, are the great and proud rulers of the world, to whom most men are apt to look and trust and in whom the psalmist forbids us to put our trust.

 

David’s testimony was that many became believers because of him; and they shall not be losers for doing so, nor shall their hope be disappointed, but they are and shall be blessed.  He became a soul-winner.

 

 

5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts[7] which are to us-ward[8]: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

 

As someone has put it:

 

Count your many blessings!

Name them by the score!

And it will surprise you

There are millions more.

 

Worship is simply sitting down quietly in the presence of God and seeking to recall before Him all the countless things we have received at His loving hand, starting with the gift of His Son, and then marveling at what a wonderful God He is. 

 

After he had made his great statement in public it seems as if the prophet at the temple, or as we have called him, the “minister,” takes up the theme and develops it, giving God all the Glory.Glory is ascribed to the Lord my God, the object of his faith, whose wondrous (i.e., supernaturally marvelous) deeds are a reflection of His inner thoughts towards us.  He is indeed beyond comparison and those mercies already experienced are just a fraction of what is still kept in store—“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him"(1 Corinthians 2:9). “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works” can be understood to mean “thou art ever adding to thy miracles.” God’s “wonderful works,” for which all persons, men and women, have abundant cause to praise God and to trust in Him, are these—Redemption, Adoption, Pardon, Sanctification, and Providence! Calming a storm is a miracle (“wonderful works”) which Jesus performed, however, it is understandable in terms of natural events. The real miracle the Bible is concerned with is in the area of Redemption; for example, that God would go down into the pit to rescue a sinner and then utterly transform his life into one of joy and compassion.  It is a miracle because the sinner did not do this for himself.  God had thought it out first; then the thought had become action—not once, but countless times.

 

Multitudes, by faith beholding the sufferings and glory of Christ, have learned to fear the justice and trust in the mercy of God through Him.  Many are the benefits with which we are daily blessed, both by the providence and by the grace of God.

 

 

 

 

Jesus Speaks

I said in the Introduction that this psalm may be considered Messianic. Since that is the case, I would like to look at each verse from the standpoint of it being spoken by Christ.

Verse 1: The speaker Is Messiah Jesus.  He waited patiently for the Lord to hear His prayer and to deliver Him out of death. [Christ’s suffering is our example, and His deliverance our encouragement (Hebrews 5:7).]   Even our blessed Lord did not always receive instant answers to prayer.  But He realized that delays do not necessarily mean denials.  God answers prayer at the time that is best suited to the accomplishment of His purposes in our lives. 

Verse 2: The Savior likens His glorious deliverance out of death to being rescued out of a horrible pit and from a miry bog.  Who can imagine what it meant to the Giver of life to step forth from the tomb as the Victor over sin, Satan, death, and the grave—alive forevermore! 

Verse 3: Notice that God is the source of our praise as well as its object.  He puts the new song in our mouth—and it is a song of praise to our God. 

Verse 4: As He thinks of those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, the Risen Redeemer utters one of the greatest, most basic truths in all spiritual life: “Blessed is that man who makes the lord his trust. . . .” True happiness and fulfillment in life come only through faith in God.  It could not be otherwise.  We have been created in such a way that we can realize our destiny only when we acknowledge God as our Lord and Master.  Augustine said it well: “Thou has made us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our heart shall find no rest till it rest in Thee!”

Verse 5: This leads the Messiah to think of how numberless the mercies of God are.  His works and His thoughts of grace toward His people are beyond computation.  Who can fully described the infinite details of His Natural creation?  Who can exhaust the remarkable intervention is of His providence?  Who can comprehend the magnitude of His spiritual blessings—election, predestination, justification, redemption, propitiation, pardon, forgiveness, salvation, the new birth, the earnest of the Spirit, The seal of the Spirit, The indwelling of the Spirit, The anointing, sanctification, sonship, heirship, glorification—“If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”

When all Thy mercies, O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I’m lost

In wonder, love and praise!

—Joseph Addison

 

 

[1] INCLINED: He inclined, or, bowed, that is, Himself, as this very word is rendered in Judges 16:30; or, His ear in order to clearly hear everything he said, as it is more fully expressed in Psalms 17:6; 31:2.

[2] A place of strength and safety.

[3] Fear, and . . . trust means revere with love and faith.

[4] They turn away (aside) from God, in whom alone they ought to trust.

[5] To lying vanities, such as worldly power, and wisdom, and riches, and all other earthly things or persons in which men are prone to trust; which are called lies here, and in psalm 4:2; 62:9; Micah 1:14, and elsewhere, because they promise more than they can perform.

[6] His trust, that is, his only trust or refuge.

[7] Thy thoughts are His gracious councils or plans.

[8] To us-word refers to me and the rest of God’s people, with whom David often attaches himself in this book.


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February 18, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: PAST TRIUMPHS AND PRESENT TROUBLES (Part 2)

A psalm of David.

 

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

 

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

 

 

 

Introduction to Part 2

 

Worship should always result in a fresh surrender to the Lord.  This is the natural response of thankfulness—devotion results in dedication.  A fresh commitment to the Lord should always result from time spent contemplating our immeasurable indebtedness to the Lord.  David realized two very important truths, rarely grasped even today.

  1. The Truth Concerning Ritual
  2. The Truth Concerning Reality

 

Verses 6-8 identify the psalm as being distinctly Messianic.  In Hebrews 10:5-9 we learn that these words were the language of the Son of God when He came into the world.  He was saying, in effect, that although God had instituted sacrifice as an offering for the nation of Israel, they had never represented His ultimate intentions.  They were designed as types and shadows of something better to come.  As temporary stop-gap’s they had their place.  But God was never really satisfied with them; to Him they were less than ideal because they did not provide a final solution to the sin problem.  Recognizing the inherent weakness of burnt offerings and sin offerings, God instead opened the ears of His Beloved Son.  This simply means that the Savior’s ears were open to hear and to obey the will of His Father. It was with His attitude of willing and ready obedience that Christ came into the world.

 

 

 

Commentary

 

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book[1] it is written of me,

 

  1. The Truth Concerning Ritual

 

His mind ran over the sacrificial religious system demanded by the Mosaic Levitical law.  He used four Hebrew words to sum it up: zebach, mincha, olah, chatah.

 

The word for “sacrifice” is “zebach.” Sacrifice is the general term for the common animal sacrifice, boththe bloody and unbloody[2] kind.  It included all the communion-type offerings such as the peace offering, where offerer and priest sat down in the presence of God to enjoy a communion meal based upon the sacrifice.  It is described in Leviticus 4 and 7.  It included the slaughtering of an animal.  Where the sacrifices expressed a loving, obedient heart, they were gladly accepted; otherwise they were valueless (Psalms 50:5; 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6).

 

The word for “offering” (mincha) was used for the meal offering that could accompany the sacrifices, and which related to man’s toil and which emphasized that there is no line to be drawn between the sacred and the secular.  It was an offering which put the emphasis on the holy life of Christ.  The offering was a free-will extra gift to God, which was a way of saying, “Thank you” (Leviticus 7:12-15).  It was because he understood the real purpose of sacrifice and offering that David could say, “I have found that God does not want me to offer either of these sacrifices.  What he wants of me is to live a life of obedience.” He had learned that what God desired was not sacrifice and offering but to do justly, love kindness, and to walk humbly.  He learned, as Jeremiah had taught (7:23), to listen to the Lord’s voice, and to walk consistently with His commands.  The psalmist absorbed into his innermost heart the thought placed in the mouth of Samuel who had taught that—

 

To obey is better than sacrifice,

And to hearken than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22).

 

This doesn’t mean that such sacrifices were wrong, or that God didn’t want His people to offer them, but that God wanted their hearts first of all.  Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord made it clear that He could not accept sacrifices unless the worshipper showed sincere devotion, dedication, and obedience.  No doubt David heard how Saul learned that important lesson—too late. (See 50:8-15; 51:16-17; Proverbs 21:3; Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:22-23; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Mark 12:32-33).

 

“The role of the book” in which he finds God’s will prescribed for him is the priestly law, and the psalmist is living under that law in Judaism, which included ritualistic sacrificial requirements.  Some commentators believe the psalmist is referring to the heavenly book where man’s deeds are recorded (56:8; 87:6; 139: 16).

 

The word for the “burnt offering” is “olah. It symbolized total dedication to the Lord and depicted the precious sweet-savor offering which spoke so eloquently of Christ’s wonderful life of holiness, all being offered up entirely for God in a way which brought immeasurable satisfaction to Him.

 

The word for “sin offering” is“chatah.” It was given to cover specific offenses and bring reconciliation between the offender and God.  It dealt with the dreadfulness of the human condition—with the principle of sin and with the practice of sin.  All of these sacrifices were fulfilled in Jesus Christ whose sacrifice on the cross satisfied the justice of God once and for all, for time and eternity (Hebrews 10: 1-17).

 

David knew and understood the truth concerning ritual.  He saw that, even though the sacrifices themselves spoke of Christ, they were inefficient and inadequate.  Worse, these very sacrifices could be abused, for a person could come to the point where he actually believed that, because he had performed some prescribed ritual, he was therefore completely acquitted of all further moral and spiritual obligation in the sight of God.

 

We have the same thing today.  Calvary has swept away all the sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament but we still have two ordinances which Christ left for His Church—baptism and breaking bread.  There are those who imagine that, because they have been baptized or have put in an appearance at the Lord’s Table, they have thereby discharged all their spiritual obligations.

 

David saw through that; he summed up all the ritualistic sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual legislation in four sweeping words, then wrote off sacrifice without sincerity and ritual without reality as worthless.

 

“Lo, I come” means “Here I am, ready to obey” (see 1 Samuel 3:4, 6, 8; Isaiah 6:8).

 

“Written of me” (or, “on me”) means prescribed to me (2 Kings 22:13). 

 

 

  1. The Truth Concerning Reality

 

“Mine ears hast Thou opened” (digged, bored).  That is how he himself had come to this great realization.  Either God had opened his understanding to hear the truth of the Word or to receive a revelation.  The word translated “opened” means to open by digging.  It is the word Jacob used to describe the tomb he had bored or digged in Canaan (Genesis 15:5)—implying, indeed, that Jacob had actually had to bore or dig into the rock to hew out his tomb.  In numbers 21:18 the same word is used to describe the digging of a well.  The word graphically illustrates how deaf we are!  God, so to speak, actually has to dig or bore into our ears before He can get his mighty Word to penetrate are thick heads!  An open ear means a yielded will and a surrendered body.  When the heart delights in God’s law, the will has no problem obeying (119:11; Deuteronomy 6:6; 11:18; Proverbs 7:3; Jeremiah 31:33). 

 

The truth, however, had finally penetrated David’s soul.  At last he understood that the sacrifices and offerings, even the burnt offerings and sin offerings, had symbolic value only.  They simply pointed to Calvary and, even when that was understood, they were still of little value unless the implications of Calvary transformed the life into one of obedience.

 

The word for “opened” conveys another great truth.  The boring of the ear was something with which every Hebrew would be familiar.  On the day of Jubilee in Israel, all slaves were to be set free.  Here is a slave, however, who loves his master; bondage to such a master was freedom indeed and freedom from him would be wretchedness.  So he declares to the officers of the law, who come to read to him the statement of emancipation; “I love my master…  I will not go out free.” He is then taken to the priest who leads him to a post.  His ear is put against the post and pierced through with an awl.  From then on he is a marked man—he bears in his body the stigmata (humiliations), the slave brand of his master.  He has become a voluntary slave for life—one who’s ear was to listen henceforth to the master’s voice and whose life was pledged to his service.  The hole that remained always reminded him of the one whom, he had decided to serve in loyalty and obedience.  Such then is a picture of the willing service of the redeemed sinner, now that he has found forgiveness and freedom.  Paul speaks of this in Romans 12:1—“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” This was the truth concerning the reality to which David points.  At Calvary, Jesus freely gave Himself up to obedience and blood-shedding for us; and so should we give ourselves irrevocable to Him.  Calvary properly understood, makes me a bond slave of Jesus Christ.  I become a person with “a bored ear,” with no will of my own.  Thus David, in describing his consecration, tells of truth realized in his life.  THE PSALMIST OFFERING IS HIMSELF—“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (51:16-17).

 

 

8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

 

“I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.” The bored ear of the servant meant that henceforth that man’s life was to be lived to a single end—the masters will. David could now say to God: ‘”Low, I come,’ bringing no sacrificial gifts with me, for such is the plan of my life as it is written in God’s book.  In that book there is actually a whole chapter written just about me!  I” am thrilled to do thy will,  O my God; I know exactly what I am to do, because thy law (better, “revelation”) exists in my inner being—not just in my heart but in all the various organs of my body.” It is truly wonderful when God’s law is not only in the head but in the heart; and when it is there it will not be concealed (10).

 

The Holy Spirit picks up this whole passage and applies it all to Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews.  For Jesus was God’s perfect Servant.  He was the One who came specifically to do His will, who did nothing else but that will, and who alone could say: “I do always those things that please the Father.” He it was who prayed in dark Gethsemane: “Not My will but Thine be done.” He it was who became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Whatever consecration David knew, it was only a feeble flicker of a candle’s flame when compared with the burning fire of obedience which blazed in the soul of Jesus.

 

 

 

 


[1] In the volume of the book is literally “in the roll of the book,” since ancient books were made in the form of roles or scrolls. 

[2] Unbloody kind would be the grain offering.

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February 25, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: PAST TRIUMPHS AND PRESENT TROUBLES (Part 3)

A psalm of David.

 

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 3 David’s Confession

 

9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

 

 

Introduction to Part 3

 

This is a psalm of the Messiah; the words are applied to the Lord Jesus in Hebrews 10:5—“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.”  The entire psalm can be applied to the Lord Jesus—first to His resurrection and then to his sufferings on the cross.  These verses describe His earthly ministry.  He had proclaimed the good news of deliverance in the great congregation, that is, to the house (nation) of Israel.  He had not held back anything that God had given Him to declare.  He had not passed over the great truths of God’s saving help, enduring faithfulness, or steadfast love.

 

 

 

Commentary

 

9 I have preached righteousness[1] in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

10a I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.

 

The psalmist feels both the obligation and the impulse to testify before the congregation of the Lord’s worshippers with regard to what he experienced from the righteousness, faithfulness, and saving power of God.  He reveals the transparent nature of his own heart as he makes this pronouncement and emphasizes the fact that he has now fulfilled his obligation to tell the story in the presence of the great congregation[2] of worshippers.  The righteousness of God is at the heart of the Bible’s revelation concerning God.  In Paul’s great doctrinal thesis, the Epistle to the Romans, he uses the word righteousness no less than 66 times.  The great Biblical doctrines of sin, salvation, sanctification, and service (as summarized in this Epistle) all hinge on the fact that God is righteous—that is, that God always does what is right.

 

David preached the righteous majesty of God.  He had seen it at work during the perilous years when he fled as a fugitive from Saul, holding onto the promise of God that the throne would be his and steadfastly refusing to do anything to take the law into his own hands.  He had seen it at work during the prosperous years when he first ascended to the throne and saw all his foes go down before him like corn before the scythe.  He had seen that righteous majesty at work in the punitive years after his sin with Bathsheba, when God righteously raised up first his own kinsmen and then his entire kingdom against him as punishment for his wickedness.  He would see it at work yet again in the peaceful years when, his throne finally restored, he would at last be able to harness all national resources for the building of the temple. 

 

David didn’t hold back; he couldn’t! “I have not refrained my lips,” that is, from preaching it, out of laziness, or fear, or self-love, but had preached it publicly, and even to the face of my enemies, though I knew my preaching would cost me my life.  The change God made in his life when he gave him both the desire and the strength to deliver others from slavery to sin he didn’t keep bottled up inside him, meaning, “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.”I had it there (40:8), but I did not smother or shut it up there, but spread it abroad for thy Glory, and the good of the world.  O Lord, thou knowest;” he calls on the Lord to witness to the truth of what he has said.

 

We can thank God for His righteous majesty—that God always does what is right, that God does what He does because He is what He is.  He is righteous.

 

Some commentators look upon this passage as prophecy, that is, the psalmist foretells of that work of wonder, redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Substance must come, which is Christ, who must bring that glory to God, and that grace to man, which the sacrifices could never do.

 

 

10b I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

 

The righteousness of God divorced from the tenderness of God would be the truth without grace.  It would be cold comfort to know that God always did exactly what was just and right if we did not know that along with His law went His love.  To be faced with a revelation of the holiness of God apart from a corresponding revelation of the heart of God would be a frightening thing indeed.

 

Part of the will of the Lord, according to David’s compliance with it, is praise.  So in these verses he spoke to the great congregation about many of the Lord’s attributes, including His salvation and overwhelming love—what he calls His loving-kindness, not just kindness, but loving-kindnessHe declared before the “great congregation,” God’s faithfulness and God’s salvation (which are now aimed at others through him) as well as His loyal covenant love and faithfulness to him as an individual.

 

This, then, is David’s confession.  He boldly declares before men the twin truths of God’s majesty and God’s mercy; His inflexible character and His infinite compassion.  Clearly these are verses to be underlined by all those whose zeal for the gospel leads them to hope that Christian men and women may get evidence of the power which Christ promised when he said, “You will receive power . . . and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8NIV).  The reality of a man’s testimony about the state of his heart is seen in his willingness to share the good news of God with others.  If private religion does not become public it ceases to be true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


i[1] The New King James Bible translates verse 9: “I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.” This word for good news in Hebrew is the precursor of the New Testament terminology for the “gospel” and “preaching the gospel,” i.e., “announcing the good news.”

[2] The great congregation is the most public and solemn assembly; not only to the Jews, but also to all other nations; to whom Christ preached by his apostles, as is observed in Ephesians 2:17—“He [Christ] came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

*****************************************************************************************************

March 10, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: David’s Contrition (Part 4)

A psalm of David.

 

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 4 David’s Contrition

 

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

 

 

 

Introduction to Part 4

 

There is a sharp break in the psalm at this point as the psalmist gives a brief prayer that the goodness of the Lord which he has experienced in his marvelous deliverance may continue with him forever.  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.

 

In this section we will apply the words to two men, Jesus and David, since either one could have said them.

 

 

Commentary

 

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

 

The remaining verses of the psalm (11-17) seem to carry us back to the cross.  We hear the Savior issuing a most compelling and heart-rending distress call. 

 

[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] There is a close link with what he had just said in verse 10. The connection is this: “I have told the people of Your salvation, Your faithfulness and You’re steadfast love.  Now do not invalidate My testimony by withholding these tender mercies from me.  Let them continually preserve me!” 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.

 

 

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities[1] have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up[2]; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me[3].

                                                                                                                        

[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; He wept: “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs on mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” 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—“Therefore my heart faileth 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.

 

“Innumerable evils,” if applied to our Lord, must refer to the sins of the whole world—“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

 

Mine iniquities in the case of the psalmist is literal; it is figurative in the case of the Savior, who “bear our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).  If actual inequities (sins) is meant, then the verse cannot be assigned to Christ.  Although our sins are said to be laid upon Christ (Isaiah 53), and upon that account He is said to be made sin for us, (2 Corinthians: 5:21); yet the scripture represents him everywhere as one that never knew nor did any sin, (1 Peter 2:22).  Even when his punishment is described, it is expressly noted, that he did not suffer for Himself, or for his own sins, but only for us, and for our sins, as it says in Isaiah 53:4-5, Daniel 9:26, and 1 Peter 2:24.  And therefore it is not likely that the Holy Ghost would use such an expression concerning the sinless Christ of God, for it is never said of Him in scripture; but it is said of man’s own sins, or of the punishment deserved by his own 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 (see 25:17-18; 38:2-14). 

 

Innumerable evils is the broadest term in Hebrew for the bad, hard, or harmful in life.  The evils which encompass the writer are unspecified, but they are said to be due to his own sins.

 

Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me—caught up with me again when I thought I was done with them for good.  Men’s sins are figuratively said to follow them (1 Timothy 5:24), and to find them out (Numbers 32:23).

 

Because of his sins the psalmist is ashamed to look up unto God or men, and he is left without comfort and confidence—“I am ashamed and confounded, due to my numberless sins.”  David knows that though he may be forgiven, the consequences of sin continue, not the least of which is impaired spirituality.  In our journey on earth our sins gain a foothold within us; otherwise there would be no meaning in the process of sanctification.  As a result, it is inevitable that the days of gladness would be followed by times when we are aware that “all is not yet accomplished and the task is not done.”

 

 

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

 

[Jesus] The Lord’s actual recorded words were: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not My will but thine be done.”

 

[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. 

 

The best saints see themselves in trouble, unless continually well-looked-after by the grace of God.  But see the frightful view the psalmist 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.

 

 

 

 

[1] Iniquities are corrective afflictions, and sometimes calamities in the broad sense. 

[2] I am not able to look up—literally, “I cannot see,” does not refer to the depression of conscious guilt, as in Luke 18:13, but exhaustion from suffering, such as was due to poor eyesight (see Psalm 6:7; 13:3; 38:10).  The whole context sustains the meaning assigned to inequities.

[3] My heart faileth me—“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38).

*****************************************************************************************************

March 10, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: David’s Contrition (Part 4)

A psalm of David.

 

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 4 David’s Contrition

 

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

 

 

 

Introduction to Part 4

 

There is a sharp break in the psalm at this point as the psalmist gives a brief prayer that the goodness of the Lord which he has experienced in his marvelous deliverance may continue with him forever.  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.

 

In this section we will apply the words to two men, Jesus and David, since either one could have said them.

 

 

Commentary

 

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

 

The remaining verses of the psalm (11-17) seem to carry us back to the cross.  We hear the Savior issuing a most compelling and heart-rending distress call. 

 

[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] There is a close link with what he had just said in verse 10. The connection is this: “I have told the people of Your salvation, Your faithfulness and You’re steadfast love.  Now do not invalidate My testimony by withholding these tender mercies from me.  Let them continually preserve me!” 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.

 

 

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities[1] have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up[2]; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me[3].

                                                                                                                        

[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; He wept: “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs on mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” 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—“Therefore my heart faileth 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.

 

“Innumerable evils,” if applied to our Lord, must refer to the sins of the whole world—“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

 

Mine iniquities in the case of the psalmist is literal; it is figurative in the case of the Savior, who “bear our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).  If actual inequities (sins) is meant, then the verse cannot be assigned to Christ.  Although our sins are said to be laid upon Christ (Isaiah 53), and upon that account He is said to be made sin for us, (2 Corinthians: 5:21); yet the scripture represents him everywhere as one that never knew nor did any sin, (1 Peter 2:22).  Even when his punishment is described, it is expressly noted, that he did not suffer for Himself, or for his own sins, but only for us, and for our sins, as it says in Isaiah 53:4-5, Daniel 9:26, and 1 Peter 2:24.  And therefore it is not likely that the Holy Ghost would use such an expression concerning the sinless Christ of God, for it is never said of Him in scripture; but it is said of man’s own sins, or of the punishment deserved by his own 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 (see 25:17-18; 38:2-14). 

 

Innumerable evils is the broadest term in Hebrew for the bad, hard, or harmful in life.  The evils which encompass the writer are unspecified, but they are said to be due to his own sins.

 

Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me—caught up with me again when I thought I was done with them for good.  Men’s sins are figuratively said to follow them (1 Timothy 5:24), and to find them out (Numbers 32:23).

 

Because of his sins the psalmist is ashamed to look up unto God or men, and he is left without comfort and confidence—“I am ashamed and confounded, due to my numberless sins.”  David knows that though he may be forgiven, the consequences of sin continue, not the least of which is impaired spirituality.  In our journey on earth our sins gain a foothold within us; otherwise there would be no meaning in the process of sanctification.  As a result, it is inevitable that the days of gladness would be followed by times when we are aware that “all is not yet accomplished and the task is not done.”

 

 

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

 

[Jesus] The Lord’s actual recorded words were: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not My will but thine be done.”

 

[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. 

 

The best saints see themselves in trouble, unless continually well-looked-after by the grace of God.  But see the frightful view the psalmist 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.

 

 

 

 

[1] Iniquities are corrective afflictions, and sometimes calamities in the broad sense. 

[2] I am not able to look up—literally, “I cannot see,” does not refer to the depression of conscious guilt, as in Luke 18:13, but exhaustion from suffering, such as was due to poor eyesight (see Psalm 6:7; 13:3; 38:10).  The whole context sustains the meaning assigned to inequities.

[3] My heart faileth me—“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38).

*****************************************************************************************************

March 20, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

 

Title: PSALM 40: David’s Consolation (Part 5)

A psalm of David.

 

Part 1 David’s Conviction (verses 1-5)

Part 2 David’s Consecration (verses 6-8)

Part 3 David’s Confession (verses 9-10)

Part 4 David’s Contrition (verses 11-13)

Part 5 David’s Consolation (verses 14-17)

 

 

 

Psalm 40 (KJV)

Part 5 David’s Consolation

 

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my.

 

 

 

Introduction to Part 5

 

Almost every phrase in this section is found in other psalms as well as in Psalm 70.  This use of other sources stands in sharp contrast to the originality of verses 1-11.  However, the great need of the psalmist is no less real.

 

David always knew where to turn when his troubles overwhelmed him, he turned to God.  The Psalmist prayed for deliverance, help (13), vindication in the face of scorn (14-15), and blessing for the people of God (16).

 

 

 

Commentary

 

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

 

After pleading for immediate attention (40:13), David requests that his enemies’ punishment be suited to their crimes.  For their attempts on his life he wishes that they would be “ashamed,” “confounded (baffled),” “driven backward,” “put to shame,” and “desolate” (40:15).  Their “shame” is due to their plans and hopes being blocked by the Lord.  However, here, as in other psalms, his enemies may well be the temptations and feelings of guilt that keep on welling up inside him and which seek to snatch away his life (“that seek after my soul (my life) to destroy it”).  Real life is fellowship with God.  Anything that deprives me of this blessing of life which is God’s gift should be shamed out of existence. 

 

He further requests that seekers of God may truly “rejoice” and magnify the “Lord” (40:16).  He believed that the Lord, in rescuing him, should confound all those who wanted to take his life and those who plotted his ruin (35:4[1]), with the intention of dethroning him.

 

No matter how strong and numerous his adversaries; no matter that “the conspiracy was strong” (as the historian says concerning Absalom’s rebellion; no matter that Ahithophel, the most intelligent and clever of David’s counsels, had gone over to the other side—God is mighty!  One, with God, is a majority! 

 

 

15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

 

Although his troubles appear to overwhelm him, he knows where his help comes from, so he prays for the Lord to help him defeat his enemies.  For gloating over his misfortune he would like to see them shocked by the depth of their own humiliation; therefore, he asked the Lord to make them “desolate[2] as “a reward” for their shamefulbehavior.  “Their shame,” refers here to their sinful and shameful actions. 

 

If someone objects that these judgments are incompatible with a God of love, I would only remind him that in refusing love, man deliberately chooses his own punishment.

 

The psalm contrasts (a) the perverted glee of those who say “Aha, Aha!” with (b) the enthusiastic joy of those who love “making,” “creating” God’s shalom (peace), as Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5:9, 12[3], for it is something that comes alive in the community.  For they do so “to the greater Glory of God.”

 

Our trouble is that we have such puny, microscopic ideas about God.  We’ve scaled Him down to our size or we make Him just a little bigger than ourselves.  We need to think great thoughts of God.  We need to magnify Him.  We need to think of Him in terms of all the suns and stars of space, all of which are mere pebbles under his feet.

 

 

16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

 

If Christ has triumphed over our spiritual enemies—which He has—then we, through Him, shall be more than conquerors.  This may encourage “all those that seek” God and “love” His “salvation,” to “rejoice” in Him, and to praise Him.  He prays that they might always find their enjoyment in the Lord.  He hopes that all those who “seek” God “will rejoice and be glad in” Him, and that “such as love” His “salvation” will “say continually,” “The Lord be magnified!” These would be the effects of God’s answer to his prayer.

 

Most of all, David wanted “the Lord to be magnified” and His people to be blessed as they served Him.  This desire is linked with a desire for blessings upon all who can join from a heart in his song of praise. “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him” (Psalm 40:3; NIV).

 

Magnification always glorifies God.  We can’t take anything man has made, put it under a microscope, magnify it, and its defects and imperfections will be exposed.  But put the works of God under a microscope, magnify them, and more and more wonders will be seen!  Magnification only glorifies God.  His works in creation and redemption will bear the closest scrutiny and the more they are “magnified” the more amazed and astonished we shall be!  It is the work of the scientists to magnify God as Creator; it is the work of the saint to magnify God as Redeemer.

 

I have read that there is no word in the Old Testament for “religion.” The Epistle of James (1:27) reminds the early Christians what true “religion” is all about—no sacrifices, as the psalmist has found, no saying of creeds, not even prayer and fasting; it is basically obedience, shown in loving service to others, and to the God who has given his loving service to us.

 

 

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

 

As for himself, his strength is small and his need is desperate.  But he takes comfort in the fact that the Lord thinks about him.  As someone has said, “Poverty and need are not barriers to the thoughts of God.” Realizing his own inadequacy, the psalmist exclaims “I am poor and needy”; yet he remains confident that “God” thinks about him and will prove to be his “helper” (30:10[4]) and “deliverer.” No griefs nor poverty (37:14[5]) can cause those to be miserable who fear the Lord.  Their “God,” and all that He has or does, is the source of their joy.  Just to know that we are constantly on God’s mind is sweet encouragement for the soul (1 Peter 5:7[6]).

 

As for “God” Himself, He is the “help and deliverer” of His beloved Son.  And so in the final salvo of supplication the Lord Jesus prays, “Do not delay, O my God.” The answer is not long in coming.  On the third day the Father reaches down and delivers Him from the desolate pit, as we saw in the first part of the Psalm.

 

It seems, then, that in this Psalm we have first the answer to prayer and then the prayer itself.  This vividly suggests the promise, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). 

 

What is this Glory of God?  It is many things, but here it is His concern for the “poor and needy,” for the powerless, for the disenfranchised, for the wretched of the earth (Proverbs 23:10-11[7]).  Such people are not “hands” in a factory, or statistics in a United Nation survey.  Each one is a me, a human soul, a child of “God.” And some sin.  And “the Lord thinketh upon me,” ceaselessly.  And, of course, “I am” bound up in the bundle of life, in and with the living “God” (1 Samuel 25:29[8]). 

 

David couldn’t see what lay ahead, but “God” knew the future and had everything under control.  And as he often does (7:1, 5; 22:19; 38:22; 71:12[9]), David prayed for speedy deliverance (“make no tarrying”).  “I am—thou art” says it all.  The great “I AM” is adequate for every need.  Poverty and need are not barriers to, but arguments for, the consideration of God.

 

The psalm’s whole expression of praise, its reliance upon God’s promise and its plea for “help” are caught up and crystallized in the words of this last verse.  No one other than the Lord can “help”; no one else is asked for “help.”

 

In this way, then, we reflect back to the ideas we found at verse 6[10].  But in all this He is “my help and my deliverer.” Who else would think about the “poor and needy?”  That, however, is just the kind of God we have!  A merciful God!  On that note David ends the psalm, signs it, and sends it “to the chief Musician.” “There!” he says, in effect, “Now that is something to sing about!” So, keep at it, “O my God.”

 

 

 

 

 

[1] (Psalm 35:4; NIV) May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay.

[2] (Desolate) amazed, or dismayed, or overthrown.

[3] (Matthew 5:9, 12; NIV) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God . . . Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

[4] Psalm 30:10; KJV) Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper.

[5] Psalm 37:14; NIV) The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

[6] (1 Peter 5:7; NIV) Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

[7] (Proverbs 23:10-1; NIV) Do not move an ancient boundary stoneor encroach on the fields of the fatherless,for their Defender is strong;he will take up their case against you.

[8] (1 Samuel 25:29; NIV) Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

[9] (Psalm 71:12; KJV) O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

[10] (Psalm 40:6; NIV) Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—but my ears you have opened—burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.