When faced with trials, the temptation to despair is always lurking around the corner. Troubles tend to come one after another. Our prayers seem to disappear into the air as soon as they’re spoken, met only with silence. We sink low in the mire and muck of life in a sin-filled world, losing sight of the light. On our own, we are helpless.
Freedom from despair can only be found when we meditate on God’s past, present, and future faithfulness, and allow that knowledge to permeate our hearts.
In Psalm 40, David’s reflection on God’s goodness and past mercies leads him to repentance, while also reassuring him that God will faithfully continue to deliver him from present and future sins and persecution.
God Is Faithful
Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
In verses 1-3, David remembers how God has brought him out of past affliction. He was trapped in a “pit of destruction” and a “miry bog.” In his trouble, he cried out to God for rescue. The Lord heard him and brought him to safety. Afterward, God inspired David to sing a song of praise to the people, declaring God’s faithfulness and goodness. Those who heard it would see God’s mighty power and be led to humble repentance, knowing they were unworthy of his holiness. Then they would trust him because of his mercy. His gracious goodness gave them hope for the future.
This portion of the text previews its main idea: worship should lead to repentance, even while God’s mercy and past faithfulness inspire our trust and further worship.
The Psalm continues:
4 Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
In verses 4-5, David proclaims God’s blessings to those who trust Him. They resist the temptation to go astray on a prideful path of self-reliance, and instead wait for God to act. Just as He has done in David’s case, God hears them and lavishes them with his protection and care. His blessings are so numerous, “they are more than can be told.”
As we wait on God to deliver us from trials, we must not neglect to remember how God has blessed us in the past and the present. Remembering His many mercies allows the Holy Spirit to bolster our faith so that we can resist the urge to “take matters into our own hands” and try to fix our problems our own way. God will meet us in the waiting and lavish us with abundant provision for our needs.
God’s Faithfulness Inspires Worship Through Obedience and Praise
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
God’s goodness inspires David to worship through obedience and praise. He wants to please God, but recognizes that offerings and sacrifices are not enough. What, then, does God require? David sees that God desires a heart that delights in knowing His Word and obeying Him: “‘I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.’” God also wants a servant who worships by joyfully proclaiming His goodness to others: “I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation.”
Remembering all that God has done for us in the past should give us a heart to joyfully serve Him in our homes and communities. His faithful mercy should inspire our love for knowing and obeying His Word. The time we spend reading the Bible should be refreshing and encouraging, not a drudgery. God’s abundant grace should also inspire us to worship Him and declare His goodness to the world. Our praise and gratitude should not be hidden away, but should overflow into our interactions with everyone.
If, like me, you’re feeling a little unqualified for perfect obedience and worship, read on! Verse 11 marks the beginning of a huge shift in the tone of this psalm as David is once again moved to cry out to God for salvation.
God’s Standard of Perfection Demands Repentance
11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
12 For evils have encompassed me
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame
who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
The sudden change in the tone of this psalm is a little jarring at first. Why does David abruptly move from praise to penance and desperation? It’s possible that David’s circumstances changed as he was writing. Perhaps his enemies renewed their attack on him at that time. However, I think it more likely that meditating on God’s standard of perfection brought David to his knees in repentance. Although he desired to obey and glorify God in his life, even David, the “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:!4), was unable to do so blamelessly. He knew that, once again, only God’s unchanging mercy could save him. He was humbled in his distress, yet confidently declared that the God who had saved him in the past would do so again: “your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”
This pattern of worship and repentance should resonate in the heart of every believer. Meditating on God’s past mercies and on His standard of holiness should be humbling. Our worship should continually remind us of our need for his mercy in our sinful hearts and in our circumstances. God’s pattern of faithfulness should inspire our faith that he will always forgive and deliver us. In fact, we should have even more reassurance of our hope in God’s mercy than David had. While King David only had a brief glimpse of his offspring whose throne would be established by God forever (2 Samuel 7:13), we know Him as our Savior.
Whether David knew it or not, the words that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write in Psalm 40:6-8 would actually find their fulfillment in Jesus. Hebrews 10:1-18 explains that the sacrificial system of the Law was never enough to permanently wash away sin. Using just the blood of animals, more sacrifices would always be required. When Jesus came, all of that changed:
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
In the incarnation, God prepared a body for Christ so that he, as fully God and fully man, could live the perfectly obedient life that you and I (and even King David) cannot. He shed his blood as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He met the need for sacrifice forever: “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10) and “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). Through Christ, our sins are permanently forgiven and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, who enables us to be sanctified: slowly becoming more like Christ. When sins or other trials drag us down into despair, we can have hope in God’s past, present, and future mercy because of Jesus. Like David, the hope of that mercy should ultimately inspire us to praise God again.
God’s Mercy Inspires Praise
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
17 As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!
David has been brought low. He is “poor and needy”, yet confident that God will raise him up again. He proclaims: “the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer.” David anticipates God’s future provision, and it leads him back to worship, even in the midst of distress. He says, “may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’”
Suddenly, it’s like we have returned to the beginning of this psalm. For David, and for modern believers, faith amidst trials is like a cycle. We begin by remembering God’s past faithfulness, which frees us from despair and inspires our trust and worship. That worship then leads to humble repentance; we must recognize our need for Jesus. Finally, repentance is met with faithful mercy, so we are again inspired to trust and worship without fear, even in the midst of suffering:
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
"Before the Throne of God Above", written by Charitie Lees Smith
