December 12
Reading: Psalm 40
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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!
This psalm has a two part construction. Verses 1-12 is the testimony, looking back on what the Lord has done in delivering David from harm. Verses 13-17 is the prayer, looking ahead and asking God to continue to deliver.
The testimony part is comprised of five sections, all considering different aspects of the Lord’s saving action in David’s life, how David looked to the Lord, and the fact that David will not and cannot be silent about His great God.
vss. 1-3 “I waited for the Lord.”
vss. 4-5 “I trust in the Lord.”
vss. 6-8 “I delight to do Your will.”
vss. 9-10 “I do not stop talking about You, Lord.”
vss. 11-12 “Your love preserves me.”
The prayer part begins with a prayer for deliverance. Then David considers those who would hurt him (vss. 14-15) They want to see David dead and they delight in any pain he suffers. David asks that they be put to shame and stopped.
David then considers those who seek God. They rejoice in the Lord and love His salvation. They are humble and come to God in need and not in arrogance. They cry out to God for help. So, David asks that the Lord would not delay in helping them.
This all really is a song of trust in the Lord, for this is how faith works, always. Faith looks back and sees what God has done; in my life, in the lives of others, in history, in the Bible. Faith remembers God’s saving actions in my life and in people that I hear about and hear from.
And then faith looks to the future and makes the very logical inference that; if God has done what He has done in the past for His people; and God is eternal, unchanging, loving, faithful, all powerful; then God will continue to do these things for His people in the future. And, then as time moves on, I see God doing just that, and so my faith grows, and I trust Him more.
Therefore, Jesus says that you need faith like a child, faith like a mustard seed. All you need to do is to begin trusting God. When you trust Him a little you see that He is faithful and so you remember and trust him a little more and more and more. You do not need great faith in God, just faith in a great God.