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Psalms

Psalm 40

By Pastor Doug
Wait on the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.


 1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
         And He inclined to me,
         And heard my cry.


It took patient waiting.  Our timing rarely ever resembles the timing of the Lord.  If we wait on him, the Lord will meet us and hear our cry.  Waiting for the Lord is not sitting on our hands looking to see of God will move today.  It's abiding, enduring and living in expectation that the Lord will move and work His will. 



 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
         Out of the miry clay,
         And set my feet upon a rock,
         And established my steps.


This is almost a picture of the hopelessness we all have felt.  Being in the pit, bogged down in the miry clay speaks of no good footing and being trapped with no way out.  Then the Lord delivered us miraculously.  He set us on the rock and put our feet under us again. 


 


This is a picture of coming to the realization of sin.  When we realize we are without hope and destined to hell and cry out to the Lord, then he rescues us.  Our feet are established on the Rock of Jesus Christ.  Suddenly we have new life, being born again our steps are now established in the Lord.



 3 He has put a new song in my mouth-
         Praise to our God;
         Many will see it and fear,
         And will trust in the LORD.
The new desires, the new thoughts, the new life, new steps….. all part of the new life put a new song in our mouth.  It's a song of praise and worship.  David said many will see it.  We should always knew we are being watched.  People will wonder, what happened to him?  He was so low, so far down, beyond rescue and beyond hope.  Look at him now!


         
 4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust,
         And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
 5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
         Which You have done;
         And Your thoughts toward us
         Cannot be recounted to You in order;
         If I would declare and speak of them,
         They are more than can be numbered.
Suddenly, with your feet on the Rock, a new song in your heart and a new life in Christ, we see things more clearly.  Blessed……. Or Joy comes to the man who makes the Lord his trust.  There is no real joy among the proud or the deceitful.  God's works are many and going on around us every day.  The person who has received the saving grace of the Lord can ponder daily the wonderful works of the Lord.  And we should, lest we ever think we did something to deserve it or earn it.  Our salvation is an amazing work of the Lord.  And that is just one thing…… one person….. one life.  Who can really speak of all the incredible things He has done?


         
 6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
         My ears You have opened.
         Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
 7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;
         In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
         And Your law is within my heart."
The law required sacrifice and offering.  This law was given by God to reveal His holiness through His people, the Jews.  But the purpose of the law was not salvation, but as a method for us to see our unrighteousness and come to the knowledge of the need for a savior.  God didn't want sacrifices and offerings.  David's ears were opened, his heart was changed.  God wanted a relationship.  In that relationship the law that was written on our heart is our guideline to obedience and personal holiness.  We don't come to God by carrying any sacrifice and any of our own righteousness.  We come to him stripped of all.  We come humbly, knowing we are wretched sinners in desperate need of salvation. 


         
 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.
 10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
         I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
         I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
         From the great assembly.
David let it all out.  He proclaimed the good news to all that would hear.  It wasn't about the righteousness of any man making sacrifice, it was about the righteousness of God.  It was about the coming sacrifice, made once for all men.


         
 11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;
         Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
 12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
         My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
         They are more than the hairs of my head;
         Therefore my heart fails me.
David cried out to God for his continual care and preservation.  We all need God's mercies daily,  We need to be constantly surrounded by His lovingkindness because the evil of this world is all around us.  There is nothing good in us and left to ourselves we will be overtaken by our own iniquities.  We can't just come to the Lord once.  We need His constant presence in our life.


         
 13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
         O LORD, make haste to help me!
 14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
         Who seek to destroy my life;
         Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
         Who wish me evil.
 15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
         Who say to me, "Aha, aha!"
Was this a right and godly response or is this preservation of the flesh?  The Lord is sovereign.  We are test and tried.  We are chastened and suffer in tribulation.  All these things are ordained by the Lord at the very least by His permissive will.  And in all things, God uses these circumstances for His glory.  If David's life was threatened, would he cry out to the Lord?  This passage says yes.  David declares he is with the Lord and therefore the Lord will fight his battles. 


         
 16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
         Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
         "The LORD be magnified!"
 17 But I am poor and needy;
         Yet the LORD thinks upon me.
         You are my help and my deliverer;
         Do not delay, O my God.


 Are we not all poor, wretched, blind beggars crying out to the Lord?  And how exciting when the Lord lifts us up and sets us on the Rock.  How amazing when the God of the universe fawns over us and does a work in our life.  We are nothing and should never forget that He alone made us something.  The Lord be magnified indeed!!  The Lord thinks on me.  That's astonishing and exciting and awesome………