If our hearts are in trouble, as his was who wrote this Psalm, may we be able to act as wisely and as well as he did, and so obtain a like deliverance!
Psalms 40:1-2. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 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.
God does nothing by halves; if he brings people up out of their sorrow, or their sin, he takes care that their feet shall not slip back again into the mire. David says, «He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.» What a blessing that last little sentence contains! God does not set our feet upon a rock, that we may afterwards slip off, and finally fall, but he establishes our goings, he makes our footing firm, so that we do not perish after all.
Psalms 40:3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
Such a song as I never sang before; for I had never been in such trouble before, and therefore had never experienced such a deliverance as the Lord has now granted to me. «He hath put a new song in my mouth.» With that sweet songstress, Ann Letitia Waring, I can say,
«My heart is resting, O my God;
I will give thanks and sing;
My heart is at the secret source Of every precious thing.
«And ‘a new song' is in my mouth,
To long-loved music set;
Glory to thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet.»
Psalms 40:3-4. Even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
You know that this Book of Psalms has many benedictions in it. It begins with a blessing upon «the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful;» but here it has a blessing for the believer: «Blessed is that man that maketh Jehovah his trust.» As for the proud and the false, may God preserve us from ever paying any regard to them; for, if not, they will lead us into some such mischief as that into which they have themselves fallen.
Psalms 40:5. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,
«Thy works in creation, in providence, and in redemption,»
Psalms 40:5. And thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
God is always thinking of his people, and his thoughts are wise, and kind, and practical, for, when he thinks of doing anything for us, he speedily performs it.
Psalms 40:5. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Think of that! You cannot count God's thoughts of you. If he were only to think of us once, in tender mercy, that one thought would run on throughout eternity, for he does not retract either a thought that he thinks or a word that he utters. Instead thereof, one gracious thought is followed by another, swiftly as the beams of light flash from the sun, so that it is impossible for us to number them. Thus thinking and writing concerning God's work, the psalmist is carried away, as it were, into a vision, in which he sees Christ, and speaks in the name of Christ:
Psalms 40:6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
The blood of all the bullocks, rams, and lambs offered in sacrifice, had possessed no real efficacy in putting away sin. They had no virtue except as types, and symbols, and prophecies of the one great sacrifice that was to come.
Psalms 40:6. Mine ears hast thou opened:
Probably alluding to the ceremony of boring to the door-post the ears of those who determined to remain as slaves to their masters when they might have gone free. So Christ was ready to be the servant of his Father, and the Saviour of sinners; he voluntarily undertook to bear all that this would involve.
Psalms 40:6-8. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
He was the perfect One, coming to do God's will for us, and offering himself as the truest sacrifice that could ever be presented to God. So we may rightly picture our great Lord and Master uttering these words when he came to die.
Psalms 40:9-10. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 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.
With what indefatigable earnestness, with what indomitable courage, with what sacred faithfulness, with what holy tears, did Christ preach the truth while he was upon earth! He was ever the Prince of preachers; so, when he was dying, he could plead this fact with his Father.
Psalms 40:11-12. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about:
Was it not so with Christ? The evils of sinners seemed to compass him about, and, like wild beasts, to hunt him to the death; and the saints of God, in their measure, may often use similar language to that which the psalmist here, prophetically, used concerning Christ.
Psalms 40:12. 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.
We could not apply this language to the Saviour except as we spoke of the sins of ourselves and others which were laid upon him; but we may apply this language, and ought to apply it to ourselves when we are sorely beset by sin. Have not even you, who are the dear children of God, sometimes felt as if you could not look up, and dared not look up? You were so desponding, so downcast, that there seemed no help for you, even in God. Your sins, your cruel sins, your fierce tormentors were; and therefore your heart failed you.
Psalms 40:13-15. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. 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. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
So will it surely be, for the enemies of God's people are God's enemies; and Satan and all his host, who seek to destroy the souls of the Lord's chosen, shall be driven backward, and covered with eternal shame.
Psalms 40:16. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
Are you content to bear your present trial, dear friend, so that God may be magnified? Are you willing to be reduced, by infirmities and weaknesses, to a condition of absolute nothingness, so long as God is exalted? If you are, then you will be saying continually, «Let God be magnified in my weakness, let his majestic love be seen amid all my sorrows.»
Psalms 40:17. But I am poor and needy;
A double expression for a poverty that is doubly felt; perhaps, poor in temporals; certainly poor in spirituals; poor, and full of needs, yet with nothing to supply those needs: «I am poor and needy;»
Psalms 40:17. Yet
That is a blessed «yet»
Psalms 40:17. The Lord thinketh upon me:
That is enough for me; if he thinks upon me, his thoughts are so kind, and generous, and wise, and practical that he will help me.
Psalms 40:17. Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.