Summer in the Psalms 2024
Psalm 40
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
09-01-2024
Baby Jessica
On October 14, 1987, a little girl fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas. Do you remember her name? Her name was Jessica McClure, but she became nationwide as “Baby Jessica.”
For 56 hours, rescue workers frantically tried to figure out how to get her from the well while 18-month-old Jessica could be heard singing “Winnie the Pooh.”
Paramedic Robert O’Donald finally emerged with Jessica.
This rescue led to rejoicing all over the world. I remember it and, if you are my age or older, I bet you remember it as well.
This morning, we will see that David’s rescue from the pit led to not only his personal worship but the worship of his people as well.
Background of Psalm 40
Today, we finish our Summer in Psalms series. This summer, we studied Psalms 1, 14 15, 20, 23, 27, 32, 96, 103, and today Psalm 40.
In Psalm 37-39, we hear David’s cries for God to deliver him from the guilt and shame of past sins.
In Psalm 40, this plea is answered amazingly.
David wrote this psalm to the Chief Musician and it is called a “mizmor,” which means a song written for stringed instruments.
Remember these are songs that Jesus would sing with his family.
We don’t know exactly what was happening when David wrote this. Was it a betrayal? Was it a sickness? Was it when he had to run from his son Absalom?
We don’t know. But he remembers a time when he was as low as you can go and God rescued him.
Turn with me to Psalm 40.
Prayer
Rescued
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 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 40:1-3)
David begins with waiting and as Tom Petty sang, “The Waiting is the Hardest Part.”
We are a microwave society who get road rage when we have to wait in traffic. We get annoyed at the workers and fellow customers when we have to wait in line. We get furious when we have to wait on hold forever.
Sometimes impatience has devastating consequences. 43-year-old Shawn Higgins, who had been drinking, got stuck behind two slow vehicles on a New Jersey road. He gunned the engine and swerved onto the shoulder to pass them. What he didn’t know was that Johnny Gaudreau, 31, the NHL hockey star known as Johnny Hockey his his little brother Matthew Gaudreau, 29, were riding their bikes on the shoulder. Higgins ran over both of them, killing them instantly.
As if that story could be any worse, they were two hours away from being a groomsman at their sister’s wedding.
The Hebrew is very strong. It says, “In waiting, I waited.” Doubling the term conveys the intensity of the activity.
There are several different kinds of waiting. There is the patient endurance waiting that most drive-thru windows force you into and then there is expectant waiting that you experience at a concert.
You enter the arena and there is electricity in the air. You know that the band is somewhere backstage getting ready. Then the lights go down and the crowd begins to roar.
Waiting is often part of God’s program. But waiting is not the same as inactivity. It is an active expectation of God keeping his promises.
Abraham waited 25 years for the child that God had promised.
Jacob waited for 14 years to marry Rachel.
Joseph waited two years in prison.
Job waited for God to reply to his cries of confusion.
Paul waited 14 years before he went to Jerusalem to tell the other apostles what he had been preaching.
Jeremiah wrote these words when surveying the ruins of his beloved Jerusalem:
“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26)
And David waited years between being anointed king and finally becoming king.
David remembers waiting with endurance and expectation for the Lord. This is the covenant-making, promise-keeping God.
And this God came near. He inclined, “he bent down,” and listened with a tender heart to David’s cries for help.
He not only leaned in and listened but he lifted David out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
The picture of being stuck in a pit is seen in several places in the Scriptures.
Joseph’s brothers threw him into an empty well (Gen 37:24) and Jeremiah was thrown into a well;
“They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.” (Jer 38:6)
There would be no way to get out of the cistern on his own. The bottom would be muddy and the sides would be slimy. He was hopeless. If he was going to be rescued, it would have to come from outside the well.
David wrote in Psalm 69,
“Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink…” (Psalm 69:14)
And that’s what God did! David writes that God pulled him out of the pit but wait, there’s more, and then placed his feet on a rock and gave him a firm place to stand.
In Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel 2, she says:
“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”
He went from sinking into the quicksand to standing safe and secure on a solid rock.
He couldn’t help but rejoice because God had rescued him. ?
A.P. Gibbs writes that David “went from the mire to the choir!”
God gave David a new song, a “hymn of praise to our God.” This new song is probably what we are reading right now - Psalm 40!
The band U2 ends their concerts with their version of Psalm 40.
This was a public rescue and David knew that his people had been watching. His prayer is that many will see and fear the Lord. The Hebrew words for see and fear are very similar. It’s a play on words.
By seeing God’s power in the King’s rescue, David prays that they would fear him.
This isn’t the fear of a prisoner for their executioner. But it is the
awe, wonder, and respect a toddler has for their daddy.
Seeing and fearing would lead to trusting in God. David trusted God and the people witnessed David’s rescue and his rejoicing.
Just like we saw with Baby Jessica.
But it all started with waiting.
Paul Tripp writes that:
“Waiting is not about what you get at the end of the wait; it’s about what you become as you wait.”
Maybe you are in a season of waiting right now. Maybe you are waiting for a prayer to be answered. Maybe you are waiting for healing. Or for a husband or wife. Or for the pregnancy test to finally come up positive. Or for your child to come back home.
Here’s a prayer you can pray while you are waiting,
“God, I don’t exactly know what’s going on right now. I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to be in this season. But I trust You. You are good and I know that you are working behind the scenes for my good and Your glory. I wait in faith.”
Blessed
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.” (Psalm 40:4-5)
David continues that the one who sees, fears, and places their trust in God will be blessed. “Blessed” means happy and is plural, “doubly joy!”
These people will not follow the proud’s example, with their self-sufficient smugness. Who turn aside to gods made in their image.
David is overwhelmed with God’s wonders. When you see the word “wonders” in the Old Testament it speaks of His redemptive actions to rescue his people, like His delivering His people from bondage in Egypt.
I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses:
“Nothing and no one compares to you! I start talking about you, telling what I know, and quickly run out of words. Neither numbers nor words account for you.” (Psalm 40:5, The Message)
David’s mind and heart overflow with praise because of the goodness of God. God has plans and purposes for his people that are beyond their imagination.
When’s the last time you simply told someone else how good God is and what wonders He’s done in your life?
Worship Song: That’s Who I Praise (YT)
Committed
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
Because David has been rescued he can rejoice. His people, who witnessed this, will see and fear and trust in God. This God is immeasurably good and wants our best.
He now goes right to the heart of the matter. Wait, I thought God did want sacrifices and offerings?
There seem to be a lot of rules and commands about sacrifices in the Old Testament.
These sacrifices were a word picture. They symbolized the ultimate sacrifice that the sacrifices pointed to.
They weren’t to be simply empty religious rituals. He didn’t desire or require “going through the motions” religion.
David lists four different ways of interacting with God
Sacrifices - These would be blood sacrifices
Offerings - These would be bloodless, like grain, oil, or wine
These two were about the people’s relationship with God.
Burnt offerings and Sin offerings were a way to atone for sins.
What God wants more than sacrifice is surrendered, sincere, willing service.
When rebuking Saul, Samuel said,
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.” (I Sam 15:22)
Amos delivers these stinging words:
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 5:22-23)
David writes that his ears have been opened, or literally “dug out.” He can hear God’s voice clearly with not just his physical ears but also his spiritual ears.
Then David mentions a scroll. This could be the scroll that kings had to commit to when they were coronated. Or it could speak of the whole Old Testament law.
David’s heart beats for God. He desires to do God’s will. He delights in God’s law.
Can the same be said of you? Is your worship sincere praise from a committed heart or are you just going through the motions because you know how to play church?
If you had visited Soul Survivor Church in England, you would have been impressed. England is a very secular nation but this church had exploded in size and several artists were writing songs that other churches were singing. The church looked healthy.
The worship leader, Matt Redman, writes:
“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”
Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”
This led to some awkward silence at first but soon the services were filled with heart-felt prayers and new songs sung with just the voices.
Reflecting on that journey, Matt sat in his bedroom and wrote this song. It was a response to what he had learned.
Worship Song: The Heart of Worship (KN)
Public Proclamation
“I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.” (Psalm 40:9-10)
Being rescued leads to rejoicing which leads to total self-surrender and then leads to public proclamation.
He frames this positively:
He will proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly.
He will speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
He also frames it negatively:
He does not seal his lips
He does not hide God’s righteousness in his heart
He does not conceal God’s love and faithfulness in the great assembly.
Because David has been rescued he has a song to sing and a story to tell.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.” (Psalm 107:1-3)
{Reel of Ohio State football players at worship service]
A Prayer from the Pit
In music, when a composer wants to add a haunting element to the score, a change to a minor key will do the trick.
That’s what happens in Psalm 40 in verse 11. David switches to a minor key. He is in trouble again and needs God’s help.
“Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me.” (v. 11-13)
David has proclaimed that God has rescued him in the past but doesn’t presume upon God’s mercy in the future.
He begins with a plea to not withhold mercy from him. In Hebrew, this is more of a confident statement - I know you will not withhold your mercy.
The same love and faithfulness that David promised to publicly proclaim, he now asked for God’s love faithfulness, and truth to continually protect him and preserve him.
Why? Because there are internal threats to his peace. He is overwhelmed with troubles, they surround him. Just like in Psalm 32, the guilt and shame of his past sins have overtaken him.
It is a picture of standing in the pounding surf. You get hit by a wave and before you get up, another wave takes you under.
David’s eyes grow dim out of exhaustion and suffering. He can’t even “look up.”
He is losing hope. His heart has literally “left him.” He has felt like this many times.
David writes in Psalm 69:
“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)
David cries out, “Be pleased to save me, Lord.” What a beautiful prayer. Because of God’s love and mercy, we can pray that God would take pleasure in saving us, forgiving us, healing us, providing for us, and guiding us.
There is still a confident expectation but now there is an urgency.
David’s troubles are overwhelming him. Before he waited patiently but now he prays, “Come quickly.”
He says the same thing in Psalm 22:
“But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.” (Psalm 22:19)
Have you been there?
I have friends who have cried out this prayer to God from the “rock bottom” of their addiction.
Or from the verge of their marriage falling apart.
Or when their depression takes them to a dark place.
Or when they got the diagnosis.
Or lost a spouse or a child.
Or they're praying for a child to come back.
In those moments, we can choose to run toward God or run away from Him. But if you run away from God you are running away from hope. Run toward His open arms. Cry out to him for help.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
[Reel of little boy - God chose me]
?
A Plea for His Enemies
“May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame.” (v. 14-15)
David is not only beset by internal struggles like the shame and guilt of past sins but he is also dealing with the external struggle of people wanting to kill him!
These verses are what we call “imprecatory.” Most commentators agree that 14 psalms can be described as imprecatory.
In these psalms, the writer asked that God would show vengeance toward their enemies. Many times, it is graphic and without mercy:
“Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” (Psalm 3:7)
?In Psalm 40, David is a little more subdued but he is still counting on God to rescue him from his foes who want to take his life, who desire his ruin, and who mock him.
Throughout David’s life, he had many enemies, including King Saul and even two of his sons. But he didn’t seek revenge on them. He asked God to take up his cause and protect him and put his enemies to shame.
Most of us don’t have people trying to kill us but you may have those who desire your ruin and would jump at the chance to mock you, especially on social media. How do you handle that?
I’m thankful that Paul gives us very specific instructions:
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him? if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)
In a world gone mad with Twitter beefs, social media wars, and church splits, we are called to be agents of reconciliation. And when that doesn’t happen, we leave it up to God to fight our battles for us.
The Praise of the Redeemed
“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!” (Psalm 40:16)
In contrast to the people who oppose God, His people, and His ways, David prays for the ones who seek after God.
In Psalm 9, David writes:
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)
The redeemed, those who seek God and long for His saving ways, are called to rejoice and be glad in God’s goodness, mercy, and love.
David writes in Psalm 31:
“I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” (Psalm 31:7)
And what is their cry of praise? The Lord is great! In your translation, it may say, “The Lord is magnified!”
When you use a magnifying glass, it doesn’t make the object bigger, it makes our perception of the object clearer.
That’s what happens when we magnify the Lord. We focus on God and our perception of His goodness becomes clearer, especially when we are going through tough times.
Brain Bell said, “When we magnify human beings we see their flaws but when we magnify God we more clearly see His wonders.”
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. (Psalm 145:3)
That’s what we do here when we sing. Sometimes we sing with joyful hearts and other times through tears but each week we have an opportunity to take the focus off of our circumstances and magnify the Lord together.
Worship Song: Great is Thy Faithfulness (Hymnal)
One last cry for Rescue
But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.
David realizes that his help has to come from outside of himself. He might be the king but spiritually he sees himself as poor, afflicted, and destitute.
He asked God to think of him. Have you ever considered that God thinks of you?
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“He thinks of you, and He thinks of you still. When the Father thinks of his children, He thinks of you. When the great Judge of all thinks of the justified ones, He thinks of you. O Christian, can you grasp the thought? The Eternal Father thinks of you!”
With confidence and expectation, David declares that God is his help and deliverer and his God. Throughout the Psalms, through all kinds of emotions, David affirms this again and again:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2)
David begins the psalm waiting patiently but he ends the psalm with an urgent call for rescue. As a friend of mine often says, “God is never late but He’s rarely early.”
Communion
We’re going to end today by asking the same question we’ve been asking each week - where is Jesus in Psalm 40?
David was writing about himself but in a deeper, more prophetic, way, he was also writing about the Messiah that was to come.
The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 40 about Jesus.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered?
For the worshipers would have been cleansed once and for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. The blood of bulls and goats can't take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,? but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings? you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’”
First, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered by the law.
Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” (Hebrews 10:1-10)
There were bad kings like Manasseh and good kings like Josiah but none of these kings were able to fulfill this prophecy. Only the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
He died on the cross, in our place, to pay the sin debt we could not pay.
When you are in a pit, in a moral mudslide, in trouble, He is the one to cry out to. He’s the only one who has the power to get you out of the pit.
Christian recording artist Jordan St. Cyr tells of two weeks in his life when seemed like everything was falling apart - his youngest daughter needed eye surgery, our car broke down, his oldest daughter broke her leg, he lost a record deal, and then his youngest daughter was in the hospital with seizures, the car broke down again, and, on top of all that, the whole family got food poisoning!
So what did he do? He did what God created him to do. He wrote a song about it called Rescue.
Here’s the chorus:
When I needed rescue
Jesus, You came through
Oh, in my hardest season
Your promise held true
And every time I've given in
Lord, You've proven again
That You're still my Savior now
Jesus, You came through
When I needed rescue
Communion
Ending Song: The Love of God (YT)
