I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Psalm 40 Waiting for the Lord Monday Club Sermons. There is a Divine law of waiting which has an essential connection with the larger law of giving. I. IN WAITING FOR GOD WE DISCOVER OUR DISTANCE FROM HIM. God may be near us, and we far off from Him. II. WAITING FOSTERS THE SENSE OF A NEED WHICH GOD ALONE CAN SATISFY. The sense of the depth of guilt must be gained by sounding. III. WAITING REVEALS THE GOODNESS OF GOD. If the sinner reviews his life, the sense of the Divine mercies is blended by his sense of guilt. He sees the golden roll of the providences of his life. The goodness of God leads him to repentance. IV. WAITING LEADS TO A DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN THE FORM AND THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION (vers. 5-8). Every one who has come into covenant with God in his heart, and is now living in covenant with Him, has a book in his hand. It describes his duties and his rights in relation to God; and he promises to make it the guide of his life. As Christ engaged to fulfil the volume of the book as it applied to Him, so we engage to fulfil it as it applies to us. V. WAITING SHOWS US THE IMPORTANCE OF AN OPEN CONFESSION OF GOD. The selfishness of sin is now revealed to us as the inner depth of its guilt. Will you, if God comes now and lifts you out of this pit, confess Him; will you try to live as a secret disciple, or will you publish what He has done for your soul; will you take a public position, and let your light shine? ( Monday Club Sermons. ) The Christian's patience Patience, as it is not apathy, is not sluggishness, or indolence. There are circumstances which justify haste. For example, we do not walk, but rush out of a house on fire, or falling, a sudden ruin. Patient waiting for the Lord is quite consistent with boldness in design, and energy and promptitude in action; and only inconsistent with those unbelieving, impetuous, ungovernable, headstrong passions which breed impatience, and lead people be run before Providence instead of waiting on it. Of this let me give you two examples. I. BY CONTRAST ILLUSTRATE WHAT IT IS TO WAIT ON THE LORD. 1. Look at the conduct of Abraham. On his leaving Ur of the Chaldeans to wander a pilgrim in the land of Canaan, God had promised that he should become the father of a great nation. But though the father of the faithful, he formed an unhallowed alliance with an Egyptian; then, with terrible consequences following, he failed to wait patiently for the Lord. 2. Look at the conduct of Rebekah. The Lord had promised that to her younger son Jacob the covenant blessing should be given. But she could not see how this was to be, and so, becoming impatient, she takes steps to anticipate God's time, and lays her hand on the wheel of Providence. Rash woman! she will hurry on the event, and so contrives that lie and deception on Isaac which blasted for ever their domestic peace. Rebekah and he ran before Providence; they did not wait patiently on the Lord. II. LOOK AT DAVID'S OWN EXAMPLE OF WAITING ON THE LORD. A merchant in times of bad trade, or other trying circumstances, instead of trusting in God to bring him through his difficulties, or sustain him under them, has recourse to fraud; or a poor man, instead of trusting Providence with the supply of his wants, and committing his children to the care of Him who hears the young ravens cry, hard-pinched and pressed, puts out his hand to steal. But how often David was tempted to impatience. How long he had to wait ere the promise made to him was fulfilled. How faint his hope of ever reaching the throne appeared; yet David hoped in the Lord, and patiently waited God's way to put him in possession of the kingdom. III. CONSIDER HOW WE ARE PATIENTLY TO WAIT ON GOD. 1. We are to wait patiently on Providence in the common affairs of life. To the neglect of this may be attributed not a few of the failures that happen in business. People are impatient to get on in life; to acquire a competency; to be rich. 2. We are to wait patiently on God under the trials of life. He who went forth so magnanimously against Goliath turns pale with fear before those who neither had the giant's stature nor the giant's strength. Where is now the man, whose faith rising with the trial, once said, He that delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine! But he feigns madness, letting his spittle fall on his beard, playing himself off for a fool. What a contrast to the heroic trust of Daniel, who, after the night spent with the lions, into whose den he had been cast, was able to reply to the anxious king, My God hath sent His angel, and shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me. And who wait on God piously, prayerfully, patiently in their trials, shall have the same tale to tell; the same experience — He will shut the lions' mouths, that they shall not hurt them. 3. We are to wait patiently upon God to complete our sanctification. We cannot be too earnest, too diligent, but we may be too impatient. Take comfort! "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation!" The river may appear flowing away from the sea, when, but turning round the base of some opposing hill, it is pursuing an onward course. The ship may appear to be standing away from the harbour, when, beating up in the face of adverse winds, she is only stretching off on the other tack, and at every tack making progress shoreward, though to others than seamen she seems to lose it. It is star by star that the hosts of night march out; it is minute by minute that we grow in other things. Here also, then, let us wait patiently for the Lord. ( T. Guthrie , D. D. ) Waiting for the Lord M. D. Hoge, D. D. Some may remember the feeling of disappointment with which in their youth they read the last line of Longfellow's "Psalm of Life." "Learn to labour and to — wait." Any one could understand the difficulty of labour, but how easy if one had only to wait t But experience has taught us a great lesson, that all labour is light compared with the labour, the stress, the suspense and weariness of waiting. The word "patiently" is not in the Hebrew, but it is implied. Such waiting is full of heroic elements — fortitude, resignation, faith, expectation, perseverance. As long as anything can be gained by effort it will be active, for it is too earnest to sit and rest when it should stand and work; but when the desired good is something beyond its reach, when personal exertion proves unavailing and help from others is impossible, then its agitation will be calmed and its hope invigorated by its determination to wait patiently for the Lord. There are exigencies in life when comfort can come from no other source. The providences of God are often so dark and full of seeming menace that the soul perturbed by them is like the ship in which Paul sailed when no small tempest lay on it, and when for many days neither sun nor star appeared. A drifting soul is in more jeopardy than a drifting ship. Again, patient waiting for the Lord gives solace and strength to the Christian when disheartened by the slow growth of his own spiritual life. Such dissatisfaction with self, when accompanied by longing for a more entire conformity to the Divine image, is the sure evidence of a gracious state, though it be not recognized by the subject of it. To eradicate all that is dark and defiling from the soul, and to cultivate the plants of righteousness until they are laden with their mellow clusters, require not only diligence but time. "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth," etc. So, too, wait patiently for the Lord when discouraged because you see so little fruit of your labour ( Psalm 126:6 ). ( M. D. Hoge, D. D. ) Reminiscences of a godly life Homilist. I. HE RECOLLECTS HIS PERSONAL DEVOTION. 1. The nature of his religious exercise. He "waited patiently for the Lord"; it was the habit of his soul. (1) Belief in the Divine existence. (2) Sense of dependency upon God. (3) An expectation of good from the Almighty. 2. The result of his religious exercise. "He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He came near to me." It is the prayer of the whole life that the Almighty hears and answers. It is not a spasmodic shriek, it is a settled, sacred state of being ( Isaiah 57:15 ). II. HE RECOLLECTS DIVINE INTERPOSITIONS. "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit." The spiritual state of truly good men. 1. It is a Divinely restored state. From what a wretched state has the sinner been delivered. (1) State of darkness — a pit. The sun that bathes the world in its brightness breaks not the dense gloom of the pit. (2) Misery — horrible pit — cold, black, dense, tumultuous. (3) Helplessness. "Miry clay" — ever sinking into mud of moral corruption, all the faculties of being submerged and held fast. 2. It is a Divinely established state. Hast "set my feet upon a rock." (1) His intellect is established in truth. (2) His heart is established in love. (3) His purpose is established in conduct. 3. It is a Divinely progressive state. "He has established my goings." Onward! is the watchword of the godly man. The point reached to-day is the starting-point for to-morrow. 4. It is a Divinely happy state. "He hath put a new song in my mouth." Godliness is happiness. 5. It is a Divinely influential state. "Many shall see it and fear." (1) Godliness is conspicuous. You cannot conceal the true light. (2) Godliness is reverenced. "And fear." (3) Godliness is blest. He who lives a godly life becomes unconsciously the influence of bringing others to God. III. HE RECOLLECTS THE HAPPINESS OF RELIGION (ver. 4). 1. True religion is trusting in the Lord, not in man. 2. True religion, because of this, is ever connected with blessedness. (1) Reason shows this. (2) History shows this. (3) Consciousness shows this. IV. HE RECOLLECTS GENERAL INTERVENTIONS OF MERCY. "Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works," etc. 1. They are wonderful. Wonderful in their variety, condescension, forbearing and compassionate love. 2. They are intelligent — not accidental, capricious or impulsive. They are the results and embodiment of thought. All God's works are thoughts in action. 3. They are innumerable. Can you count the sands on the sea-shore, or the drops that make up the ocean? Then you may sum up the mercies of God to you. ( Homilist. ) Patient waiting Canon Liddon. It would be far easier, I apprehend, for nine men out of ten to join a storming party trying to take the citadel of the enemy than to lie on a rack or hang on a cross without repining. Yes, patience is a strength; and patience means not merely strength, but wisdom in exercising it. We, the creatures of a day, make one of the nearest approaches that is possible for us to the life of God. St. has finely said of God, "Patiens quia aeternus" ("Because He lives for ever He can afford to wait"). The greatest heroes among men are they who "wait patiently." ( Canon Liddon. ) He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. Psalm 40:2 Out of the pit J. H. Jowett, M. A. I. HIS CONDITION. 1. He was sunk in deep and dark depression. He was what we describe as "down," brought very low, plunged into great despondency and despair. We very well know what brings men into the pit. Grief can do it, and failure, and a multiplicity of tasks. But, above all, sin takes the "lift" and buoyancy out of life, and makes it the victim of an appalling gravitation which sucks it into abysmal depths of helplessness and darkness and despair. This is the horrible pit in which we have all been sunk. 2. A second element in the condition of the psalmist is interpreted by the descriptive word "horrible," "the horrible pit," or, as the margin gives it, "the pit of noise." And is not this the modern experience? When a man is in the pit he is addressed by confused and confusing voices. One man calls to us and tells us that our depression is purely imaginary, we are the victims of our own thoughts and dreams. Another declares that we are a little "out of sorts," and that the doctor will put us right in a week. A third avers that "more need we the Divine than the physician." It is a "pit of noise" and confusion. 3. A third element in the suppliant's depression is described in the phrase, "the miry clay." Surely we know the experience in our own life! The ground slips from under our feet. We have no foothold. There is nothing solid, nothing dependable. II. His RESOURCES. "I waited patiently." His being was collected, and all fixed in intense expectancy on God. 1. "He inclined unto me." The figure is exquisitely helpful. "He stretched right out and down to me." His arm was long enough to reach me, even when I was in the deepest pit. 2. "And beard my cry." Just as the mother, when the house is filled with company, hears the cry of her babe in the chamber above. Or just as a shepherd hears the faint lone cry of the lost lamb in some ravine on the open moor. III. His DELIVERANCE. "He brought me out." That is to say, He lifts me out of my captivity. We cannot struggle out. Struggling will only aggravate our bondage. When we are in the Slough of Despond One comes to us called "Help." "He set my feet upon a rock." Hitherto I have been in the miry clay, the victim of uncertainties, despondencies and doubts. But now He has "enlarged my steps under me," and I find myself upon the highway of the Lord. "And He hath established my goings." Thus He not only lifts and confirms me, but He vitalizes my soul. We all know the ease that comes to the feet when we have been trudging through heavy mire and we find ourselves upon a well-made turnpike road. As soon as we come to the good road we say to one another, "Now we shall be able to step out." That is the suggestion in the psalmist's phrase, "and hath established my goings." We are able to step out, nay, to go as those who are "marching to Zion"! ( J. H. Jowett, M. A. ) The supreme change Julius Brigg. I. WHAT THE GRACE OF GOD DELIVERS FROM. 1. A position of degradation — "A pit." 2. A position of misery — "A horrible pit." 3. A position of danger — "The miry clay." (1) Insecurity. (2) Helplessness. (3) Death ( Jeremiah 38:9 ). II. WHAT THE GRACE OF GOD BRINGS MEN TO. 1. A condition of spiritual elevation — "up." 2. A condition of spiritual stability — "And set my feet upon a rock." 3. A condition of spiritual advancement — "And established my goings." 4. A condition of religious happiness — "And He hath put a new song," etc. III. IN EFFECTING THIS CHANGE THE DIVINE BEING AND THE SINNER HAVE THEIR DISTINCT PROVINCES TO OCCUPY. 1. The sinner prays — evidencing — (1) Deep sense of need. (2) Deep consciousness of helplessness. (3) Trust in "the mercy and power of God. 2. The sinner waits — (1) In earnest expectation. (2) In the assurance of help being granted. 3. The Lord inclines His ear and hears the cry. 4. The Lord puts forth His saving power — "He brought me up." IV. LESSONS. 1. To believers. (1) Spiritual elevation no cause for boasting. (2) Spiritual stability no cause for self-confidence. (3) Spiritual advancement to be carefully maintained. (4) Religious happiness to be continued and increased. 2. To unbelievers. (1) Yours a position of degradation, misery and danger. (2) This position gradually becoming worse. (3) Escape is possible by penitential application to God ( Hosea 13:9 ). What a future sinners must have if they remain in the pit! What a future sinners may have if they turn to Christi ( Julius Brigg. ) Brought up from the horrible pit This passage has been very frequently, and rightly, used as telling the experience of God's people. Yet I am not certain that the first verse could be rightly uttered by all of us. Could we say, "I waited patiently for the Lord"? Might it not be more truthfully said of us, "I waited impatiently for the Lord"? Alas, patience is still a scarce virtue upon the earth. Therefore, though we may regard the psalm as in a secondary sense belonging to David, in the first instance a greater than David is here. For the first person who uttered these words was the Messiah. Our text, therefore, belongs primarily to Him. Note, then — I. OUR LORD'S BEHAVIOUR as here set forth. 1. He waited upon the Lord. He did so all His life, but this waiting became more conspicuous in His passion and death. 2. And patiently. His atonement had not been complete had it been otherwise. No expiation could have been made by an impatient Saviour. 3. And prayerfully. Let Gethsemane tell. Jabbok is outdone by Kidron. See, then, our pattern. Have we waited, and waited thus? II. OUR LORD'S DELIVERANCE. 1. It is represented as a bringing up out of a horrible pit. I have been in the dungeon at Rome in which, according to tradition, Peter and Paul were confined. It was, indeed, a horrible pit, for originally it had no entrance but a round hole in the rock above; and when that was blocked neither light nor fresh air could enter. No being has ever been so cruel to man as man. Man is the worst of monsters to his kind, and his cruel inventions are many. Now, our Lord was like a man put into a pit. Hence he was quite alone. Thus it happened to our Saviour. All His disciples forsook Him and fled. And in total darkness. Midnight brooded over His spirit. And full of distress. The grief and sorrow which He felt can never be described. He felt care upon care, night blackening night. But He was brought up out of all this; at that moment when He said, "It is finished"; and at the resurrection and by His ascension to the right hand of God. Now His sorrow is ended. 2. A second figure is used to tell of His grief. "Out of the miry clay." In such horrible pits the imprisoned wretch often found himself sinking in the mire. And our blessed Lord found when He was suffering for us that everything appeared to give way beneath Him. But He was brought up like Jonah was from the deeps. And He was set "on a rock." He stands on a firm foundation in all that He does for us. Judgment and truth confirm His ways. When He saves He has a right to save. And His goings are established for continuance, certainty, victory. Best of all, there is a new song in His mouth, "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." The song of heaven is "the song of Moses and the Lamb." III. THE LORD'S REWARD. "Many" — not all, but many — "shall see it and fear," etc. They shall, for He hath the key of all hearts. They shall see; see Him as their Saviour, and shall fear. It makes men fear to see a bleeding Christ. And best of all, they "shall trust in the Lord." IV. THE LORD'S LIKENESS IN HIS PEOPLE. All this may be repeated in them. Like sorrow, but let there be like waiting, and there shall be like deliverance. Sinner sinking in guilt, He can deliver you. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) History of the soul's salvation E. H. Hopkins I. THE BELIEVER'S SAFETY. 1. The author of it. "The Lord" ( Psalm 25:5 ). 2. The nature of it. "On a rock" ( Psalm 27:5 ). 3. The individual realization of it. "My feet" ( Psalm 31:8 ; 2 Timothy 1:12 ). II. THE BELIEVER'S WALK. 1. A firm footing. Feet on a rock. "Wherein we stand" ( Romans 5:2 ). 2. Steady progress ( Psalm 37:23 ; Psalm 16:11 ). "Established my goings." 3. Safe keeping ( 1 Samuel 2:9 ; Jude 1:24 ). III. THE BELIEVER'S SONS. 1. The song of reconciliation ( Isaiah 12:1 ). 2. The song of deliverance ( Exodus 15:1-19 ). 3. The song of victory ( 2 Chronicles 20:17-26 ). IV. THE BELIEVER'S INFLUENCE. 1. "Many shall see it" ( Matthew 5:16 ). 2. "Many shall fear" ( Acts 2:37, 43 ). 3. "Many shall trust in the Lord" ( Acts 2:41 ). ( E. H. Hopkins ) The pit of destruction It is possible that the reference may be to a mode of hunting, anciently practised in the East, and still practised in some parts of the East, in the interior of Africa, and in some of the Polynesian Islands. When a dangerous wild animal was to be captured, a largo hole was dug in the ground. At the bottom of the pit thus dug a goat was placed as bait, and the opening of the pit was covered with light branches and foliage. The wild animal, attracted by the bleating of the goat, made a spring in the dark for the goat, fell through the branches, and was securely trapped. From this point of view David had fallen, or been tempted into, a pit of sin; and had been plucked by the mercy of God from the clinging mire of its bottom and the slippery clay of its sides, and placed upon the sure foothold of a rock. And set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Fixity and progress G. Matheson, D. D. What a strange contradiction — rest and movement, fixedness and pliability, stedfastness and variation. How can a man be made to run by his fixedness? How can his power of motion be increased by that which is supposed to rivet him to the spot? In all things of the spirit, is it not ever so? Is not the rapidity of my movement always in proportion to the rootedness of my conviction? The firmer is my rock, the more established are my goings. It is the resting soul which flies. I have no wings until I have a fixed heart. The dove that descends upon the Jordan must first light upon the Son of Man. Is it not written ( Isaiah 40:31 )? What is that but to say that the rock makes the outgoing? I never do such work as when I am at rest. It is the calm within makes the power without. The soul whose works have followed it is the spirit of the man who has rested from his labours. ( G. Matheson, D. D. ) And He hath put a new song in my mouth. Psalm 40:3 The new song on earth I. We have here A MAN WONDERING TO FIND HIMSELF SINGING. God had put a new song into his mouth, and it was a marvel even to himself. What makes you wonder so? Other people sing: why is it at all a wonder that you should? He answers, "It is a wonder that I should sing, because I have been so used to sighing. I had my evening moans and groans, for sin was heavy upon me, and an angry God seemed to make the darkness about me a darkness that might be felt. Had you seen me then, you would not think it strange that I should be a wonder to myself that now I sing." Well, I can see why you are astonished at your singing; is there any other reason? "Yes," he answers, "if you had known me a little farther back, before I came under the hand of God, and was awakened to a sense of sin, you would have known a fellow that could sing; but the wonder now is that I can sing ' a new song.' I am glad, sir, that you did not hear me sing in those days, for my songs would have done you no good. It is not only called a new song because it is new to us, but because it is so uncommon. Rich and rare things are often called in the Bible new. There is a new covenant, a new commandment, etc. And, oh, the praises of God are indeed rich and rare! And, truth to tell, there is a wonder about our new song because it is always new. Do you ever tire — you who love your Lord — do you ever tire of Him? You who praise Him, do you ever weary of singing His praises? II. We have here A MAN WHO IS RESOLVED TO KEEP ON SINGING, for, you notice, he says, "He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see, and fear, add shall trust in the Lord"; so that this man means to keep on singing. I must have you back again, old friend, and ask you why it is that you mean to keep on singing. He answers, first, "Because I cannot help it." When God sets a man singing, he must sing. Good Rowland Hill once had sitting on the pulpit-stairs a person who sang with such a cracked, squeaking voice that it put the dear man out of heart; and this person with the cracked voice of course sang more loudly than anybody else. So Mr. Hill said to him, while the hymn was being sung, "Be quiet, my good man, you make such a dreadful noise that you put us all out." "Oh!" said the man, "I am singing from my heart, Mr. Hill." "I beg your pardon, my friend," said the preacher, "go on, go on, go on with your singing if it comes from your heart." So we would not stop any man, whatever his voice is, if he sings from his heart. But do not sing before everybody; perhaps it would be casting pearls before swine. "Oh!" says he, "but I must; I mean to sing before many." Why? "Well, I used to sing before many in my evil days. I was not ashamed to sing for the devil. When I ought to have been ashamed I was not; and now that I ought not to be ashamed, I will not be ashamed, and I will sing. Besides, why should I be so tender and considerate of their nerves? They are not thoughtful about mine." Still, do you think that it is worth while to sing at this rate? "Yes," says he, "I do, for I believe that it is good for them to hear it." Do you? What good can it do them? And he answers me thus. "Look at your text, sir, and you will not need to ask me that question; what does your text say? .... Many shall see, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord." ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The saved man's new song When Charles Wesley was impressed with the thought that he ought to live a different life to that which he was living, a more distinctly Christian life — he was anxious from this very point to get a satisfactory answer to the question, "Is it necessary to acknowledge Christ openly, to tell to people that I am a Christian?" And, walking in the streets one day, he met a holy, saintly Moravian minister, and he asked him, in the course of conversation, "Is it really necessary that I should openly confess Christ?" That good, blessed man said to him, "If you had a thousand tongues, use them all in telling of your Saviour." Well, he sought and found the great blessing of peace through Jesus Christ; and then you know what followed, and what always comes in Christian experience. He did not need to ask men whether he should tell others that he had found the pearl of great price; he sat down, and he wrote that hymn — Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer's praise, The glories of my God and King, The riches of His grace! Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord The power of a good life J. Bailey, Ph. D. We are not alone in anything we do. We are connected from the cradle to the grave with many others. We have our family, and our kindred, our social friends, our business connections, our neighbours and fellow-citizens. Upon all these we exercise influence, both consciously and unconsciously. By our uprightness they are strengthened, by our courage they are cheered, by our perseverance they are confirmed in the love of right. Every person is thus a preacher to his neighbour; and the most powerful of all eloquence is the eloquence of a virtuous life. It is a testimony to the whole world that religion is not utopian. It can be practised and realized; for here it is done. When a parent adds to the gentle precepts of true religion delivered to his children, the practice of a just, a patient, loving life, he preaches to his household in golden words. When a Christian tradesman shows a spirit of honour and rectitude in his dealings, a desire to afford full justice to his customer, as well as to himself, he preaches with the utmost force the sermon, "Go thou and do likewise." The best sermon any one can preach on patience is actual calmness under provocation. The preaching of truly good lives is what the world now most needs. It is the one sweet note having the power to reduce to harmony all the discords of mankind. ( J. Bailey, Ph. D. ) Blessed is the man who maketh the Lord his trust. Psalm 40:4 The blessedness of making the Lord our trust W. H. Horwood. I. WHAT IS IMPLIED BY OUR TRUST. 1. That it rests in the Lord Himself. 2. It sets aside all self-confidence. II. SOME REASONS WHY THE MAN WHO MAKES THE LORD HIS TRUST IS BLESSED. 1. He acts in accordance with the Divine will. 2. There is stability in his trust; you may always depend upon it. 3. It bestows true manly dignity and freedom from all servile fears. 4. It gives quiet composure to the mind. ( W. H. Horwood. ) The Lord our trust W. Wright. The psalmist here expresses — I. A PECULIAR HABIT OF MIND. What is implied in trusting in God? 1. A knowledge of His character. 2. It implies the consciousness of reconciliation. 3. Obedience. 4. Piety or devotion. II. THE HAPPINESS CONNECTED WITH THIS TRUST IN THE LORD. 1. See it by way of contrast. For how insufficient and unstable are the objects in which the world trusts. Riches, skill, virtue and the like. 2. In the perfections of the God in whom we trust. Think of all His attributes and each will minister to this happiness. 3. In what is prepared for such, both here and hereafter. ( W. Wright. ) Faith commended I. FAITH HAS THE DIVINE APPROVAL. Wherever there is faith God is pleased with it. He has made it the main requirement of His gospel. It is the one thing needful in prayer. It is the mode and manner of the spiritual life, for "the just shall live by faith." II. THIS IS HIGHLY REASONABLE. We love to be trusted, and are much troubled when we are not. It is our proper position towards God, and it supplies the link between us and Himself. The complete confidence of the heart is the essence of obedience and the fountain of it. And it is no objection that faith, trust, seems such a small matter. But within the compass of it there lies a force whose power would be difficult to measure. It is a virtue which contains within it seed enough to sow all the acreage of life with holiness. III. AND FAITH IS BLESSEDNESS. For in trouble it assures us that "all things work together for good." And it releases from trouble. Read this psalm. It creates within him a deep peace and a holy elevation of character. We put down our foot on what seems thin as air and, behold, it is firm as a rock beneath us. But some one says, "I could not live with nothing to depend upon." Is God nothing? The believer has nothing more, and what does he want more? And faith makes blessed in death. For the believer knows he cannot truly die. If ye will believe, ye shall have both heaven on earth and heaven in heaven. God uplift us from the miry clay of unbelief to the rock of confidence in Him." ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Trust in She Lord -- the only way to happiness " As happy as a king "is a common phrase; but history almost seems to say, "As miserable as a king." In his last will Henry IV. spoke most sadly of his life, which he had "misspended." The last words of Henry VIII. were, "All is lost." "I, Eleanor, by the wrath of God, Queen of England," so wrote Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of Henry II. Queen Mary begged that, when she died, not even the semblance of a crown might be put upon her brow. "I am aweary of my life," said Queen Elizabeth to the French ambassador. And in the present time we have all seen how much there is in the lot of the Czar of all the Russias that none of us would like. — True happiness can never be realized, either by king or peasant, apart from God, and the wise king said very truly, "Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee. Psalm 40:5 God's wonderful works and thoughts to us-ward J. Riddell. I. LET US RECALL SOME OF THE WONDROUS WORKS AND THOUGHTS OF GOD TO USWARD DURING THE YEAR. 1. The first wondrous mercy is life itself, How wonderful is life! We lavish upon it our choicest and fondest expressions. With what jealous care we guard it. What are all our daily toil and efforts but a battle for life! When the last stroke seems about to fall, how, do we quiver and weep! When that stroke is suspended, what joy thrills through our frame! Life with its five mysterious senses — life, with its powers of knowing — life, with its susceptibilities of loving and aspiring — life, with its sublime sense of duty, and with its affections and hopes that soar towards God and heaven — is a treasure that makes the weakest man the possessor of boundless wealth. But life is not more sweet and precious than it is frail. At any moment the small dust of the balance may turn the scale against us. A slight pressure of the brain, a pause of the breath, and all is over. Life is a frail ship that ploughs the great ocean amidst hurricanes and lightnings, by quicksands and rocks. How wonderful is it that this frail ship should sail for twenty, forty, seventy years — that this breath should flow on — this flower bloom, not for one, but for many years! 2. We have another illustration of the wonderful works and thoughts of God to us-ward, in the means of life and the comforts of life. Life hangs on the power of God, and no means can give life one moment longer beyond God's will; but life cannot be maintained without means, and t

Benson Commentary Psalm 40:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1-2 . I waited patiently for the Lord — Hebrew, ??? ????? , kavvo kivviti, in waiting I waited, or, in hoping I hoped, which doubling of the word signifies that he waited or hoped diligently and earnestly, patiently and perseveringly, until God should be pleased to help him. And he inclined unto me — Or bowed himself, or his ear: see Jdg 16:30 ; Psalm 17:6 ; Psalm 31:2 . He brought me up also out of a horrible pit — From desperate dangers and calamities, signified by a similar phrase, Psalm 18:16 ; Psalm 69:1-2 . I was not only on the brink, but in the very bottom of this pit; out of the miry clay — In which my feet stuck fast. As David often compares himself in distress to a sinking and drowning man; so here he compares the affliction from which he had been delivered to that of a man thrown into some loathsome and filthy dungeon. And set my feet upon a rock — A place of strength and safety; and established my goings — Or my steps; that is, kept me from stumbling, or falling again into misery. Psalm 40:2 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. Psalm 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it , and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:3 . He hath put a new song into my mouth — Both by giving me new matter for a song, and by inspiring me with the very words of it. Many shall see it — Shall observe God’s wonderful mercies vouchsafed to me; and fear — Shall stand in awe of that God, whom they see to have so great power, either to save or to destroy; and shall trust in the Lord — Their fear shall not drive them from God, but draw them to him, and be attended with trusting in him. Psalm 40:4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Psalm 40:4 . Blessed is the man, &c. — I said, many shall trust in the Lord, and they shall not be losers by it, nor disappointed of their hope; but they are and shall be blessed. And respecteth not — ??? ??? , velo-panah, looketh not toward, namely, with delight and desire to imitate; or with confidence and expectation of relief; the proud — Or the mighty; the great and proud potentates of the world, to whom most men are apt to look and trust. Nor such as turn aside — From God, in whom alone they ought to trust. To lies — To lying vanities, such as worldly power, and wisdom, and riches, and all other earthly things or persons, in which men are prone to trust; which are called lies, because they promise more than they perform. Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them , they are more than can be numbered. Psalm 40:5 . Many are thy wonderful works — For which I and the rest of thy people, included in the plural pronoun us, have abundant cause to praise and to trust in thee, as was said Psalm 40:3 . And by which it will appear that he that trusteth in thee is in a most blessed and safe condition, as expressed Psalm 40:4 . And this verse, wherein he passes from the singular to the plural number, may seem to be interposed as a wall of partition between that which David speaks in his own person, and that which he speaks in the person of the Messiah. And thy thoughts — Thy gracious counsels or contrivances; which are to us-ward — To me and the rest of thy people; to whom David often joins himself in this book. They cannot be reckoned up, &c. — It passes our skill to order or reckon them up in order unto thee, because, indeed, they are innumerable. Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Psalm 40:6 . Sacrifice, &c. — These and the four following verses may, in an improper sense, belong to the person and time of David; when God might be said, not to desire, or require, legal sacrifices, comparatively. So the sense is, Thou didst desire obedience more, or rather, than sacrifices, as was said 1 Samuel 15:22 . But in a proper and full sense, they belong only to the person and time of the Messiah, in whose name David utters these words. And so the sense is, God did not desire or require them for the satisfaction of his own justice and the expiation of men’s sins, which could not possibly be done by the blood of bulls or goats, as is said Hebrews 10:4-6 ; but only by the blood of Christ, which was typified by them, and which Christ came into the world to shed, in pursuance of his Father’s will, as it here follows, Psalm 40:7-8 . So here is a prediction concerning the cessation of the legal sacrifices, and the substitution of a better instead of them. Mine ears hast thou opened — Hebrew, bored. I have devoted myself to thy perpetual service, and thou hast accepted of me as thy servant, and signified so much by the boring of mine ears, according to the law and custom in that case, Exodus 21:5-6 . The seventy Jewish interpreters, whom the apostle follows, Hebrews 10:5 , translate these words, a body hast thou prepared me. In which translation, though the words differ, the sense is the same; for the ears suppose a body to which they belong, and the preparing of a body implies the preparing of the ears, and the obligation of the person for whom a body was prepared, to serve him who prepared it; which the boring of the ear signified. Psalm 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, Psalm 40:7 . Then — When I understood and considered thy mind and will therein expressed, Psalm 40:6 , I said within myself, by a firm purpose; or unto thee, by way of promise, or engagement, Lo, I come — If these be considered as the words of a servant, answering to the call of his master, and signifying his readiness to obey him, they may be accommodated to David. But they much more literally and truly belong to Christ, and the sense is, Seeing thou requirest a better sacrifice than those of the law, lo, I offer myself to come, and I will in due time come into the world, as this phrase is explained in divers places of Scripture, and particularly Hebrews 10:5 , where this place is expressly applied to Christ. In the volume of the book — These two words, volume and book, are used of any writing, and both express the same thing. Now this volume of the book is the law of Moses, which is commonly and emphatically called the book, and was made up in the form of a roll or volume, as the Hebrew books generally were. And so this place manifestly points to Christ, concerning whom much is said in the books of Moses, as is evident from Luke 24:27 ; Luke 24:44 ; John 5:46 ; Acts 3:22 ; and Acts 26:22 ; and Acts 28:23 . And this sense being plain and natural, and unforced, and exactly agreeing both with the words, and with the truth of the thing, and with the belief of all Christians, there can be no good reason why we should not acquiesce in it. Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8 . I delight to do thy will — This also, though in a general sense it may be true of David, and of all God’s people, yet, if it be compared with the foregoing verse, and with the explication thereof in the New Testament, (in which those mysteries, which were darkly and doubtfully expressed in the Old Testament, are fully and clearly revealed,) it must be appropriated to Christ, of whom it is eminently true; and it is here observed as an act of heroic obedience, that he not only resolved to do, but delighted in doing the will of God, or what God had commanded him, which was to die, and that a most shameful, and painful, and cursed death. Yea, thy law is within my heart — I do not only understand it, but receive it with heartiest love, delighting both to meditate on it, and to yield obedience to it. Psalm 40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. Psalm 40:9-10 . I have preached righteousness — Namely, thy righteousness, as it is expressed in the next verse; that is, thy faithfulness, as it is there explained; or, righteousness properly so called; for both were fully declared and demonstrated in Christ; the former in God’s sending him into the world, according to his promise, Acts 13:23 ; and the latter in inflicting death upon him for man’s sin, Romans 3:25-26 . In the great congregation — In the most public and solemn assemblies; not only to the Jews, but also to all nations; to whom Christ preached by his apostles, as is observed, Ephesians 2:17 . I have not refrained — From preaching it, even to the face of mine enemies, though I knew my preaching would cost me my life. O Lord, thou knowest — I call thee to witness the truth of what I say. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart — I had it there, Psalm 40:8 ; but did not shut it up there, but spread it abroad for thy glory and the good of mankind. I have declared thy salvation — Which thou hast wrought both for me and by me. Psalm 40:10 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. Psalm 40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. Psalm 40:11-12 . Withhold not thy tender mercies, &c. — This prayer is uttered by David, either, 1st, In the person of Christ, to whom it may agree; or, rather, 2d, In his own person. For having been transported by the Spirit of God to the commemoration of the great mystery of the Messiah, of whom he was an illustrious type, he now seems to be led back by the same Spirit to the consideration of his own case. Mine iniquities — Either, 1st, The punishment of mine iniquities, as Genesis 4:13 , and elsewhere; or, 2d, The iniquities themselves. This cannot be understood of Christ. For although our sins were said to be laid upon him, Isaiah 53:6 , and upon that account he is said to be made sin for us, 2 Corinthians 5:21 ; yet the Scripture everywhere represents him as one that never knew or did any sin; and, therefore, it is not probable that the Holy Ghost would use such an expression concerning him, as is never used in Scripture, but either of a man’s own sins, or of the punishment deserved by them. Have taken hold upon me — Men’s sins are figuratively said to follow them, 1 Timothy 5:24 , and to find them out, Numbers 32:23 ; and here to take hold on them as an officer takes hold on a man, whom he arrests. So that I am not able to look up — Unto God or men with any comfort or confidence; I am ashamed and confounded. They are more than the hairs of my head — Namely, mine iniquities here mentioned, properly so called; for God’s people are more apt to aggravate their sins than the punishments of them. Psalm 40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: 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. Psalm 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Psalm 40:13-16 . Be pleased to deliver me — From my sins, and the punishment due to them. Let them be ashamed — For the disappointment of their hopes and designs. That seek after my soul — That is, my life. Let them be desolate — Or, They shall be desolate, or dismayed, or overthrown, as ????? , jashommu, also signifies. For a reward of their shame — That is, Their sinful and shameful actions, as shame is put for a shameful idol, Hosea 9:10 , and as fear is often put for the evil feared. Let such as love thy salvation — That great salvation of which the prophets inquired and searched diligently, and which the Redeemer undertook to work out, when he said, Psalm 40:7 , Lo! I come. All that shall be saved love God’s salvation, which is not only a salvation from hell, but a salvation from sin. Say continually, The Lord be magnified — Let them have continual occasion to magnify Jehovah for his mercies vouchsafed to them. Psalm 40:14 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. Psalm 40:15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. Psalm 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. Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. Psalm 40:17 . I am poor and needy, &c. — “The church, like her Redeemer, is often poor and afflicted in this world, but Jehovah thinketh upon her, and is solicitous for her support; she is weak and defenceless, but Jehovah is her help and her deliverer. With such a Father, and such a friend, poverty becometh rich, and weakness itself is strong. In the mean time, let us remember, that he who once came in great humility, shall come again in glorious majesty. Make no tarrying, O our God; but come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,” Revelation 22:20 . — Horne. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . 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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 40:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1-17 THE closing verses of this psalm reappear with slight changes as an independent whole in Psalm 70:1-5 . The question arises whether that is a fragment or this a conglomerate. Modern opinion inclines to the latter alternative, and points in support to the obvious change of tone in the second part. But that change does not coincide with the supposed line of junction, since Psalm 70:1-5 begins with our Psalm 40:13 , and the change begins with Psalm 40:12 . Cheyne and others are therefore obliged to suppose that Psalm 40:12 is the work of a third poet or compiler, who effected a junction thereby. The cumbrousness of the hypothesis of fusion is plain, and its necessity is not apparent, for it is resorted to in order to explain how a psalm which keeps so lofty a level of confidence at first should drop to such keen consciousness of innumerable evils and such faint-heartedness. But surely, such resurrection of apparently dead fears is not uncommon in devout, sensitive souls. They live beneath April skies, not unbroken blue. However many the wonderful works which God has done and however full of thankfulness the singer’s heart, his deliverance is not complete. The contrast in the two parts of the psalm is true to facts and to the varying aspects of feeling and of faith. Though the latter half gives greater prominence to encompassing evils, they appear but for a moment; and the prayer for deliverance which they force from the psalmist is as triumphant in faith as were the thanksgivings of the former part. In both the ground tone is that of victorious grasp of God’s help, which in the one is regarded in its mighty past acts, and in the other is implored and trusted in for present and future needs. The change of tone is not such as to demand the hypothesis of fusion: The unity is further supported by verbal links between the parts: e.g., the innumerable evils of Psalm 40:12 pathetically correspond to the innumerable mercies of Psalm 40:5 , and the same word for "surpass" occurs in both verses; "be pleased" in Psalm 40:13 echoes "Thy pleasure" (will, A.V.) in Psalm 40:8 ; "cares" or thinks (A.V.) in Psalm 40:17 is the verb from which the noun rendered purposes (thoughts, A.V.) in Psalm 40:5 is derived. The attribution of the psalm to David rests solely on the superscription. The contents have no discernible points of connection with known circumstances in his or any other life. Jeremiah has been thought of as the author, on the strength of giving a prosaic literal meaning to the obviously poetical phrase "the pit of destruction" ( Psalm 40:2 ). If it is to be taken literally, what is to be made of the "rock" in the next clause? Baethgen and others see the return from Babylon in the glowing metaphors of Psalm 40:2 , and, in accordance with their conceptions of the evolution of spiritual religion, take the subordination of sacrifice to obedience as a clear token of late date. We may, however, recall 1 Samuel 15:22 , and venture to doubt whether the alleged process of spiritualising has been so clearly established, and its stages dated, as to afford a criterion of the age of a psalm. In the first part, the current of thought starts from thankfulness for individual deliverances ( Psalm 40:1-3 ); widens into contemplation of the blessedness of trust and the riches of Divine mercies ( Psalm 40:4-5 ); moved by these and taught what is acceptable to God, it rises to self-consecration as a living sacrifice ( Psalm 40:6-8 ); and, finally, pleads for experience of God’s grace in all its forms on the ground of past faithful stewardship in celebrating these ( Psalm 40:9-11 ). The second part is one long-drawn cry for help, which admits of no such analysis, though its notes are various. The first outpouring of the song is one long sentence, of which the clauses follow one another like sunlit ripples, and tell the whole process of the psalmist’s deliverance. It began with patient waiting; it ended with a new song. The voice first raised in a cry, shrill and yet submissive enough to be heard above, is at last tuned into new forms of uttering the old praise. The two clauses of Psalm 40:1 ("I" and "He") set over against each other, as separated by the distance between heaven and earth, the psalmist and his God. He does not begin with his troubles, but with his faith. "Waiting, he waited" for Jehovah; and wherever there is that attitude of tense and continuous but submissive expectance, God’s attitude will be that of bending to meet it. The meek, upturned eye has power to draw His towards itself. That is an axiom of the devout life confirmed by all experience, even if the tokens of deliverance delay their coming. Such expectance, however patient, is not inconsistent with loud crying, but rather finds voice in it. Silent patience and impatient prayer, in too great a hurry to let God take His own time, are equally imperfect. But the cry, "Haste to my help" ( Psalm 40:13 ), and the final petition, "My God, delay not," are consistent with true waiting. The suppliant and God have come closer together in Psalm 40:2 , which should not be regarded as beginning a new sentence. As in Psalm 18:1-50 , prayer brings God down to help. His hand reaches to the man prisoned in a pit or struggling in a swamp; he is dragged out, set on a rock, and feels firm ground beneath his feet. Obviously the whole representation is purely figurative, and it is hopelessly flat and prosaic to refer it to Jeremiah’s experience. The "many waters" of Psalm 18:1-50 are a parallel metaphor. The dangers that threatened the psalmist are described as "a pit of destruction," as if they were a dungeon into which whosoever was thrown would come out no more, or in which, like a wild beast, he has been trapped. They are also likened to a bog or quagmire, in which struggles only sink a man deeper. But the edge of the bog touches rock, and there is firm footing and unhindered walking (here, if only some great lifting power can drag the sinking man out. God’s hand can, and does, because the lips, almost choked with mire, could yet cry. The psalmist’s extremity of danger was probably much more desperate than is usual in such conditions as ours, so that his cries seem too piercing for us to make our own; but the terrors and conflicts of humanity are nearly constant quantities, though the occasions calling them forth are widely different. If we look deeper into life than its surface, we shall learn that it is not violent "spiritualising" to make these utterances the expression of redeeming grace, since in truth there is but one or other of these two possibilities open for us. Either we flounder in a bottomless bog, or we have our feet on the Rock. God’s deliverance gives occasion for fresh praise. The psalmist has to add his voice to the great chorus, and this sense of being but one of a multitude, who have been blessed alike and therefore should bless alike, occasions the significant interchange in Psalm 40:3 of "my" and "our," which needs no theory of the speaker being the nation to explain it. It is ever a joy to the heart swelling with the sense of God’s mercies to be aware of the many who share the mercies and gratitude. The cry for deliverance is a solo: the song of praise is choral. The psalmist did not need to be hidden to praise; a new song welled from his lips as by inspiration. Silence was more impossible to his glad heart than even to his sorrow. To shriek for help from the bottom of the pit and to be dumb when lifted to the surface is a churl’s part. Though the song was new in this singer’s mouth, as befitted a recipient of deliverances fresh from heaven, the theme was old; but each new voice individualises the commonplaces of religious experience, and repeats them as fresh. And the result of one man’s convinced and jubilant voice, giving novelty to old truths because he has verified them in new experiences, will be that "many shall see," as though they behold the deliverance of which they hear, "and shall fear" Jehovah and trust themselves to Him. It was not the psalmist’s deliverance, but his song, that was to be the agent in this extension of the fear of Jehovah. All great poets have felt that their words would win audience and live. Thus, even apart from consciousness of inspiration, this lofty anticipation of the effect of his words is intelligible, without supposing that their meaning is that the signal deliverance of the nation from captivity would spread among heathens and draw them to Israel’s faith. The transition from purely personal experience to more general thoughts is completed in Psalm 40:4-5 . Just as the psalmist began with telling of his own patient expectance and thence passed on to speak of God’s help, so in these two verses he sets forth the same sequence in terms studiously cast into the most comprehensive form. Happy indeed are they who can translate their own experience into these two truths for all men: that trust is blessedness and that God’s mercies are one long sequence, made up of numberless constituent parts. To have these for one’s inmost convictions and to ring them out so clearly and melodiously that many shall be drawn to listen, and then to verify them by their own "seeing," is one reward of patient waiting for Jehovah. That trust must be maintained by resolute resistance to temptations to its opposite. Hence the negative aspect of trust is made prominent in Psalm 40:4 b, in which the verb should be rendered "turns not" instead of "respecteth not," as in the A.V. and R.V. The same motion, looked at from opposite sides, may be described in turning to and turning from. Forsaking other confidences is part of the process of making God one’s trust. But it is significant that the antithesis is not completely carried out, for those to whom the trustful heart does not turn are not here, as might have been expected, rival objects of trust, but those who put their own trust in false refuges. "The proud" are the class of arrogantly self-reliant people who feel no need of anything but their own strength to lean on. "Deserters to a lie" are those who tail away from Jehovah to put their trust in any creature, since all refuges but Himself will fail. Idols may be included in this thought of a lie, but it is unduly limited if confined to them. Much rather it takes in all false grounds of security. The antithesis fails in accuracy, for the sake of putting emphasis on the prevalence of such mistaken trust, which makes it so much the harder to keep aloof from the multitudes and stand alone in reliance on Jehovah. Psalm 40:5 corresponds with Psalm 40:4 , in that it sets forth in similar generality the great deeds with which God is wont to answer man’s trust. But the personality of the poet breaks very beautifully through the impersonal utterances at two points: once when he names Jehovah as "my God," thus claiming his separate share in the general mercies and his special bond of connection with the Lover of all; and once when he speaks of his own praises, thus recognising the obligation of individual gratitude for general blessings. Each particle of finely comminuted moisture in the rainbow has to flash back the broad sunbeam at its own angle. God’s "wonders and designs" are "realised Divine thoughts and Divine thoughts which are gradually being realised" (Delitzsch). These are wrought and being wrought in multitudes innumerable, and as the psalmist sees the bright, unbroken beams pouring forth from their inexhaustible source, he breaks into an exclamation of adoring wonder at the incomparable greatness of the ever-giving God. "There is none to set beside Thee" is far loftier and more accordant with the tone of the verse than the comparatively flat and incongruous remark that God’s mercies cannot be told to him (A.V. and R.V). A precisely similar exclamation occurs in Psalm 71:19 , in which God’s incomparable greatness is deduced from the great things which He has done. Happy the singer who has an inexhaustible theme! He is not silenced by the consciousness of the inadequacy of his songs, but rather inspired to the never-ending, ever-beginning, joyful task of uttering some new fragment of that transcendent perfection. Innumerable wonders wrought should be met-by ever-new songs. If they cannot be counted, the more reason for open-eyed observance of them as they come, and for a stream of praise as unbroken as is their bright continuance. If God’s mercies thus baffle enumeration and beggar praise, the question naturally rises, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?" Therefore the next turn of thought shows the psalmist as reaching the lofty spiritual conception that heartfelt delight in God’s will is the true response to God’s wonders of love. He soars far above external rites as well as servile obedience to unloved authority, and proclaims the eternal and ultimate truth that what God delights in is man’s delight in His will. The great words which rang the knell of Saul’s kingship may well have sounded in his successor’s spirit. Whether they are the source of the language of our psalm or not, they are remarkably similar. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," { 1 Samuel 15:23 } teaches precisely the same lesson as Psalm 40:6-8 of this psalm. The strong negation in Psalm 40:6 does not deny the Divine institution of the sacrificial law, but affirms that something much deeper than external sacrifices is the real object of God’s desire. The negation is made emphatic by enumerating the chief kinds of sacrifice. Whether they are bloody or bloodless, whether meant to express consecration or to effect reconciliation, they are none of them the true sacrifices of God. In Psalm 40:6 the psalmist is entirely occupied with God’s declarations of His requirements; and he presents these in a remarkable fashion, intercalating the clause, "Ears hast Thou pierced for me," between the two parallel clauses in regard to sacrifice. Why should the connection be thus broken? The fact that God has endowed the psalmist with capacity to apprehend the Divine speech reveals God’s desire concerning him. Just because he has ears to hear, it is clear that God wishes him to hear, and therefore that outward acts of worship cannot be the acknowledgment of mercies in which God delights. The central clause of the verse is embedded in the others, because it deals with a Divine act which, pondered, will be seen to establish their teaching. The whole puts in simple, concrete form a wide principle namely that the possession of capacity for receiving communications of God’s will imposes the duty of loving reception and obedience, and points to inward joyful acceptance of that will as the purest kind of worship. Psalm 40:7 and Psalm 40:8 are occupied with the response to God’s requirements thus manifested by His gift of capacity to hear His voice. "Then said I" As soon as he had learned the meaning of his ears he found the right use of his tongue. The thankful heart was moved to swift acceptance of the known will of God. The clearest recognition of His requirements may coexist with resistance to them, and needs the impulse of loving contemplation of God’s unnumbered wonders to vivify it into glad service. "Behold, I am come," is the language of a servant entering his master’s presence in obedience to his call. In Psalm 40:7 the second clause interrupts just as in Psalm 40:6 . There the interruption spoke of the organ of receiving Divine messages as to duty; here it speaks of the messages themselves: "In the roll of the book is my duty prescribed for me." The promise implied in giving ears is fulfilled by giving a permanent written law. This man, having ears to hear, has heard, and has not only heard, but welcomed into the inmost recesses of his heart and will, the declared will of God. The word rendered "delight" in Psalm 40:8 is the same as is rendered "desire" in Psalm 40:6 (A.V); and that rendered by the A.V. and R.V. in Psalm 40:8 "will" is properly "good pleasure." Thus God’s delight and man’s coincide. Thankful love assimilates the creature’s will with the Divine, and so changes tastes and impulses that desire and duty are fused into one. The prescriptions of the book become the delight of the heart. An inward voice directs "Love, and do what Thou wilt"; for a will determined by love cannot but choose to please its Beloved. Liberty consists in freely willing and victoriously doing what we ought, and such liberty belongs to hearts whose supreme delight is to please the God whose numberless wonders have won their love and made their thanksgivings poor. The law written in the heart was the ideal even when a law was written on tables of stone. It was the prophetic promise for the Messianic age. It is fulfilled in the Christian life in the measure of its genuineness. Unless the heart delights in the law, acts of obedience count for very little. The quotation of Psalm 40:7-8 , in Hebrews 10:5-7 , is mainly, from the LXX, which has the remarkable rendering of Psalm 40:6 b, "A body hast Thou prepared for me." Probably this is meant as paraphrase rather than as translation; and it does represent substantially the idea of the original, since the body is the instrument for fulfilling, just as the ear is the organ for apprehending, the uttered will of God. The value of the psalm for the writer of Hebrews does not depend on that clause, but on the whole representation which it gives of the ideal of the perfectly righteous servant’s true worship, as involving the setting aside of sacrifice and the decisive pre-eminence of willing obedience. That ideal is fulfilled in Jesus, and really pointed onwards to Him. This use of the quotation does not imply the directly Messianic character of the psalm. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and thus the passage is easy from inward delight in God’s will to public declaration of His character. Every true lover of God is a witness of His sweetness to the world. Since the psalmist had His law hidden in the depths of his being, be could not "hide" His righteousness within his heart, but must magnify it with his tongue. That is a feeble and doubtful love which knows no necessity of utterance. To "love and be silent" is sometimes imperative, but always burdensome; and a heart happy in its love cannot choose but ripple out in music of speech. The psalmist describes himself as a messenger of glad tidings, a true evangelist. The multiplicity of names for the various aspects of God’s character and acts which he heaps together in these verses serves to indicate their manifoldness which he delighted to contemplate, and his long, loving familiarity with them. He sets his treasure in all lights, and views it from all points, as a man will turn a jewel in his hand and get a fresh flash from every facet. "Righteousness," the good news that the Ruler of all is inflexibly just, with a justice which scrupulously meets all creatures’ needs and becomes penal and awful only to the rejectors of its tender aspect; "faithfulness," the inviolable adherence to every promise; "salvation," the actual fulness of deliverance and well-being flowing from these attributes; "lovingkindness" and "troth," often linked together as expressing at once the warmth and the unchangeableness of the Divine heart-these have been the psalmist’s themes. Therefore they are his hope; and he is sure that, as he has been their singer, they will be his preservers. Psalm 40:11 is not prayer, but bold confidence. It echoes the preceding verse, since "I did not restrain" ( Psalm 40:9 ) corresponds with "Thou wilt not restrain," and "Thy lovingkindness and Thy troth" with the mention of the same attributes in Psalm 40:10 . The psalmist is not so much asserting his claims as giving voice to his faith. He does not so much think that his utterance is deserving of remuneration as that God’s character makes impossible the supposition that he, who had so loved and sung His great name in its manifold glories, should find that name unavailing in his hour of need. There is an undertone of such felt need even in the confidence of Psalm 40:11 ; and it becomes dominant from Psalm 40:12-17 , but not so as to overpower the clear note of trust. The difference between the two parts of the psalm is great, but is not to be exaggerated as if it were contrariety. In the former part thanksgiving for deliverance from dangers recently past predominates: in the latter, petition for deliverance from dangers still threatening: but in both the psalmist is exercising the same confidence; and if in the beginning he hymns the praises of God who brought him out of the pit of destruction, in the end he keeps firm hold of Him as His "Help and Deliverer." Similarly, while in the first portion he celebrates the "purposes which are to usward," in the latter he is certain that, needy as he is, Jehovah has "purposes" of kindness to him. The change of tone is not so complete as to negative the original unity, and surely it is not difficult to imagine a situation in which both halves of the psalm should be appropriate. Are there any deliverances in this perilous and incomplete life so entire and permanent that they leave no room for future perils? Must not prevision of coming dangers accompany thankfulness for past escapes? Our Pharaohs are seldom drowned in the Red Sea, and we do not often see their corpses stretched on the sand. The change of tone, of which so much use is made as against the original unity of the psalm, begins with Psalm 40:12 : but that verse has a very strong and beautiful link of connection with the previous part, in the description of besetting evils as innumerable. Both words of Psalm 40:5 are repeated, that for "surpass" or "are more than" in Psalm 40:12 c, that for "number" in a. The heart that has felt how innumerable are God’s thoughts and deeds of love is not utterly reduced to despair, even while it beholds a sea of troubles rolling its white-crested billows shoreward as far as the horizon. The sky stretches beyond them, and the true numberlessness of God’s mercies outdoes the great yet really limited range of apparently numberless sins or sorrows, the consequences of sin. "Mine iniquities have overtaken me" like pursuing foes, and every calamity that held him in its grip was a child of a sin of his. Such consciousness of transgression is not inconsistent with "delight in the law of God after the inward man," as Paul found out, { Romans 7:22-23 } but it sets aside the attempt to make this a directly Messianic psalm. "I am not able to see." Such is the only possible rendering, for there is no justification for translating the simple word by "look up." Either the crowd of surrounding calamities prevent the psalmist from seeing anything but themselves, or, more probably, the failure of vital power accompanying his sorrow dims his vision. { Psalm 38:10 } From Psalm 40:13 onward Psalm 70:1-5 repeats this psalm, with unimportant verbal differences. The first of these is the omission of "Be pleased" in Psalm 40:13 , which binds this second part to the first, and points back to "Thy pleasure" ( Psalm 40:8 ). The prayer for the confusion of enemies closely resembles that in Psalm 35:1-28 , Psalm 40:14 being almost identical with Psalm 40:4 and Psalm 35:26 there, and Psalm 40:15 recalling Psalm 35:21 of that psalm. The prayer that enemies may fail in their designs is consistent with the most Christlike spirit, and nothing more is asked by the psalmist, but the tinge of satisfaction with which he dwells on their discomfiture, however natural, belongs to the less lofty moral standard of his stage of revelation. He uses extraordinarily forcible words to paint their bewilderment and mortification-may they blush, turn pale, be driven back, be as if paralysed with shame at their baffled malice! The prayer for the gladness of God’s servants and seekers is like Psalm 35:27 . It asks that fruition as complete as the disappointment of the foesmay be the lot of those whose desires set towards God, and it is prophecy as well as prayer. Seekers after God ever find Him, and are more joyful in possession than they hoped to be while seeking. He alone never eludes search, nor ever disappoints attainment. They who long for His salvation will receive it; and their reception will fill their hearts so full of blessedness that their lips will not be able to refrain from ever-new outbursts of the old praise, "The Lord be magnified." Very plaintively and touchingly does the low sigh of personal need follow this triumphant intercession for the company of the saints. Its triple elements blend in one believing aspiration, which is not impatience, though it pleads for swift help. "I am afflicted and needy"; there the psalmist turns his eye on his own sore necessity. "Jehovah has purposes for me"; there he turns to God, and links his final petitions with his earlier trust by the repetition of the word by which he described ( Psalm 40:5 ) the many gracious designs of God. "My God, delay not"; there he embraces both in one act of faithful longing. His need calls for, and God’s loving counsels ensure, swift response. He who delights when an afflicted and poor man calls Him "my God" will not be slack to vindicate His servant’s confidence, and magnify His own name. That appeal goes straight to the heart of God. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.