What is one thing you badly want to do but is just not in the cards? You may dream of playing basketball at a high level but Providence made you short. You would love to climb mountains but your fear of heights keeps you grounded. Traveling the world is on your bucket list but it seems impossible that you will ever be able to afford it. The dream you ache for does not align with the abilities and lot that God has given you. Frustration is just the tip of the iceberg. We struggle under a similar spiritual irritation—that is, we love God but we cannot please him. Growing in the fruits of the Spirit and in wisdom is our heart’s desire, but it so often seems to escape us. We want to do what is right and fall short. We are determined to avoid that sin, but then we do it. We vow to be good and break it. We feel stuck in the saying, “It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done.”1 We lament this treadmill, crying out for deliverance from our inability, and in Psalm 40, God answers us.
This psalm opens on a cheerful note. The psalmist does not cut the air with a desperate cry. There is no begging God for an audience—rather, he records an already answered prayer. With thanksgiving in his soul, he recounts how he had prayed and how the Lord delivered him from his travail. And in recalling his petition, he drills down to a particular attribute of prayer. When it comes to praying, there are many graces and virtues at work within us. Humility is required to admit our neediness. Faith reaches out trusting that the Lord can and will help. Love warms our affections to delight in all the wonders of our compassionate Savior. Another virtue active in prayer is hope. Hope patiently waits on the Lord to do what he promised. So, the psalmist affirms how his hope was anchored in the Lord (v. 1). This waiting is the term for hope. With his faith resting in God, the psalmist’s hope was patient for a response.
This is one feature of hope that we can forget about. Hope’s confidence is in the future; its assurance is that the Lord will act and do good. This is the sweet part of hope. But there is another part of hope that is sour—waiting. Hope sits in the waiting room not knowing when your name will be called, and it is calm. It stands in line aware that the Lord’s timing is not ours and it is good. Hope knows that the best things come to those who wait. So, the psalmist’s hope waited on God, and it was not disappointed, for the Almighty’s ear was inclined toward his cry. Yahweh heard and delivered, and what a deliverance!
For, the psalmist was rescued not from one of your run-of-the-mill enemies but from that archfoe as old as time, death. He was sinking in the miry bog; the quicksand of the pit was pulling him downward (v. 2). This is another way in which Sheol was described. As the dungeon of death, Sheol was the land of darkness and shadow; it was the domain of agony and shame, and it was a slimy quagmire of suffocating mud. Yet, as he was drowning in the sludge, the Lord plucked him out. He saved him from death. What type of death we do not know, be it sickness, war, or a corrupt court. Nonetheless, God mercifully drew him out of the pit of doom and gave him a solid footing upon a rock. The contrast between a pit of quicksand and an immoveable rock could not be starker in displaying the new life given by the Lord.
Along with this refreshed life, God grants the psalmists a new song. Yahweh put a new song in his mouth (v. 3), which depicts inspiration. The Spirit places the words of God on the tongue of the psalmist. Why are these praises labeled a new song? Songs are responsive to God; he acts, and we reply with musical thanksgiving. A new song, then, means a new act of the Lord. A fresh work of God requires a new hymn to give thanks for it. To reuse an old song for a new rescue could be like regifting the same birthday card from last year.
With this new heavenly-inspired hymn, the psalmist sings, and he wants it to benefit others. “Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord” (v. 3). He even issues a blessing. “Blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust” (v. 4). The new song that celebrates deliverance from death will encourage faith in others. People will notice how God saved the psalmist; they will hear about his hope not being put to shame, and they will believe. This new song inculcates faith in those who hear it. And this is a saving faith, for it rests in the Lord and it does not turn to the proud. Though, the word for proud here most likely refers to idols—the arrogant gods of the nations. This faith will not join those who stray after a lie (v. 4), and the chief lie of the Old Testament was idolatry. We too should hear of the Lord saving the psalmist from death and believe in the Lord, denouncing all other gods as a lie.
Now that we know that this music creates faith, we get to hear the lyrics in verse 5: You, O Lord, have performed great deeds. Nothing compares to the Lord. The psalmist will recount the story. He will list off all the miracles of God. With doxology he will count the awesome works of the Almighty—that is, he will try but he will not succeed because there are too many. We cannot count that high; there is not enough paper or ink to write them all down. Infinite are the glorious wonders of our redeeming God. This is how great our Lord is. Incomparable are his works for us. The graces poured out on us are too numerous to even count. Surely, a new song that lists off the gracious works of the Lord is a great hymn.
With the chorus set forth, the psalmist turns to assert a promise. He avows to do what is pleasing to the Lord. He delights to do God’s will, and the law is within him. With pure joy, the psalmist will obey completely. He will fulfill everything that brings glory to the Lord. However, the form of this avowed righteousness is noteworthy. He registers the priority of obedience over sacrifice (v. 6). With peace and grain offerings, the Lord is not pleased. He has not required burnt and sin offerings.
This disinterest in offerings is not a universal judgment, for clearly the law commanded sacrifice, and the smoke of the altar gave off an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Rather, these lines put sacrifice in their proper place. First, obedience is a higher priority than sacrifice, which particularly counters a pagan understanding of sacrifice, where it mattered little if you acted uprightly as long as you paid the gods off with offerings. Secondly, this keeps sacrifice within its lawful context—that is, sacrifice was limited to specific times and purposes. It was not a one-size-fits all. Obedience, though, did. Being righteous was proper at all times. Sacrifice belonged to special occasions, but obeying was fitting twenty-four seven. The psalmist is not condemning all sacrifice, but he is promising to fulfill that higher and more universal priority of being righteous before the Lord.
Additionally, note how God has prepared him to fulfill his vow of obedience. “You have given me an open ear” (v. 6). All obedience starts by listening; it begins with the ear. And a shut ear is stubborn and rebellion. Closed ears refuse to heed and walk in the Word of God. But for the Lord to unclog the ear is for him to make you ready and able to obey as a whole person. Likewise, God’s law is within the psalmist (v. 7–8), which is another image for success in uprightness. Such an internalization of the law matches up desire and performance. With the law written inside, the psalmist’s heart is made new; its intention to obey aligns consistently with him performing that obedience. Intent and action are one.
Therefore, the psalmist gives thanks to God by promising to be completely pleasing to Him in all things. And the first expression of this committed uprightness is to further glorify God. He will enter the great congregation. (v. 9). He will go to church in the temple and before the entire assembly of saints. He will not hide God’s works within him; he will not muzzle his tongue out of shyness. But with boldness and volume, he will declare the excellencies of the Lord. God’s steadfast love and faithfully, he will announce (v. 10). The Lord’s salvation and mercy, he will shout from the rooftops. He will be a witness and preacher of Yahweh’s saving love, of his faithful mercy, and of his steadfast righteousness. The Lord rescuing the psalmist from death may have been a private act, but his gratitude cannot remain private. He must go public. He has to share his love with the whole church. His new song publicizes the gospel so that many will put their trust in the Lord and give Him the glory. Truly, then, this psalm is one of thanksgiving. The psalmist prayed and hoped in the Lord in a time of dire desperation. The Lord heard and answered his petition with a life-giving deliverance. Then, in response, the psalmist promised total obedience and pervasive praise in the worshipping congregation. This is a microcosm our salvation: deliverance from death, a new will to please God, and glorifying the Lord forever. But the delightful harmony of this psalm is about to skip a beat, which we will examine in part two.
Note
- Oscar Wilde, “The Critic As Artist,” in Intentions: Essays (Bretano’s, 1905), 203.
©Zach Keele. All Rights Reserved.
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Zach Keele
Rev. Zachary Keele grew up on a ranch in a small town named Crawford, Colorado. He attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary California. He has served as the pastor of Escondido OPC since 2006.
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