Walk Of Life – Day 23, August 2022 – Thoughts From The Book Of Psalms

Psalm 40 – The Servant Comes To Do God’s Will

This psalm is simply titled to the Chief Musician who were most skilled in music instruments and were responsible for leading worship with the sacred songs. Psalm 40 starts with praise and confidence – and then moves into lament and petitions made by David for deliverance from his condition. We don’t know the exact details of David’s ordeal in this psalm, but he compares it to being stuck in a horrifying pit filled with mud and mire.

Condition of a sinner

• Mire is deep, soft mud in water or slush, like wet loam or potter’s clay. Imagine your feet get stuck in quicksand or sinking deeper into the sand of the soft ocean shore with each wave is what is being caught in the staggering helplessness of miry clay.
• David’s pit of miry clay could be symbolic of any number of distressing times he endured. On his own, he was powerless to escape, so he waited patiently for the Lord to rescue him from his present crises till God places him safely on a rock where he could stand firm.

His deliverance inspired David to joyfully sing a new song which eventually would help others to fear and put their trust in God.

In trials look unto God

• When trials come to our doorstep in any form, you need to trust God who will give you strength to endure it. If you don’t follow the steps of the prideful or ungodly and not turn to falsehood, God will surely come to your aid.
• His gracious thoughts and plans for you travel swiftly as the beams of light flashing from the sun making it impossible to count.

David’s attitude of total surrender brought him much closer to God who revealed him about the order of things to come.

God desires us to do ‘His Will’

• God made him realise that He was not pleased with animal sacrifices or offerings of any kind, but he wanted his children to simply listen and surrender to his authority like a slave to a master. David surrendered to God beyond what the law required and was ready to do his will just like a freed slave would still choose to serve his master out of love and gratitude towards him.
• Yet he only foreshadowed the ultimate submission to God carried out by his greater son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Verses 6-8 prophecies about Christ which reveals that a body was prepared for the Son which was meant to be the ultimate pleasing sacrifice for the remissions of the sins of mankind once for all. Lord Jesus fulfilled God’s will by becoming the sacrificial lamb to unite God with his children by making them holy.

David’s heart was filled with praise for God who has been so mindful of him. He proclaimed the righteousness of his loving God in the great assembly and ends this psalm with plea of protection against his enemies and his sins.

As we are live in this sinful world, we too need constant supply of his tender mercies. Many times, we sin willfully thinking that God will overlook our mistakes. But God sees all things, even that is hidden in the abyss of your heart and he will bring it to judgment. It is better to put to death those sins which easily entangles you then to face God’s wrath. So like David, with a sincere heart, confess the uncountable sins committed against God by simply not being obedient to the Word and get ready to do God’s will. May the Lord not delay helping you and deliver you from your anguish today. Amen!