The more we read and meditate on the psalms, the more layers and depths of meaning we see. Psalm 40 was written by King David as a prayer of praise and petition to God for his salvation, but it is also a prophetic psalm, pointing to theMessiah. We simultaneously see the profound meaning and significance for David; and for the Jews who read it, sang it, memorised and prayed it; but ultimately we see its fulfilment and the deepest meaning in Jesus. How lucky we are to be in the privileged position of reading it this side of the cross –how much more meaningful it is therefore for us!
I think we see this most strikingly in v6-8. David recognises that even in OT times, although the law required sacrifices and offerings, this is not what pleased God. What God wanted was not external obedience but a changed heart, the desire to do his will. David says “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”. David commits himself to being the kind of king God had spoken about through Moses – a king that would write for himself a copy of the law, keep it with him and read it all the days of his life (Deut 17v18). But even David must have known that he could never truly be this king, that he was not the ultimate fulfilment of these verses. The author of Hebrews tells us that these words were truly fulfilled when Jesus came into the world. In Jesus we see God’s promised perfect King, who came to do God’s will and offered himself as a once for all sacrifice, by which we have been made holy (Heb 10 v5-10).
So keeping both David and Jesus in mind as we read the psalm, let’s go back to verse 1.
David starts by remembering a time when God rescued him from an un-named adverse circumstance. He uses vivid poetic language, describing it as feeling like a ‘slimy pit’, like ‘mud and mire’ and we imagine David feeling like he is sinking into the bottom of a deep dark well with no escape – but then God lifted him up and set his feet on a firm rock. Maybe we have felt like this at some time in our lives, and we remember how God brought us through it, or perhaps we feel like we’re in that deep dark place now.
If we take a step back however, doesn’t this also sound like a picture of salvation? It reminds me of Jonah - who sank to the bottom of the sea, to the mud and mire, then God sent the fish to rescue him and bring him up to the dry ground. All of God’s rescues in the OT were ultimately pointing to and fulfilled in Jesus’s death and resurrection. So it really does sound like us and our salvation. Without God’s rescue, we are all sinking into a slimy pit with no hope of escape, but through Jesus’s death and resurrection, God has lifted us up and set our feet on a firm rock. Our reaction must surely be the same as David’s in this psalm, to praise the Lord! He has put a new song in our mouth, a hymn of praise to our God (v3). And David does not keep this to himself, he does not seal his lips – no, he proclaims God’s saving acts in the great assembly, he tells of God’s faithfulness and love (v.9-10). We have even better news of God’s saving acts than David; so how can we seal our lips? Understanding who God is and what he has done for us should and must lead us to praise God publically - both because God deserves honour and praise in himself – but also because we want others to hear the good news so that all who seek God may rejoice and be glad in him (v16). David continues to pray for this even when life has become hard again, both physically and spiritually: ‘For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see’ (v12). The psalms teach us that even when life seems dark and hopeless, we have a sure and certain hope.
Our salvation doesn’t depend on us, God is our rescuer, God is our help and our deliverer (v16), and he has set our feet on a firm rock.
Comments