Pressing In


Psalm 40
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
4Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
5You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
6In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
7Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
9I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
10I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
11As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
12For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
13Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!
14Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!
15Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
17As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

This psalm is poetic genius. It begins with recognition of the impact of God upon the believer’s life but it isn’t until verses 12-14 that you are informed as to the David’s emotional state. Tucked in there toward the end of the poem is the reason for speaking it in the first place. David is in a place of lament. “My heart fails me” and “deliver me” give us an indication that David is in a place of distress and trouble. But remarkably enough, he begins his prayer with a rehearsal of God’s great faithfulness to those who struggle. It is a brilliant example of how our relationship with God works the best. God’s attributes are always greater than our sorrows.

You have to admire David for so many reasons. But here he shows us how to grab ahold of our minds and bring our thoughts into focus in the most desperate of times. When life spirals downward the most difficult thing to do is to take mental control of the pain. Redirecting our thoughts is so very tough – but it is not impossible! David begins the prayer with God and the fact that in the past God has always been there for him to bring about salvation. It doesn’t mean that David has forgotten his trouble. That is abundantly clear in his verses of lament. Taking that pain before the Lord is honest and important. But He doesn’t dwell there. He goes directly back to God’s greatness and ability as his Deliverer. That kind of mental discipline is admirable and can be learned. Just the existence of the Psalms gives proof to the fact that David was practiced in the skills of prayer and meditation. He learned how to rehearse God’s activity in his life. He learned how to recognize God’s hand at work in his troubles. He learned how to praise God even in the midst of pain. He learned how to surrender his sorrows in the hands of an Almighty God. We can learn those skills too.

Jesus too surrendered Himself into the hands of the Father in His most desperate hour as He hung on the cross. He too knew that the Father would rescue Him even as He carried the weight of our sin into death. Jesus knew and prophesied that He would be raised and in the center of His Passion, hung on to that truth. Jesus and His great grandfather David both knew how to press into the Father with praise and hope in the darkest of times. We simply must be grateful for the example and learn to do the same.

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