Year 8, Day 182: Psalm 40

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Psalm 40 is a great psalm to follow the ones from yesterday.  Listen to the confidence in the words of David.  David knows that the Lord will not withhold mercy.  The Lord will preserve him.  The Lord is David’s help and deliverer.

As I often do, remember the context of David’s life.  Here is a man who has obvious places of sinfulness in his life.  He has his fair share of character flaws.  He knows his weaknesses.  He’s a man after God’s own heart, sure.  But he’s far from perfect.

For me, the heart of this conversation is how David can be so confident in God’s mercy when he’s done what he’s done.  We’re not talking about a garden variety liar here.  David is an adulterer and a murderer.  Those are fairly serious issues.  How can David be so confident in the midst of his sin?

I think the ability to have these words in this psalm comes from the lesson discovered in the last two psalms.  David can be confident in God’s mercy because he isn’t running from his sin.  David knows God will save him because he is honest with God and himself about his sin.

This is a great perspective to realize.  Only when we acknowledge our shortcomings can we improve upon them.  Only when we accept our guilt can we accept its absolution.  David can speak confidently in these verses because of his honest relationship with the Lord.

David can speak of the greatness of God because of his openness.  David can witness to the love of God because he’s been able to experience it.  David can share news of the deliverance of God with others because he’s known deliverance from his own sinfulness.  The very joy and assurance that is woven masterfully through this psalm originates in David’s honestly about his own sinfulness.

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