Psalms 40:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses we see, first, the psalmist’s deep distress. He says he had been in a horrible pit and in muddy clay (Psalm 40:2), sinking deeper and unable to pull himself out. He says nothing here about bodily illness or enemies’ insults, so this seems to have been inward trouble, a heavy unrest of soul. Dark despair under the feeling that God has withdrawn, along with strong doubts and fears about eternal life, can truly feel like a horrible pit and muddy clay, and many of God’s dear children have known it.

Second, we see his humble waiting on God and his faith-filled hope in that dark place. “I waited patiently for the Lord” means he kept waiting for help from God alone. The same hand that wounds must also heal, and the same hand that strikes must bind up (Hosea 6:1), or the healing will never come. He expected help from God, and he looked for it with strong hope, not doubting that it would come in God’s time. There is enough power in God to help the weakest, and enough grace in God to help the least worthy of all who trust him. Still, he waited patiently, which shows that the help did not come quickly. Yet he did not stop believing, hoping, and praying until it came. Those whose hope is in God may wait with confidence, but they must also wait with patience.

This applies clearly to Christ. His agony in the garden and on the cross was a long, crushing sorrow, and it was indeed like a horrible pit and muddy clay. Then his soul was troubled and deeply sorrowful, but then he prayed, “Father, glorify your name” and “Father, save me.” He also held fast to his relationship with the Father, saying, “My God, my God,” and so he waited patiently for him.

Third, we see God’s comforting mercy in response to that distress, which David records for God’s honor and for the encouragement of others. God answered his prayers: “He inclined to me and heard my cry.” Those who wait patiently for God, even if they wait a long time, do not wait in vain. Our Lord Jesus was heard because of his reverent fear (Hebrews 5:7). More than that, he knew the Father heard him always.

God also quieted David’s fears, calmed the storms inside him, and gave him a settled peace of conscience (Psalm 40:2). God brought him up out of that horrible pit of despair, cleared away the clouds, and shone with the assurance of his favor. More than that, he set David’s feet on a rock and made his steps firm. Those who have been under deep religious gloom and have been helped by God’s grace may feel this very personally. They have been brought up out of a horrible pit.

This mercy is complete in two ways. First, their feet are set on a rock, where they have firm footing and rise in hope of heaven after being crushed with fear of hell. Christ is the rock on which a poor soul may stand securely, and through him alone we can build any solid hope or peace with God. Second, God establishes their steps. Where God has given a steady hope, he expects a steady and consistent life. If that is the blessed fruit, we should thank him deeply for the riches and power of his grace.

God also filled David with joy as well as peace in believing: “He has put a new song in my mouth.” He gave David a fresh reason to rejoice and a heart ready to rejoice. It was as if David had been brought into a new world, and that filled his mouth with a new song, praise to our God. All our songs should be sung to his honor and glory. Fresh mercies, especially mercies we never had before, call for new songs.

This also points to our Lord Jesus in his welcome into paradise, his resurrection from the grave, and his exaltation to the joy and glory set before him. He was brought out of the horrible pit, set on a rock, and given a new song in his mouth.

Fourth, we should make a good use of this example of God’s kindness to David. David’s experience should encourage many to hope in God, and for that reason he has left it written down: “Many will see, fear, and trust in the Lord.” They will fear the Lord and his justice, which brought David and the Son of David into that horrible pit, and they will say, If this happened to the green tree, what will happen to the dry? They will also fear the Lord and his goodness, as seen in filling David and the Son of David with new songs of joy and praise. This is a holy, reverent fear of God, and it is not only consistent with hope in him, it is the very foundation of it. They will not fear him and run away from him. They will fear him and trust him in their greatest troubles, not doubting that he is as able and ready to help as he was for David in his distress.

God’s dealings with our Lord Jesus are our great reason to trust in God. When it pleased the Lord to crush him and put him to grief for our sins, he was asking payment for our debt from him. When he raised him from the dead and set him at his right hand, he showed that he had accepted the payment and was satisfied with it. What greater encouragement could we have to fear and worship God and trust him? (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:1, 2).

The psalmist also invites others to make God their hope, as he did, by calling happy the one who does so (Psalm 40:4): “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, and trusts him alone.” That person has great and good thoughts of God and is fully devoted to him. He does not pay heed to the proud, does not act like those who trust in themselves, and does not depend on those who proudly urge others to trust in them. Both of these paths lead aside to lies, as all do who turn away from God.

This applies especially to our faith in Christ. Blessed are those who trust in him and in his righteousness alone, and who pay no heed to proud Pharisees, who put their own righteousness in place of his. Blessed are those who will not be ruled by such voices, and who do not turn aside to lies with unbelieving Jews, who do not submit to God’s righteousness (Romans 10:3). Blessed are those who escape that temptation.

The joyful sense of this mercy also led David to notice, with thanks, the many other gifts he had already received from God (Psalm 40:5). When God puts new songs in our mouths, we should not forget our earlier songs, but sing them again. “Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, both for me and for others. This is only one of many.” We are loaded every day with many benefits from God’s providence and grace. These are his works, not only gifts from his kindness, but acts of his power. He works for us and he works in us, and so he gives us reason not only for thanks, but for praise.

They are his wonderful works. The way he planned them is amazing, and so is his kindness in giving them to us. Even eternity would not be too long to spend admiring them.

All his wonderful works come from his thoughts toward us. He does everything according to the purpose of his own will (Ephesians 1:11), according to the plans of his grace that he made in himself (Ephesians 3:11). They are the designs of infinite wisdom and everlasting love (Colossians 2:7, Jeremiah 31:3), thoughts of good and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11). For that reason, his gifts and calling will not be taken back, because they are not sudden decisions, but the result of his thoughts, his many thoughts, toward us.

They are too many to arrange or count in order. There is order in all God’s works, but so many of them come before us at once that we do not know where to begin or what to name next. The order among them, their natural connections, and how the links of this golden chain fit together, are a mystery to us. We will not be able to explain it until the veil is removed and God’s mystery is finished. Nor can they be counted, not even the main parts of them. When we have said all we can about the wonders of divine love to us, we must end with “and so on,” and worship the depth, while giving up any hope of finding its bottom.