Psalms 40:6-12

Psalms 40: 6-12

The Bible says in Psalm 40:6-8, “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt-offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.

Verse 5 of Psalms 40 tells us about the vast and infinite depth of the works and wisdom of God. How do we understand the mystery of Godliness? How do we understand the work of God, so that we can be a fellow-worker in the building of the kingdom of God? And what is it that we must understand, so that we can climb to the top of the mountain of the wisdom of God and sail the endless seas of the knowledge of God? There is one basic truth to understand: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The word Gospel means “good news.” It is good news because Jesus died for your sins. And He offers you forgiveness, eternal life, and perfect peace and joy. And just as He rose again the third day and ascended to heaven; Christ is returning soon to judge the unrepentant hearts of the world and gather His children from the four corners of the earth and take them to live in mansions of glory that God Himself has built for them. The Gospel is a spiritual key that not only opens the gates of heaven but also opens the human soul to the Spirit of God, in a sweet and personal way, and unlocks the door to the treasure room of the endless wisdom and knowledge of God.

Psalms 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt-offering and sin offering hast Thou not required.” What does God desire of us? Verse 6 says that it is not sacrifice and offering but opened ears. There is a contrast being made here between the external and the internal; between the outward deeds and works of man, and the inward works of the heart; which is faith. In the days of the Old Testament, when King David wrote this Psalm, the Jews lived under a religious system that was very familiar with sacrifices, offerings and religious ceremonies. Of course, the religious system of the Jews was given by God. But much of it was merely symbolic in nature. There is not an organized religion in the world today that is not filled with ceremonies, tradition, and acts of worthless self-justification. Jesus said that true religion is to worship God in spirit and in truth. And Jesus also said in James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Most people that are involved in religion; place their emphasis and put their time into ceremonies, traditions, physical works, and other external activities or actions. But your outward physical works are only accomplishing the work of God, if; you do what you do in your heart for Christ and His glory, if you do it out of love for the Father, and if what you do is indeed what God would will of you. Psalms 0:6 says, “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened.” Jesus said a similar phrase many times in the Gospels when preaching to people, “he that hath and ear to hear, let him hear.” And Jesus also said in the book of Revelation, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith…” To have open ears means to have an open heart. What does God desire? God desires that man be open and receptive in his heart; to the truth and the love of God, that is offered to all; through His Son, Jesus Christ. God desires that we say just as Jesus did, “Not my will, Lord, but Thine be done.” And if we can say just as Psalms 40:6 says, “mine ears hast Thou opened” then we will also be able to say just as I Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you truly have open ears and an open heart to Christ and His will, then you will say just as king David did in Psalms 40:8, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.” And what is the will of God for you and for me? First, above all, it is God’s will for each of us to repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ. I Timothy 2:4 says, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

And once we are saved there is a great and important work that God would have all his children do. Psalm 40:9-10 says, “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation.”

Not every believer is a preacher. But every believer is responsible to take the truth of God’s Word and share it with others wherever God may give you opportunity. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 that, “ye are the light of the world.” Romans 10:17says, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I Peter 4:11 says; “If any many speak let him speak as of the oracles of God.” There is a power in the Word of God, an immense power. Think about the Words of Christ and believe them day by day, and you will be connected to the Spirit of God and have the power to live a righteous and abundant life. And then share the Word of God with others and you will sow the seeds of faith and righteousness in the lives of other sinners such as yourself.

Psalms 40:11-12 says, “Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let Thy loving kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” II Timothy 3:12 says; “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

One definite result of preaching righteousness in the great congregation, and declaring the faithfulness and salvation of God: is persecution. There will be persecution because life is a spiritual war and the forces of Satan will oppose you, if you stand for Christ. And the unrepentant hearts of the world will despise and hate you, because they do not love Jesus or His truth. If you truly and zealously follow the road of the cross, you just might find yourself saying as king David did, “innumerable evils have compassed me about.” Yet despite the spiritual opposition that was in David’s life, he remembered two very important things; which were the basis for His victory. First that he was just a sinner. Psalms 40:12, “mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth.” Romans 3:23 says; “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But Romans 3:24 says, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” First you should remember that you are just a sinner. And second, you should understand the mercy and the grace of God. Psalms 40:11 says, “let Thy loving kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me.” I Peter 5:5 says, “be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” If you rely on the grace of God and His mercies, keeping in mind your own weakness and sinfulness apart from Christ; then you will indeed be prepared to preach righteousness in the great congregation. And even though the forces of evil will oppose you, like clouds of darkness covering the sky, the light of God’s Word will guide you. And the rays of His tender love and mercy will strengthen and protect you.

Psalms 40:13-15 says, “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me, Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.” Even though Christians will be persecuted from time to time by the ungodly people of the world, we can rejoice and take comfort in the fact that; God will deliver us from evil and He will punish the wicked of the world. Romans 12:19 says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Jesus did say in Matthew 5:44, “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” As we boldly stand for the truth and love and pray for those who oppose God we can find great comfort and peace knowing that God is the judge and He will deal righteously with those who hate us.

Psalms 40:16-17, “Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” To wait on the Lord means to seek the Lord. To search the depths of the works and words of God is seek to God. Psalms 40:16 says to let those that seek the Lord rejoice. If you seek God you can rejoice because you will find God. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, “seek and ye shall find.” James 4:8 says “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw night to you.” Of course, to truly seek God means to surrender your will to God. And it also means to be repentance to Christ for your sins. If you have not done these things, then you have not sought God.

Psalms 40:17, “But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” There is only one type of person that will seek God, “the poor and the needy.” Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteous nesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” In reality, we are all poor in spirit. Of ourselves we are weak and incapable of resisting the temptations of our flesh, the world, and the devil. We humans are incapable of handling the daily struggles of life. We are weak. But God is strong, and in God is righteousness eternal. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” God in his great and infinite grace will open your eyes so that you can see that you need Him and so that you can learn to rely upon Him through faith in Christ and faith in the promises of God.

The Bible says in Psalms chapter 18:6-11, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness Hi secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.” Psalms 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

We live in a world of suffering and turmoil, disease and death. Most people live their lives lost and lonely, without purpose and filled with fear and ignorance. But beyond all the corruption that is the world in which we live, and beyond the physical limitations of the reality that we can see with our eyes; there is a realm that exists within the heart and mind of man, a realm that is opened by faith. It is a world of perfect peace, joy and spiritual freedom, a world of no spiritual limitations, and a world where this life and the next can be lived abundantly. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” If you repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ, if you see that you are poor and needy, and if you learn to understand those thoughts the Lord thinks about you, His Word, then you can walk hand in hand with God in a special and intimate way. And then you will dwell “in the secret place of the most High” “under the shadow of the Almighty.”

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