Devotional Short Note on Psalm 41: The
first verse we need to run to in this Psalm is David’s admission of acting
sinful. It is in 41:5 where he pleads for grace from the Lord, why? “heal my
soul for I have sinned against You”. Someone once said that Saul was more
perfect than David but the secret of David’s life is that he knew where to run
to, namely the Lord, whereas Saul ran to the witch of Endor. Sin. Sin has
magnets clinging to it and comes in bundles or groups, all in one package: sin,
sensitivity, distrust, suspicion, gossip. Scholars have translated 41:6-9 as if
the enemies of David have done a list of things against him already. Not so. He
used the future form of the verb meaning that he only thinks that they might
now do these things against him because of his sin. The stress is based on
virtual reality or imaginations of what can happen to him now because of his
misdeed. This is the haunting reality of sin. Even if no-one has done anything,
we suspect they will. They will gossip “all that hate me will whisper together
against me” (41:8a); they will apply political tricks “against me will they
devise my hurt” (41:8b); they will spread defamation “when he will go abroad he
will speak of it” (41:7c); they will be curiosity story collectors “his heart
will gather iniquity to itself” (41:7b); suspicion “and if one comes to me he
will speak falsehood” (41:7a). They will allow empty stories to entertain them “an
evil thing will cleave to him” (41:9a), they are set in their ways: “which he
lies down, not will he turn to rise up” (41:9b). All these did not happen but
may now happen because of David’s sin. David has the desire to control everyone
around him. He wants to keep all stories, fabrications, truth of sin,
whispering, networks and thoughts under mind-control so that he cleans himself
from the vain thing that he did. We do not know what he did but he sinned and brought
stress on his own being. We can learn from these lessons. Are we going to
church with the suspicion that the one who looked in our direction and dropped
the head whispered about us? Are we suspicious that one is greeting us with a
double intention? Pastor C. D. Brooks said in a sermon entitled on Youtube, “God
in Bad company” in the extract “Little Willy” that if one wants to come to
church to see hypocrites, Satan has a bag full for him/her to see. He said,
even though a cat goes to England to see beautiful things, he will only see the
mouse under the chair, because that is what a cat is trained to see. We need to
come to see Jesus instead. After voicing his fear of maybe that could happen,
David used the particle “also” (gam) in 41:10a. He said: “I have all these
worries bothering me, and also….” Then he switch to the past tense since it
already happened. He saw evidence of gossip now and whispering against him: “also
[gam] man of my peace which I trusted in him, who ate my bread magnified [hagdîl]
a heel over me” (41:10b). It is the same verb that is normally used for
describing Satan’s rebellion against God in scripture for example Daniel 8:11
which is not the Little Horn but Satan in the Little Horn since horn is a feminine
verb as in verse 10 and 12 in Hebrew but here in verse 11 of Daniel 8, the
masculine verb is used. Sometimes if you suspect something bad is going to
happen, then it happens. That is what David is adding here and what haunts him
now is that more is to come (41:6-9). He prayed to God to be gracious to him
and raise him up just like in Psalm 40:2-4. “Cause me to be raised up” is the
Hebrew word form he used. It is not just raising up but be the origin of
intention to be raised up. David says that the truth-o-meter for himself that
God is with him will be if he can see that his enemies do not triumph over him
(41:12a-b). It is amazing that when there are sin in one’s life, one dreams of
absolute total perfection in daily events. When sin are overcame, one
experience more trials and tribulations to test the faith and makes us more sparkling
for him. The famous pastor gospel singer who died a couple of years ago, Jesse
Dixon, not an Adventist, said in one of his songs that if someone is gossiping
about him, then he knows that there is an extra brick in his house in heaven.
That is gossiping about a life free of sin, not like David here who sinned. David
is dreaming of the Eschaton arriving when “and as for me, You will uphold me in
my perfection [at the Second Coming and Resurrection] and You will set me to
Your face to eternity” (41:13). The only escape for David is the world to come.
This world is not his home. Finally he blessed the Lord God of [spiritual
Israel] from everlasting and unto everlasting, Amen and Amen” (41:14). “The
very trials that test our faith most severely, and make it seem that God has
forsaken us, are designed to lead us more closely to Christ that we may lay all
our burdens at His feet and experience the peace He will give us in exchange”
(Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church Vol. 4, 220.1).