Devotional Short Note to Psalm 40: David is an example of one who had many ups and downs in his spiritual life regarding sinful transgressions. The “old man” kept coming back and self took control away from the Holy Spirit and another spirit worked together with his own spirit to result in chaos.

In this Psalm, it was not written after he sinned but after he repented of his sin. He said that he was crying and waited for the Lord and the Lord heard his prayer in the pit of chaos and He reached down and pulled him up and placed him on a stable ground (40:2-3). Then justified by the grace of Christ wrapped around him with His Righteousness, he placed in his mouth a new song and praise (40:4).

The result? “Many shall see, and fear and shall trust in the Lord” (40:4c). One question here is why David is placing the new song in the future when he was justified already? The answer is the eschaton expectation. It is when absolute perfection will be granted at the End of Time with the Second Coming and Resurrection that David many shall see, fear and trust the Lord. For some reason they could not see it after David’s confessions of his transgressions. That is possible since the human element in spiritual meetings blind people to see past the slips in life past.

David then cited a wisdom saying as one can also find in Psalm 1:1; 32:1 and 41:1. “Happy is the man that has made the Lord his trust and has not turned to the arrogant nor to such as fall away lying”. Here one can stop and think of the screaming of the Saul party representative Shimei in 2 Samuel 16:5-6 who threw stones at David passing through Bahurim walking away from Absalom his rebellious son. His helpers wanted to do what Peter did when Jesus was in a similar situation: “Let me go over and cut off his head” said Abisai the nephew of David. But David said in 2 Samuel 16:10-11 exactly what he said in this Psalm: what if the Lord said to Shimei to curse David and although the opposition, he should be left alone to continue his arrogant behavior. David said: “Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord has told him. Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day”.

Such a Lord David is describing in Psalm 40:6: “If I would declare and speak of them [His good deeds] they are more than can be told”. David had a deep spiritual understanding about true worship. The view is one that beginners in faith not always understand yet. True worship lies not in the process of worship and externals displayed but in obedience and acting on listening. It is not by being in the presence of the preacher that one is saved but by listening to the content and act on what God explained through him/her. The background is Samuel’s words to David in 1 Samuel 15:22: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice”. The interruption of obedience is distractions self-inflicted giving free reign to passions, desires and imaginations. That is David’s experience. This principle of which Samuel spoke was in David’s spiritual dictionary. Then David added: “ears have You prepared for my”. William Shea indicated that the meaning of kāra is “provide” or “provision”. When Paul cited this part in  Hebrews 10:5 that when Christ came into the world He said: “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired; but a body has You prepared for me”, he used the word body instead of ears as David did.

Critical scholars want to say that Paul adjusted what David wrote about himself and turn it into a Christological text. Some Adventist New Testament scholars in California teach that way, namely that the Old Testament has a A meaning and that the New Testament is now a transformational B meaning. Sometimes in conflict. This is not true. What Paul took out from the Old Testament was embedded therein by Christ.

Some scholars thought that Paul was using another version of the Old Testament that read “body” instead of “ears”. Looking at Galatians 2:16, it seems rather that Paul is sometimes expressing the inner core of the text by similar expressions freely or paraphrastically or by memory. In this case a part is used by David to actually refer to the whole so Paul is using the whole to which David is referring to.

Christ appeared probably to David and spoke about Himself here. The next verse seems to indicate that: “Then said I, behold I come with the roll of a book which was prescribed over me” (40:8). David mentions that the one telling about the principle of true worship and ears that were opened by God let Him come with a roll of the book which was prescribed for Christ for His mission to this world. The Revelation of the Spirit and Christ from Adam to us is that roll or book prescribed for Christ. “I delight to do Your will, O my God, Yes, Your law is in my innermost parts” said Christ audible to David and he wrote it down what he heard.

David must be in vision here since in 40:10 he talked about preaching righteousness which is Christ Himself “in the great congregation”. David was not a preacher so far as we know. It must be Christ in vision seen. “I have not hid Your righteousness within my heart, I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation, I have not concealed Your mercy and Your truth from the congregation” (40:11). That is what the Sermon on the Mount was all about.

In 40:12 it is David in prayer asking that the Lord do not withhold compassion from him and also that mercy and truth continually (tamîd) preserve him. David cannot wait for the absolute perfection time zone any longer. He says why: “for evils that cannot be counted have compassed over me, my iniquities have overtaken me” (40:13). That is why David cannot be the one in 40:7-11. That One is perfect and preaching righteousness very successfully. David stands before such a one in the rags of Joshua in Zechariah. “So that I am not able to look up” (40:13b). His sins are more than the hairs on his head (40:13c). This is no longer Christ but David since the Bible says that there was no sin in Christ.

In 40:14 David asked that the Lord will deliver him and make haste to help him. Why deliver? Is he sinning? No. See 40:2-4 where he was saved from his sins. So what is David getting at here? He knows he is saved. But he desires, like all of us, SAVED saved. A total and absolute perfection that is still future. He wants his enemies to be ashamed in 40:15. All those who gossip about him (40:16). He prays for those who seek the Lord that they will be glad and rejoice.

He cannot wait for the Second Coming in 40:17b-c “Let such as love Your salvation say continually (tamîd) ‘the Lord is magnified’”. That will be then, but now in 40:18 David says: “For me, that is poor….the Lord will account it unto me”. Account what? Christ our Righteousness. “You are my help and my deliverer o my God, do not delay”. Advent Hope means not yet and not yet means delay and delay means wait and if waiting, “do not linger” means “I am full of Advent Hope Lord!”