Psalm 40 — Confidently Calling on God
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay;
And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is the man that maketh the LORD his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done,
And thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
They cannot be set in order unto thee;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in;
Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God;
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have published righteousness in the great congregation;
Lo, I will not refrain my lips,
O LORD, thou knowest.
10 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.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD:
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about,
Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of mine head, and my heart hath failed me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me:
Make haste to help me, O LORD.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it:
Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonour
That delight in my hurt.
15 Let them be desolate by reason of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, Aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation say continually,
The LORD be magnified.
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 great confidence in David's voice throughout this psalm. It ends, quite clearly, with the troubles of iniquity and wicked ones surrounding him. Yet, his fear is not unsurmountable or overpowering. It is merely appropriate for the environment.
This is because David already related throughout the psalm itself the sure help he's received from the Lord and his righteous life in the Lord. The psalm opens with the way God whole heartedly responded to David's pleas for help. It then continues with the blessed walk David then had because of this help. David knew right and was able to live righteously because God helped him. God isn't trying to set us up to catch us in mistakes, but to set us up for blessings and success.
The fact that more troubles arise does not distress David, and he doesn't see the new troubles as the loss of the Lord. Maybe he sees it as an opportunity to witness the great help of the Lord again. So, we too, can grow in faith, remembering the help we've seen in the Lord, each time we cry to the Lord anew.