Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask him to bless, care for, and teach us as we read.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 40
Faith Persevering in Trial
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”
9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
Psalm 41
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they devise my hurt.
8 “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 40–41:13.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Psalms 40 and 41 show David crying from trouble, sin, enemies, grief, illness, and betrayal while trusting God to hear, lift him from the pit, establish his steps, preserve him with mercy and truth, sustain the sick, and set his people before God's face forever. Jesus alone perfectly delights to do God's will.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 40:17
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
but i am poor and needy Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, oh my God.
The transcript contains no explicit best-verse selection. Psalm 40:17 most directly captures the title and Bryan's personal grief application: the poor and needy worshiper is remembered by the Lord, who remains help and deliverer.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do & Christ Connection
Cry to God in grief, confess sin, and trust him as the Father who never dies and the Lord who hears and sustains his people. Set your feet on Jesus Christ, the rock, and receive hope that death will not conquer those whom God brings before his face forever.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, good evening. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, this evening we are at Psalm 40 and 41. Why don't we go ahead and have, well, we'll just pray and we'll get into God's word. Lord, we thank you for this day. And we thank you for this word. We pray that you would bless us now as we read. that you would care for us and that you would teach us in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, here we go. Psalm 40. To the chief musician, a psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry.
Does David sound like he's in a good place or a sad place? Sad place. Sad place. Nathan, can you read two and three? He also brought me up out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps. Go ahead and read the next verse. He has put a new stone in my mouth.
Praise to him, our God. Praise to our God. Praise to our God. Many will seek it and fear. and fear, and will trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord, my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts towards us cannot be counted to you in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they were more than can be numbered. sacrifice and offering you do you did not desire my ears you have opened burnt offering and sin offering you did not require then i said behold i come the scroll of the in the scroll in the scroll of the book it is written of me I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart.
That's right. That's right. Who do you think is saying this? David. Well, that's right. It's a Psalm of David, but in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart. Who do you think can say this perfectly? God. Jesus. Jesus. That's right. God is Jesus. Jesus is God. That's right. That's right.
I have proclaimed the goodness of righteousness in the Great Assembly. Indeed, I did not restrain my lips. O Lord, you yourself know. I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving-kindness and your truth from the Great Assembly." Nathan, you can read 11 and 12.
Do not withhold your tender mercy from me, O Lord. Let your loving-kindness and your truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have surrounded me. My knucklies have overtaken me that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs on my head. They are full. My heart fails me.
Oh, do you think that we need God's tender mercies? Yes. Do you think we need God's graciousness? His love and kindness? That's right, because for innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me. Yeah, right? Do we need to confess our sins? That's right. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion, who seek to destroy my life. Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor, who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, aha, aha, let those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you let such as you love let such as as love your salvation say continually continually the lord be magnificent magnified magnified but i am poor and needy Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, oh my God. What do you think this psalm is talking about? Let all those who seek me rejoice. Yeah, let all those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Only in good times? And bad times. Sometimes are there really sad things? Like when Grandpa died? Yeah. Yeah, like when Grandpa died. Did you know that Daddy has been having a hard time with thinking about Grandpa dying? Do you think that we can cry out? Do you think that God hears us? Yeah. He's like a father that dies. He's like a father who will never die.
And even when we're sad, even when things are hard, we can cry out with David and set my feet upon a rock and establish my steps. Even when David was going to get eight, maybe he just didn't get eight. Well, David was never going to get eight, but he could trust in the Lord. Okay, we're going to finish this up real quick with Psalm 41. To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.
Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and will be blessed on the earth. You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness. You will sustain him on his sickbed. Heal. No, I said. I said, Lord be merciful to me. Heal my soul. for I have sinned against you.
My enemies speak evil of me. When will he die and his name perish? If he comes to see me, he speaks lies. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes out, he tells it. All who hate me whisper together against me. They devise my heart. An evil disease, they say, clings to him. And now that he lies down, evil lies up no more. Even my own a familiar friend in whom I trusted, whom ate my bread as a lift up his ears against me.
But you, O Lord, be merciful to me and rise me up that I may repay them. By this I know that you are well pleased with me because my enemy does not triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity and set me before your face forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.
Does sin and death conquer us? No. No. Is grandpa going to be dead forever? Is grandpa's body in the grave? But where is he now? In heaven. He's heaven. That's right. And set me before your face forever. The blessing that God lets us go in his presence and see his face, huh? Two times a year we'll get to see him. Yeah? In heaven. In the new earth. We'll see Grandpa again in heaven in the new earth? Uh huh. That's right. That's right. Why don't we go ahead and pray, guys?
Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you that we have hope that we will see you face to face, for you are good and kind and loving towards us. We thank you for your graciousness, and we pray that you would set our feet upon Jesus Christ, our rock, and give us hope and give us peace. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord bless you tonight. May you have a great night's sleep and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye.