Faith Perseveres in Trials

Psalms 40:1-10
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.

Similar to Psalm 70:1–5, this song of David encourages faith for deliverance that perseveres, long-trust in God and His working, in the midst of trials.  By waiting long and patiently for the Lord to work or answer our prayers, we know that He will look at us and hear our cries for help and forgiveness by His merciful grace.  King David knew this from experience, over and over, in his life.  He recalled the depths which he had sunk into and how God had picked him out of the mud, set him firm on solid ground, and then firmly established his path by fixing each of his steps going onward.  This describes God’s providence and sovereign grace.  Because of these things, God had put a song of praise into the heart and mouth of the psalmist.  He knew that many others would see the witness in him and give God the glory through fear and faith.  They would turn to the LORD by his witness!  True happiness and blessings are found in those who trust God and listen to His word by observing it through living as verse 4 says.  Our praise then rings out like this psalm, thankfully telling God how wonderful His works are and how magnificent His thoughts toward us are in His mercy and grace.  His good and caring thoughts towards us are innumerable, they are impossible to tally up to any total number!  As both instruction to us and prophetic description of Christ to come (Luke 24:44-45), we see that sacrifices are not what save us (Hebrews 10:5-7), but to be written in His book (Revelation 21:27) with His law in our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3), and to do His will as prepared for us to live out (Ephesians 2:10).  Because His word is inscribed in the flesh of our new hearts, we proclaim that good news to others without holding back.  God knows our hearts and verbal responses; those relegating the proclamation of the gospel to the way we live apart from the words fall short of what being His witnesses means.  It is ineffective and contrary to God’s will to not speak these words of life (Acts 5:20).  We do not hide our light beneath a basket (Matthew 5:15), keeping the demonstration of God’s righteousness in Christ we are found in from others.  No, we are to follow David’s example and God’s word to declare God’s faithfulness in salvation by grace and faith in His Son alone, and to do this openly.  This is how our faith perseveres in trials set against the gospel.