Food for Thought by David Jackson

True worship from Psalm 40

Due to generations of neglect, the book of Psalms fails to connect with the spiritual life of many Christians. For too long that truth was why I didn’t spend much time with what was, for a long stretch of time, a foundation of the church’s devotional connection with God. As a result, I couldn’t appreciate the power that is present here.

Part of the problem is that I tried to treat this worship-book like the rest of Scripture. But it is unique among the books of the Bible. The intended audience is not other people, creatures who need to learn information about God and our place in his creation. In Psalms the audience is none other than God himself! As a result, the various psalms must be handled differently from other biblical books. 

Writer Philip D. Yancey has expressed the special place of Psalms in the whole of Scripture this way: “More than any other book in the Bible, Psalms reveals what a heart-felt, soul-starved, single-minded relationship with God looks like” [Christianity Today (Oct. 6, 1989): 29].

Psalm 40 addresses God with the realization of what true worship is, what we can offer to God that he truly wants from us. Worship is not about giving God things, nor about performing rituals and devotions for him. It is only when I realize what God has already done for me, when I open my heart to give him my will, to fully put my trust in him, that I experience “a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God” (v. 3).

Then the blessing comes of realizing “the wonders you have done” that “no one can recount to you” because “they would be too many to declare” (v. 5). It is the surrendered will that fully pleases our God, which results from placing his law in my heart (v. 8). At last, here is the key to giving God all that he asks of us. 

As Paul says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:1-2).

A friend recently pointed out to me a paradox in this psalm. The writer begins by speaking of waiting patiently, but then twice he says, “O Lord, come quickly to help me” (v. 13) and “O my God, do not delay” (v. 17). Did he forget that he was “waiting patiently,” or did he change his mind?

Somewhere I read that there are two kinds of waiting. There is the passive, sitting still and being bored waiting that school kids do too often in the summer. Then there is the excited waiting in anticipation of a coming event, like children waiting for Christmas day to come.

Faith teaches us to trust the God who made us, who blesses us, and who supplies us with everything we need for this life. We learn to wait on him because he fulfills every promise. Jesus showed us what a submitted life looks like, and that is what the Father needs from us. 

Only I can give it to him, as I take his will into my heart so that it becomes a part of who I am. Remember the two sides of this coin (our relationship with our God): On our side, “I am poor and needy.” On his side, “You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay” (v. 17).