To 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 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 that 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 Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire: mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume 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 preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained 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 taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it: let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

15 Let them be desolate for a reward 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.

The Point:

We loudly declare the merciful salvation of our God while at the same time continue to cry out for mercy.

How do we feel in the recitation of this psalm?

Everybody takes sides. We root for one side or another in a ball game and we identify with one side or the other in a war. In almost every case that a person takes a side, he has reasons for making that commitment and those reasons are fortified with deep-seated emotions. Those opposed to the Germans in World War II might have found their commitment against the Nazi’s genocide or other atrocities, or they might have perceived the Americans as fighting a more righteous war because they stood in a defensive position. These perceptions form the emotional tenor of the commitment.

Let us suppose that a Polish man was tormented by the Germans during the war and subsequently, he was rescued by American soldiers. Of course this man would claim a close affiliation with the Americans. He would feel it. In a similar manner, we have committed to God’s side. He has delivered us from the hands of our enemies. He has pulled us out of the depths of our torment and set our feet upon a rock. Such a merciful deliverance summons from us a witness to His mercy and righteousness before others. Now we would willingly serve Him until the day of our death. In faith, we have sold ourselves to be servants of the living God, and based on the commitment of this relationship we can turn to God, look into His eyes, and plead with Him not to let us down in the day of trouble.

What does this psalm teach us?

Verses 1–5. Among many Christian assemblies throughout the world, it is a common practice to hold a time of testimonials about how the Lord has worked in the lives of individuals. These are warm and encouraging times for the saints and such is the context of this psalm as David opens with his personal testimony.

God works in the heart of a man as he waits patiently on Him in faith. Sometimes God does not answer our prayers immediately, but as we continue to cry out for His deliverance and wait on Him in faith, He will always save. Here, David describes His salvation as deliverance from the depths of a slimy, slippery pit up onto a rock. What a phenomenal contrast between living a life of sin, filled with the slimy uncertainty and hopelessness of deceit, treachery, and autonomy (being a law to ourselves), and the life of obedience, eternal truth, faithfulness, and trust in God!

Salvation is entirely of Yahweh. He reaches down and pulls us from the miry pit, and He gives us a song of praise to share with others. Then He takes that song of grateful praise from our lips and uses it to reach millions of others across the world. Because or our praise, people may learn to trust God for salvation and walk in His fear all the days of their lives. What a beautiful summary of what is happening right now as the Gospel spreads across the globe through many grateful souls, who themselves were delivered from the slimy pit!

Two things amaze the soul of all true believers and those are the works of God and the Word of God. The works of men and the words of men can be comprehended, and after awhile you will find them less impressive and even boring. But the more you uncover of the mysteries of the Word of God and the more you delve into the depth and beauty of God’s creation and the work of redemption in Christ, the more your mind will soar in awe-filled praise to God. Words will never be able to comprehend the depth or the glory of it.

Verses 6–10. These verses contain a testimony from David but they are also the words of David’s Son, who is the second person in the Trinity. When this passage is quoted in Hebrews 10, it comes from the mouth of Jesus, the Son of God, even though they were penned by His grandfather, David, one thousand years before He was born of the virgin Mary in the stable.

Some works of men are better than others, but only because God establishes priorities of what is good, what is better, and what is best. According to these inspired words of God, sacrifice and offerings are not the highest good. We would not entirely negate the importance of sacrifice because without sacrifice there would be no forgiveness of sins. But God does not delight in sacrifice nearly as much as He delights in obedience, and obedience is just what the Son of God gave to His Father. For He came to do His Father’s will, which included the suffering and death that He underwent at Calvary. The Father is pleased with obedience and the Son was delighted to render Him that obedience. I pray that we would understand this better and live it!

More insight into the heart of our Savior is found in the final verses of this section as Christ embraces the ministry of preaching. A great deal of His ministry on earth consisted of His public testimony declaring God’s love and mercy for sinners, while raising God’s standard of righteousness for all to see.

Verses 11–17. After presenting his commitment to Yahweh, the Psalmist now pleads for God’s mercy and deliverance from sin. If these are still the words of our Savior, the sins referred to in verse 12 must be our sins that He carried when He suffered on the cross for us. But it is more appropriately applied to every one of us because we are all dogged by our sins until our dying day. Though we may have delighted in God’s salvation in lifting us out of the miry clay, we are not entirely done with the sticky mud and we are not through with our dependence on God to save us along the way to heaven. Thus, our psalm is intermixed with expressions of trust in God, gratitude for His salvation, and more cries for salvation. When we cry out for God’s salvation, this is not a sign of a lack of faith in the preserving hand of God. It is the cry of faith and every true believer will cry out until we are over the river and our glorification is complete.

How do we apply this psalm?

1. In verse 3, the two words fear and trust are used to describe our heart proclivity, perspective, and attitude towards God. Those who trust God for their salvation will fear God each day in their daily walk. One cannot trust God if he does not fear God. And one does not fear God if he does not trust God.

2. The Father is pleased with our obedience. As the Apostle Paul exhorts in Philippians 2, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” If the Father is pleased with our obedience, let us give it to Him. That is the heart of a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

How does this psalm teach us to worship God?

This psalm gives an order that is beautiful in worship. The sentiments move from a testimony of grateful praise, to a commitment of obedience and a trusting cry for God’s deliverance. Let us mix praise with cries for help as a continuing testimony that we rely on God to take us all the way to heaven. The combination of these elements constitute beautiful, acceptable worship to God.

Questions:

1. Give five examples of Messianic psalms.

2. How does David describe salvation in the first few verses of this psalm?

3. Give several examples of Deliverance psalms.

4. What does God prefer even above sacrifice?

5. Where in the New Testament do we find the statement, “I delight to do Thy will, Oh Lord”?

6. In which psalm do we find the phrase, “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God” ?

Family Discussion Questions:

1. Are we giving God what He wants from us? Are we giving Him our obedience? Do we realize how much God delights in our obedience? Does God want us to bring our worship and our tithes to Him on Sunday and then ignore Him on Monday?

2. Do you delight to do the will of God? Are you sold out to God as Jesus was? Are you bold to witness the standards of God’s Law and the greatness of His mercy and salvation to others?