Is God Trustworthy?

We all have heroes in some way. We usually have a hero because we like stories of people who finally get to do something extraordinary. For example, those who are fans of Star Wars always hope that Luke Skywalker manages to re-establish the order of the universe. Other example is for Marvel fans when Ironman puts on the glove with the infinitive stones and defeats Tanos we love that moment. Because we are passionate about victory and what is right.

‌We also have heroes because we identify with them. There are characteristics of their personalities that are closely linked to ours and make us emotional when we see that they are expressed in some way. When we go to the Bible we also have heroes that we are passionate about and we love to know more about them. I have several people in the bible that I am passionate about and that make me want to know more about them. One of my heroes from the Bible is King David.

I grew up in the church and as a child I loved learning about David and how he defeated Goliath. I got to the point of becoming so obsessed with David that I always told to myself when I get to heaven‌ I am going to spent a lot of time taking with King David.

David was always my hero in the Old Testament because when I read the history of him and the kings, God always compares him as a man after God's own heart.

‌That phrase that David was a man after God’s own heart has always impacted me. It impacted me so much that I decided to study David's life in depth and as I studied his life, that hero crumbled like a castle of sand. Such was my disappointment that I began to question God and say but God how you can tell David was a man after God’s own heart ?

So I made a list of the bad things David got wrong.

‌He was a murderer, from a very young age he had already killed Goliath and from that moment he did not stop.

He was a liar and had an abuse of power as one sees with the story of Bathsheba and Uriah.

He was a terrible father to his children Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom.

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But it turns out that in my research I had forgotten to carefully read his writings and especially his psalms, so the Bible opened my eyes to a more interesting David than I knew. As I studied the Psalms of David I began to understand better and better why God speaks of David as a man after his own heart. So I want to give you a little glimpse of that hero I still have that I would love to talk to in heaven.

Pray

Dear Father, we come to you this evening declaring first that you are a great and wonderful God. That you dwell on your throne surrounded by beauty and splendor. We know that there is no one like you and that in your beautiful grace and sovereignty you have made your will known to us through the Bible. Please, give us the desire to study it carefully this night, give us the desire to treasure your word in our hearts. I also come to you my God as one of your children asking for help of your Spirit so that the words that we read and study this today are far from any human error but are expressed as clearly as you wrote them for us.

‌God removes for this time anything that distresses us, distracts us and hinders us in such a way that we cannot keep our minds focused on you and your word. Finally allow us to rejoice in Christ your son who is the reason why we call ourselves your children. It is in your holy name that we pray today and your church says Amen!

Context

We are going to go to Psalm 40 and David writes this Psalm like many other psalms to praise God, this Psalm has something in particular and it is that David tries to answer the question: Is God trustworthy? One thing to understand about the Psalms is that we cannot read them as if we were reading a letter from the New Testament. Biblical poetry has a different structure and is determined more by thoughts and figures. It is also important to note the parallels as they try to give us a greater emphasis on the author's thought.

Understanding this we are going to divide Psalm 40 into two basic thoughts.

Thought # 1: Seek the people trust in God

Salmo 40:1 ESV

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Salmo 40:4 ESV

4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

Salmo 40:11 ESV

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

Salmo 40:13 ESV

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!

Salmo 40:17 ESV

17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

David encourages everyone of Israel throughout the psalm to wait on God and put their trust in him.

‌Why should a person trust God according to David's thought?

because He listens to our requests vs 1 "he inclined to me and heard my cry"

‌because vs 4 says "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust " if you pay attention to the whole verse David wanted to make a contrast because David clarifies that it is not only the one who trusts on the Lord but the one who does not put his trust in people and in other gods.

‌Because the Lord helps the needy and deliver him vs 11,13,17

Thought # 2: What it looks like to trust God

Salmo 40:5–8 ESV

5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

The first thing David sees when he puts his trust in God is

see the wonders that he has done and he says they are more than can be told.

This reminds me of the last words of the Gospel of John when he said about Jesus.

Juan 21:25 ESV

25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

What are those wonders that David and John saw when they talk about God?

Mateo 11:5 ESV

5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Salmo 40:12 ESV

12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.

Salmo 40:2 ESV

2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

In order to see and understand the wonders of God, David examines himself and this is what he finds.

He says that he feels so bad, so anguished that he feels blind, he feels that he is inside a pit or cistern that is of destruction or death, where the mud is heavy. The prophet Jeremiah experienced the same situation.

‌His iniquities have reached him to the point where he feels his heart fails. It is important to understand the word iniquity since it is not simply sin as such but the actions that cause a person to deviate from God's design. David is possibly not referring to his present iniquities but to his past ones.

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And in the midst of that anguish and difficulty David says that the Lord brought him out