Back to Basics, Crying out to God
(crying out to proclaim)
There is no pit so deep, that God’s Love is not deeper still.” --Corrie Ten Boom
Corrie Ten Boom
I waited and waited for the Lord
Story of _,__,____
The desolate pit, or pit of tumult (see RSV ftn.( was a phrase used to describe the lowest level of Sheol, the abode of the dead. To reach there, God would have had to go down into those depths himself before he could “draw him up” out of the mud. In other words, what we have is a pictorial interpretation of the phrase we find in the Creed: “He descended into Hell.” Because of this, St. Francis of Assisi considered this to be his favourite verse in the Bible, and in consequence patterned his own life of love and compassion upon it.
ears hast thou dug for me. But “dug” is not the best picture-word to use. When a slave had served his time and was set free, under the Law of Moses he was given the option of remaining in service to his master, as a free man, choosing to do so because he loved and trusted his master, and was glad and proud to work for him. In that case his master stood him up against the door-post of the family home and nailed the emancipated slave’s ear to the door-post. He thus dug a hole through his ear (for the verb can mean this) with a nail. The hole that remained thereafter always reminded him of the one whom, of his own free will, he had decided to serve in loyalty and obedience (see Exod. 21:5–6; Deut. 15:12–17). Such then is a picture of the willing service of the redeemed sinner, now that he has found forgiveness and freedom. Paul speaks of this at Rom. 12:1.
For of course the more he became aware of God’s forgiving love, the more sins he came to recognize within his heart that needed to be forgiven.
evils The Hebrew word used here, ra'ah, can refer to both calamity and moral evil (see 15:3; Job 2:10 and note).
God is extolled as righteous, faithful, the savior, steadfast in His love (chesed), and truthful. It is because of these qualities that David can pray for God’s mercy (40:11–17). When David prays, Do not withhold your mercy from me (40:11), he uses the same verb as in verse 9 to refer to his testimony. As he did not refrain from testifying for God, he does not want God to refrain from helping him. Just as there were too many of God’s wonders to tell (see 40:5), now there are too many troubles to count (without number [40:12]).
Aha! Aha The Hebrew word used here, he'ach, is an expression of joy (Isa 44:16). The enemies take great pleasure in falsely accusing the psalmist.
As we have noted before, there is no word in the OT for “religion”. The Epistle of James 1:27 reminds the early Christians what true “religion” is all about—no sacrifices, as the psalmist had found, no saying of creeds, not even prayer and fasting; it was basically obedience, shown in loving service to others, to the God who had given his loving service to us.
The psalm ends as it began, with David waiting. God came through in the first instance, and David appears confident that He will this time, too. Waiting should be done in patient trust and humble submission, desiring, even more than our own vindication, that the LORD be exalted! (40:16).