Song-Writing with the Psalmist

Psalm 40 NASB95

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation. You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me. For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; Make haste, O Lord, to help me. Let those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it; Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt. Let those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, “Aha, aha!” Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

INTRO: How many of you like to sing? (James take note!) Perhaps you sing in the shower or in the car… you know places where you feel like people can’t hear you? Do you ever get the urge to sing but no song you know works to describe the emotion you feel? That happens to me sometimes.

ILL- Do you then try to sing an impromptu song? You get great news- a promotion at work, a good grade on that final, loved one gets saved. etc. and you just try to make up a song cause in all of Christian history, you’ve never been introduced to a song that spells out your joy… Come on, be honest!

Well, even if you won’t admit it, I know that when God blesses us, we then have a desire to sing his praises. Today, on this last Sunday of the year, I want us to do some song-writing.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… so stop giving me that funny look!

Several years ago, a mentor of mine told me that the pastor is the primary worship leader in the church… thankfully, this is not the same as being the primary music leader (Amen?)

Nevertheless, today we are going to shadow the psalmist and learn together how to write a song of praise.

You might wonder why we would do such a thing. The reality is that God continually gives us reason to praise Him and thus our praise should reflect current realities as well as past truths. And so, we need ‘new songs’. This does not devalue the old songs that we know and love, but it gives us opportunities to acknowledge our God who continues to show His goodness towards us.

So, let’s dive in, shall we? If you picked up a bulletin, I encourage you to make use of the sermon guide as we learn together. The sermon is titled “Song-writing with the Psalmist: A guide to renewing our personal and corporate worship.” We will consider 3 components to our song. You can then take this and turn it into your song for 2022.

The first component we must consider is

The Source and Style of Our Song (1-3)

First, the source or inspiration of our song. If you listen to the radio or to spotify or pandora these days, you can probably pick up on the source or inspiration of the artist’s song. Some are inspired by a person or event. Some are inspired by a lifestyle or riches. Others are inspired by what can only be described as nonsensical garbage…

For us, we look over the shoulder of David, the writer of Psalm 40. Look with me to verses 1-2 (READ)

Here, we see David’s focus. In v. 1, he says that he waited patiently- perhaps a better translation would be ‘intently’ for Yahweh. In other words, he looked nowhere else. He trusted only in the God of the Bible.

ILL: For many years now, we’ve seen professing Christians enter into the new year with hopes in politicians, policies, jobs, relationships, etc. and when they do not bring the anticipated joy, we see frustration, resentment, and even depression. David shows us that as Christians, we must look only to our God for inspiration. He is our source!

David follows up this with evidence of God’s faithfulness and goodness.

God inclined or bent down to David and heard him and brought rescue in his time of need. (v.1b-2 paraphrase)

When we look at the source of our song, we look to the one who has proven himself time and time again. As a church, we can look back over the last year or two and see a number of evidences of God’s goodness.

Salvations

Healings

Financial blessings

Restored relationships

Deliverance from addiction and depression.

Friends, you and I have something to sing about this morning!

Look down to v. 3a. “He put a new song in my mouth..” David testifies that this song is not a derivation of anything less than the blessing of God Almighty.

This leads to the STYLE aspect of our song. I know that we have style-preferences here. Some of you like Southern Gospel, others like traditional Hymns, and still others like the more contemporary songs you might hear on the radio. But that’s not the ‘style’ I’m talking about.

Look at the second part of v. 3. (READ) This describes that the song which God has given David is a song of praise to Yahweh.

This song is intended to bring not only our focus on our God, but also to illuminate His goodness and character to others (Many will see and fear and will trust…) *More on that later* - We see that the style is expectant praise. God is worthy of our praise and as such we expect that He will not only put this song in our heart and mouth, but He will use it as we are faithful to sing it. Sing it with the Gathers, or sing it with a full on band- just be sure that you are singing the expectant praise of our God.

Discuss: Think back over the last year. How has God proved His goodness in your life?

Now that we have established the source and style of our song, we want to get more specific. So, our next component is:

The Substance and Spirit of Our Song (4-8)

In v. 4-5, we can see the substance, that is what makes up the content of the song. Here, David highlights 2 main ideas or what we might call 2 verses.

The first is of God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. Look at v. 4 (READ)

Because of God’s faithfulness, we are blessed to trust in Him. This is set against those who have turned to false teachers or false gospels and those whose pride has become a stumbling block. Think about what he’s saying here. We are blessed because we are not hoping in some sort of lie or pipe-dream, but rather we are hoping in the God who spoke and formed all creation! We are hoping in the God who pursues us and restores us!

We look back at Christmas as can see this contrast. Some hope in fairy tales. They hope in the gifts or in some sort of emotion that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside… for a season. But we, as Christians hope in the SAVIOR who came to bring life eternal and life abundant! We have real joy, not simply a temporary peace, but eternal peace.

In v. 5, David points us to God’s love and compassion. (READ v.5)

The second verse of our song is filled with the understanding that God loves us more than we could ever comprehend! He loves us enough to pay the highest price! He loves us enough to be with us and to give us strength and guidance. In fact, if we just take time to notice, we can see how overwhelming God’s expressed love for us really is. “None can compare!”

Our verses are filled with content of God’s faithfulness and love. There is our substance and v.6-8 give us the spirit of the song. (READ)

These verses point us to the absolute genuine joy of the psalmist. In fact, did you know that these 3 verses are quoted in Heb. 10 as the writer described Jesus’ role in restoring humanity through His own blood?

Now, think carefully- This spirit or attitude is thus meant to describe Christ-likeness- perfect joy in our surrender to God.

When we write our song of praise to our God, it is filled with His faithfulness and love which develops in us the heart of our Lord. Because of who God is and how God loves us, we can sing songs of praise that truly overflow from our heart.

This song then must be an authentic, genuine expression of our response to God.

Discuss: Write and share how God's expression of faithfulness and love in your life has brought about a response from you. What is your genuine response to God’s goodness?

So far, we’ve established the source and style - God gives us a new song of praise. We’ve discovered the substance and spirit of our song- a genuine expression of our response to God’s faithfulness and love. Now, we look to

The Strength and Sound of Our Song (9-10)

Look down to v.9 with me (READ)

The psalmist here lets us know the strength of our song or volume is to be LOUD!

This song is intended to be made public.

You might be thinking- no way! I’ll keep my song-writing experiments to myself… Well, tell me: What good is a song of praise that is kept to yourself?

Look at what David says in the second part of v. 9 - “I will not restrain my lips!”

Look, so many people are willing to let there lips flap about all kinds of gossip or opinions about this and that. Folks, when God gives us a song, he intends for it to be shared! You might be thinking, “WHY? God can hear me? Aren’t we singing to an audience of one?”

Here is where you need to recognize that we sing to God for His glory. Yet, we proclaim His song before others as testimony of our trust and devotion.

In other words, you aren’t singing loud to impress people, but you are singing loud to demonstrate the authenticity of your praise. This leads us to the sound…

Again, I’m not talking the notes that you might pick out on a piano or guitar. What is shown hear is the sound of honesty. There is no auto-tune or lip-syncing going on in our song. We are honest. Look at v. 10- (READ)

Here is what I believe David is saying: I am not keeping your goodness to myself. I’m not sugar-coating the situation, not trying to keep myself from looking bad, but instead am openly making known how God Almighty has proved His goodness in the ugliness and messiness of my life.

As we begin to put these elements together, we can see that we are forming a song. God is our source and praise is our style. The verses ring of God’s faithfulness and love expressed in genuine overflow from our hearts. And we sing it loud and honestly. God’s not concerned about your performance, he’s interested instead about the authenticity of your song.

Discuss: How does your song sound? Is it honest? Are you timid about sharing your song? Why?

We are almost done. Song-writing is more than an exercise in reflection. No, as David shares in the final verses of Ps. 40, our song-writing is intended to be a continuous process.

in v. 11-17, we see that David once again is back to where He was in v.1. He is once again placing his hope in God alone.

Let me point out his mindset:

He is confident in the goodness and faithfulness of God. (READ 11)

He is aware of the weakness of his own flesh (12) Can you relate to David here?

He pleads to God for rescue (13-15)

And He praises God as he awaits another new song. (16-17)

Folks, as we prepare to head into another new year, I want to remind you that God has given us a song of praise in 2021. And while we face difficult days ahead, God is faithful and trustworthy. So, let us praise Him and trust in Christ alone as we head into this new year.

This morning as we close, I’d like to ask you to join me in praying for our church and community as go into 2022.

Will you pray with me?