Psalm 40:17

"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!"

Psalm 40 ends in personal urgency. Starting in verse 11, we knew that something was up. And in verse 12, the petitioner spelled it out: There are all kinds of unspecified evils threatening to engulf him, including his own sin. In the light of that finally blurted out S.O.S., we recognize that the first 10 verses have been a building up and positioning himself to making the bold requests he pours out in the second part of the Psalm.

First, he praised God for past deliverances (verse 1-3). Then, he praised him for more wonderful works than he can count (verses 4-5). Then, he reminded God that he has been devoted to God and not passed up opportunities to praise him in public (verses 6-10). Lastly, he poured out the gunnysack full of troubles, holding nothing back.

He ends with the abiding awareness he began with: He is "poor and needy." He couldn't extract himself from the pit in verse 2 and he can't do it now. This is not false modesty but a sober reckoning of his ability without God.

"But the Lord takes thought for me." The fact that God thinks about him must be really impressive to the psalmist because it is the second time he mentions it (verse 5). What is man that you bother with us, Lord? (Psalm 8:4)

And just what are God's thoughts toward us? Is He sitting in heaven thinking up dirty tricks to play on us, as some of us seem to believe, judging by our mistrust of him. Or is He always planning the best ways for us to grow in faith and love and joy, through some custom-fitted combination of trials and delights?

A parent who loves his child thinks about him on his bed at night---how he can do him good. (God is the good parent.) A husband who loves his wife lives with her in an understanding way and thinks about how her throughout the day---how he can do her good. (God is the good husband.) A friend thinks about how he can spend time with his friend. (God is the good friend.) A deliverer thinks about how he can deliver. (God is our deliverer).

God has thoughts toward us---more, I daresay, than we have toward him---and that's amazing. We forget God for days at a time but He is thinking about us all the while. Some of the best things that God has brought into my life in the past five years God was working out while I was in highhanded rebellion against Him. If only we would rest that kind of love and trust His plans for us.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you" (Jeremiah 29:11).

You did hear me, Lord. When I waited patiently for you (or not so much), you "inclined to me and heard my cry" and "drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon the rock, making my steps secure," and you "put a new song in my mouth."

Would you do it again, Lord? It's time again. I seem to get myself in trouble as often as Mr. Magoo and Tudor Turtle rolled into one. I will trust you to work things out. I will stop trying to figure out how prayer works and I will be patient and wait for you.

But do not delay, O my God!

To read Andrée Seu's series on Psalm 40, click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.