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Psalm 40:5


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"You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wonderful 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."

In contrast to the emptiness and non-reality of the lives of liars are the manifest and uncountable works of God. When we think of it, it makes our reliance on the proud all the more ludicrous and reprehensible.

But the psalmist is not chiding here; he is exulting. What he has in mind by "wonderful deeds" is not specified. Perhaps he is thinking of the Creation, or of the parting of the Red Sea. But I believe he has his own joyful stories to tell of the Lord's works in his life. The one who "makes the LORD his trust" will have testimonies, because the Lord is pleased to break into the tide of human affairs for this man. The faith and heartfelt worship of man release Christ's hard-won provisions from the heavenly storehouses. God is always waiting for someone to trust Him, and to dream with Him.

If only every sermon in church were a testimony, then our churches would be full. I have been reproached for expressing that wish, as if I had stated that doctrine is not important. But testimony is doctrine plus. It is the teaching of Scripture plus a real life illustration of how that doctrine was lived in the preacher's life---and blessed in the living of it. "Let me tell you, brothers, what God did for me when I finally took him seriously and engaged in spiritual warfare, actually using all the weapons in Ephesians 6." "Let me tell you how the Lord delivered me from the pit I was in." "Let me tell you how long I waited for the Lord and kept trusting him before I had a spiritual breakthrough."

Is God still doing "wonderful works" in our day? Some say that many of His works have ceased in our day. That would be strange timing indeed: You mean, now that Jesus is exalted with power "to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8)? Now that "he has distributed freely" (2 Corinthians 9:9)? Now that we have "the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and . . . the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:19-20)?

And where is it written in the Bible that we are to lower our expectations and to say the Old Testament and the Acts church were the last stop on the expressway of God's mighty works? Oh, you say I am forgetting that God's mightiest work is the work of Jesus in the hearts of men? Which work of Jesus: conversion but not deliverances? The justification of Jesus but not the gifts of Jesus?

God's "wonderful deeds" are not a museum. They continue. Oh Lord, increase our faith! And then astonish us once again.

". . . and your thoughts toward us . . . are more than can be told."

When I was a parent of young children, I thought I knew what biblical parenting was: feed them, shelter them, teach them, discipline them. Years later I realized I missed one or two that were not listed specifically in Scripture. The reason they were not listed specifically? I think they were so pervasive that they were invisible to me. One was: delight in them. The other: think thoughts toward them, stay up nights trying to figure out creative ways to build them up, bless them, encourage them, help them in their weakness, make them all they can be.

God has these thoughts toward you. Isn't that wonderful? Did you worry that your little problems were unimportant, and that God had other fish to fry? Did you not think He saw when you cried alone? What concepts come to mind in a free-association with the word "God"? Remote? Harsh? Slightly ticked off? Or do you ever think: satisfying? Tenderhearted? Passionate? Do you think that when you are veering off course He wants to restore you gently?

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

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.


Andrée Seu Peterson

Andrée is a senior writer for WORLD Magazine. Her columns have been compiled into three books including Won’t Let You Go Unless You Bless Me. Andrée resides near Philadelphia.

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