Psalms 40:11-17 - Homilies By C. Short

Discipline lifelong.

Though the sufferer has been delivered from one great distress, he is still encompassed by great sufferings and dangers, from which he prays to be rescued. Suggests—

I. THAT THE WORK OF OUR DISCIPLINE AND SALVATION IS A LIFELONG WORK . No one act of deliverance is sufficient; no one deliverance can cover the whole of our experience.

1 . Fresh sin brings a renewed consciousness of suffering. ( Psalms 40:12 .) The psalmist suffered so in this respect that his eyes became dim from exhaustion ; he felt his sins to be more than the hairs of his head, so that his heart failed in strength. Sense and soul both gave way.

2 . Men in high station are in constant danger from enemies. ( Psalms 40:14 , Psalms 40:15 .) However righteous in conduct and blameless in character. Bad men have selfish ends to attain, and they try to get good men out of their way by slander and persecution.

3 . As life advances , the sense of our poverty and need deepens. ( Psalms 40:17 .) If we are growing wiser and better, we get a deeper insight into what we ought to be and might become, and so nourish a Divine discontent with our poverty and weakness.

II. LIFELONG NEED WILL BEGET LIFELONG PRAYER .

1 . Gratitude for the past will inspire us to prayer. This was the case with the psalmist ( Psalms 40:1-10 ).

2 . We are encouraged to pray by the thought of the goodness of God. ( Psalms 40:11 .) He appeals to "the tender mercies," "the loving-kindness," and "the truth," or the faithfulness, of God to those who trust in him.. He knows that "God thinketh upon him."

3 . He appeals also to the retributive justice of God. ( Psalms 40:14 , Psalms 40:15 .) He is sure that God will deal righteously with his enemies.

4 . He is emboldened to seek for speedy deliverance. ( Psalms 40:17 .) In the first verse he says he waited patiently for the Lord; here he becomes impatient for the Divine interference. The patience means persevering prayer; the impatience means urgent prayer; and both are right and acceptable and necessary to the believer in earnest about salvation.—S