Monday Morning Devotions

Ps. 40:4- "Blessed is that manwho makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud,nor as such turn aside to lies."

This verse, written by David, appears within the context of other verses praising God for what He, God, has done for David. David states that what God has done for Him is evidence not only of His existence, but of His nature as well. God is a loving God whose love has been directed toward his servant David. God brought David victory over Goliath. He delivered David from Saul’s deadly jealousy. He protected David from all his battlefield enemies as well as all those who plotted against his life. During these dangerous years, David sought God’s deliverance not only because he feared for his life, but so God would not be dishonored before all God’s enemies. Samuel had anointed David as King. The anointing was a promise in itself that if David remained faithful, God would establish David’s throne. For David to die at the hands of his enemies would send the message that David’s God was not God. David writes in this Psalm, “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O lord, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life…But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (v. 13, 14, 17). David knew that God’s deliverance would refute the lies about God which was at the heart of the pagan belief system and which were secretly believed by many in the nation of Israel, that God was just like all the gods the pagans worshipped, that God had no love for Man and cared nothing for those who worshipped Him. “Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life…Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’ [In other words, your God cannot and will not deliver you]” (v. 14,15). While David was in the midst of his trials, he did not neglect to praise God: “I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; indeed I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know” (v. 9). By praising God for his own deliverance, David was imploring his people to trust God as much as he did. And David’s words convey the same message to all those who follow Jesus Christ today. Our trust in Jesus Christ today is to result in a witness to the world that we are not the result of blind chance, but that God created the universe and is still is actively engaged in it acting in behalf of those who trust in Him. And those who would tell us different will be confounded just as David’s enemies were. That is, if we allow ourselves to develop our own history, our own relationship, with the living God. For if we refuse to move beyond intellectual assent to God’s existence, if we refuse to trust Him in the midst of our adversity, then God will not deliver us from all that besets us. Those who refuse to allow God opportunities to demonstrate His power on their behalf will become what David warned us not to become, the proud and those who turn aside to lies.

All verses from the NKJV.