In Danger of Backsliding
TRANSLATION
(9) I have proclaimed (your) righteousness in the great congregation. I do not restrain my lips, Yahweh, as you, yourself, know. (10) I have not concealed your righteousness within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and deliverance. I have not hidden your steadfast love and faithfulness from the great congregation. (11) You, Yahweh, will not restrain your compassion from me. Your steadfast love and faithfulness will constantly keep watch over me, (12) for evils beyond number have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, and I am not able to see. They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me. (13) Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Make haste, Yahweh, to (be) my help. (14) Let those who seek to destroy my life be ashamed and altogether confounded. Let those who delight in my harm be turned back and humiliated. (15) Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, aha!” (16) May all who seek you exult and rejoice in you. May those who love your salvation continually say, “Yahweh be magnified!” (17) But I (am) poor and needy. May the Lord think of me. You (are) my help and my deliverer. My God, do not delay.
OBSERVATIONS
Several repetitions including “righteousness...great congregation...faithfulness,” as well as several synonyms including “proclaimed...not shut my lips...not concealed...spoken...not hidden,” are found in the opening two verses. Several of God’s attributes were also mentioned: “righteousness...faithfulness...steadfast love.” With these words David maintained that he had made every effort to bring praise, honor, and glory to Yahweh among Israel’s worshipers.
The remainder of the psalm was devoted to what author was asking Yahweh to do for him (vss. 12-17). Note the repetition of “restrain.” Because he had not restrained his lips from praising Yahweh (vs. 9), David could readily appeal to God not to restrain his compassion (vs. 11) in showing him his “steadfast love and faithfulness,” words that were also emphasized by repetition (vss. 10 & 11). In the closing segment (vss. 13-17), David used thirteen imperatival verb forms including three “lets” and three “mays” to convey the urgency of his prayer. He both began and concluded this section with two phrases that conveyed the same message: “make haste” (vs. 13) and “do not delay” (vs. 17).
OUTLINE
I. The psalmist set forth what he has done for Yahweh. (9 & 10)
II. The psalmist set forth what he was asking Yahweh to do for him. (11-17)
IDEA STATEMENT
As we proclaim Yahweh’s righteousness and steadfast love, we are, in essence, seeking his deliverance from evil.
APPLICATION
Most believers recognize the phrase, “deliver us from evil,” as coming from the model prayer Jesus gave to his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. This is precisely the thrust of the second half of Psalm 40. In the first half, David rejoiced in Yahweh’s rescuing him from a pit filled with mud and mire and declared that he was fully committed to doing the will of God (vss. 1-8). In the remainder of the psalm, David prayed earnestly that Yahweh would protect him from falling back into that pit either through his own sinfulness or because of the malevolence of enemies that surrounded him (vss. 9-17).
The Scriptures are filled with warnings about “backsliding,” a term that for some has become a worn-out cliché. In its literal sense, backsliding can serve as a powerful reminder of what awaits all of us if we fail to guard our steps and walk closely with the Lord. In the King James Version such warnings were phrased, “take heed,” as seen in the following three passages: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly” (Lk. 21:34). “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12). We should constantly be asking ourselves, “Are we taking heed,” earnestly looking to God to deliver us from evil, especially from the danger of slipping back into the same mud hole from which he had previously delivered us?