Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men | OnlinePrayerJournal

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For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

Psalm Psalm ⁴⁰Psalm ⁴⁰For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. ¹I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him. ⁴Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. 5 Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. ⁶Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.” ⁹I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, LORD, as you know. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly. ¹¹Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. 12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. 13 Be pleased to save me, LORD; come quickly, LORD, to help me. ¹⁴May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. 15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame. 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The LORD is great!” ¹⁷But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.

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I have never fallen into a slimy pit, but two years ago, when there was a lot of flooding in Canada, I saw television images of people being rescued from mud and mire and surging torrents. I have driven across the prairies in a blizzard and been blown off the icy roads into a ditch (twice), experiences I will never forget. It is with this intensity of emotion that the psalmist writes of God’s saving acts. You may have had similar experiences. Recall them now and read this psalm with them in your mind.

Sacrifice and offerings were part of every religion in the ancient Near East. Worshippers thought that this would gain them favor with their gods, who would respond with blessings for them. The writer of this psalm could see that the blood of bulls and goats was not what God wanted. Although someone who has been delivered from trouble instinctively desires to express their thanksgiving with a gift, the response God looks for is an ear that listens to him and does his will. Let’s admit it: we find it easier to give a gift (a financial gift to the church or to a charity, perhaps) and to go our own sweet way.

Hebrews 10:1—25 is a Christian reflection on this psalm. Jesus Christ came into this world to do the Father’s will and was obedient to the point of death on a cross. His sacrifice has made the Old Testament sacrifices obsolete. The deliverance he gives us is not just from mud and mire and blizzards, but from the ingrained sin with which we were born. More than that, he puts his law—love of God and love of our neighbor—into our hearts and transforms us, something that animal sacrifices could never do.

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