D. A. Carson, The God Who Lifts Me from the Miry Bog

let us join together in prayer and now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer for Jesus sake amen sometimes casual readers of the Psalms view the hundred and fifty Psalms as discreet pearls on a string but of course as soon as you take a Psalms class from anyone in our excellent Old Testament Department you will learn that the Psalms are structured and ordered coordinated there are themes topics clusters one of the clusters of Psalms starts at verse at chapter 37 this Psalm underscores the importance of waiting on God then the application of this waiting on God theme is worked out in painful self-examination in Psalms 38 and 39 but now in Psalm 40 at least initially the glue is lifted there is a triumphant outcome I have waited on the Lord David has waited on the Lord and the Lord has helped him that brings us to the first of the two principle divisions in the song first joyful praise to the God who helps verses 1 to 10 this section can usefully be broken down into four parts number one personal testimony verses one two three verse one bursts with delight I waited patiently for the Lord that's probably just too tame I I waited perseveringly for the Lord I waited and waited I persevered and waiting for the Lord and he turned to me and heard my cry what was it that David was saved from well metaphorically a slimy pit am i reball the picture is of floundering helplessness even horror think quicksand and God saved me from it it's not just that David escaped like Jeremiah escaping from the pit in Jeremiah 38 but God pulled him out and planted his feet on a sure and safe place of course sometimes in scripture when we cry to God in our despair God does not remove us from the present horror what he does instead is add grace asked Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 Paul who it been used of God to perform miracles for others now when he's faced with what he calls a thorn in the flesh this messenger from Satan he prays diligently three times he says which surely means more than muttering a couple of lines somewhere between pulling on his socks and sipping his orange juice before he beats it out the back door he set aside times for diligent intercession and the Lord's answer was not gonna do it I'll give you something else instead I'll give you grace so much so that Paul can actually glory in his weakness because the weakness provides the opportunity for the demonstration of God's power I will therefore glory in my weakness he writes so whether in our crisis God removes us entirely saves us entirely or adds grace it is still the act and goodness of God what is remarkable about David's personal testimony here is that he does not focus all his attention on his own release as if he is at the center of the universe there are some testimonies that sound like that you know God exists primarily to give me a wonderful testimony know his words give praise to God and flow outward to others 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 then second public principle personal testimony then public principle verses 4 and 5 it is as if David wants to extract general public principles for the people of God from the matrix of his experience of God's goodness to him in other words the blessing is not just for himself rather he moves from talking about himself to uttering a third person blessing blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord and the hook word trust shows that the two passages are linked in his testimony he says many will see in fear the Lord and put their trust in him and now more generically indeed blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord let such trust triumph the one who trusts in the Lord experiences God's blessing whether in Grace or or or in perseverance in transformation but the one who trusts in the Lord is blessed by God such a person does not look to the proud does not turn aside to false cause indeed there is some reflection here on the wider goodness of God those of you who have been through really really deep waters will surely know that when you are in a mire II bog your horizon becomes limited when you're in your fourth session of chemo and you just can't stop vomiting it's hard to have a great intercessory prayer life you just can't look beyond the horizon of the immediate and the painful when you go through great emotional pain maybe your parents have been divorced one of your children is critically ill it's really hard to think in worldwide evangelistic categories you just want to get through one more day but then when you come out the other side after the Lord has answered your prayer you begin to get things back in perspective again and you begin to see how good god is so you see it in some sense as you're going through it but the horizon is constrained it's it's a vision that's restricted you you can't see much beyond the immediate and then afterwards you start counting your blessings I'm a child of the king Christ died for me I have the spirit as the down plane of a payment of the promised inheritance glory is yet to come death does not have the last word it may be the last enemy but it doesn't have the last word one day I'll see Jesus one day I'll see my deceased loved one and God looks after every little detail of my life it's unimaginable what he thinks of how he plans how he understands everything prepares the way before me I'm sorry if there's any moment where I doubted him the horizons expand again you see that's what's going on here 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 it's not enough just to talk about release from the miry bog that merely becomes a trigger for a much greater testimony do you see the passage is reminiscent of another Psalm Psalm 139 verse 13 you created me in my inmost you created my inmost being you emit knit me together in my mother's womb I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful I know that full well my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place when I was woven together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body than this all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be how precious to me are your thoughts God how vast is the sum of them who write to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake I am still with you if I understand the flow of the argument a right this is less a testimony to God's omnes omnibus out in planning the psalmist's life read the verses together all the days are deigned for me were written in your book before one of them came to be how precious to me are your thoughts God that is God has it all planned out that's exactly the kind of testimony that is given here in Psalm 40 many my god are the wonders you have done the things you planned for us none can compare with you where I just speak and tell of your deeds they would be too many to declare here is public testimony third personal self dedication so there's personal testimony then public principle now personal self dedication what's the only adequate response to a God like this slaughter another cow offer up a sheep or if your finances are restricted settle for a Turtledove or two is that the adequate response to God David doesn't think so sacrifice and offering you did not desire but my ears you have opened I know that's a difficult line we'll come to it in a minute burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require then I said Here I am I have come it is written about me in the scroll I desire to do your will my god your laws within my heart the only adequate response to the sheer grace of God is the sacrifice of ourselves to God the giving of ourselves to God it's the only adequate response this is not the abolition of the Old Testament sacrificial system but the Old Testament writers themselves make it clear that sacrificing a cow can hide a darkened heart we must come to grips with this line 6b but my ears you have opened it's difficult most people say that the Hebrew should be understood something like but my ears you have pierced and they suggest this could allude to the ear-piercing ceremony in Exodus 21 in the ancient world ideally there was no slavery in Israel it was more like indentured servitude ideally that is when you couldn't pay your debts you became an indentured servant for a period of time but when the seventh year came you were supposed to be released but suppose you borrow some money from some rich friend and then the economy goes belly-up and you can't pay it back and you become his slave temporarily his indentured servant you come to the end of the seven years and lo and behold it's 30% unemployment meanwhile your master has given you a place to live and your your your family is with you and and you have plenty to eat and honorable work and you look at the economy 30 percent you if you let this go it might not be a such a good deal I'm happy here why should I go somewhere else so there was a ceremony by which this person could become a permanent household slave the person was taken to the door of the house and his earlobe was pressed against it and a sharp all was taken and the air was fierce a way of signaling this slave now belongs to this household permanently so some have said maybe that's what's going on here David is saying I'm your slave god full board I'm yours and it's possible it's possible but people have noted nevertheless that in the ear-piercing ceremony there's only one year that's mentioned but David here says my ears you have pierced so some of us said it doesn't seem like the obvious connection others have pointed out that the verb some render as Pierce could be dug my ears you have dug or we would say dug out the same word what might that mean if you have no idea you haven't met my mother my my mother was born in East London and she had all kinds of cockney expression she was literally born within the sound of Bow Bells the officially the official designation characteristic of a cockney and she had all the rhyming slang and and dozens of idioms that I don't hear from anybody else except those from East London at the beginning of the 20th century the beginning of the 20th century bit was when they were there not when I was there and so when we kids were not instantaneously obedient she could say things like Oh dig out your ears and I just haven't heard that amongst if any of you heard dig out your ears no no I'm here seeing a lot of nose but I heard it often and and it was not a way of suggesting we get q-tips still less a spade and start digging it was a way of saying listen up listen up open your ears and of course that metaphor is found elsewhere in Scripture though with a different verb not least in one of the great servant songs in Isaiah 50 the servant says the sovereign Lord has given me a well instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary he wakens me morning by morning wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed the sovereign Lord has opened my ears I have not been rebellious I have not turned away I offered my back to those who beat me my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting which works out in the ultimate servant in Jesus going to the cross not turning away from those who beat him and pull out his beard not simply because He loves us but because he obeys his father and does his will but there is an extra problem you see the NIV handles this my ears you have dug out by saying but my ears you have opened that makes sense that's it's not a direct translation but it probably gets across the idea of my ears you have open you have made me to listen to your word and your way and your will but of course those of you are interested in how the New Testament quotes the old you cannot remember you cannot help but remember that this passage is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10 but Hebrews chapter 10 quotes it from the Septuagint the Greek translation of the old and there this same line is rendered but a body you have prepared for me now stick that in your exegetical pipe and smoke it what are we gonna do with that the short answer is I don't know but I have a much longer answer sometimes we don't know because there's not quite enough evidence to be sure but one can make some reasonably intelligent guesses because you watch how things work elsewhere sometimes when you translate things you have to use another expression to get across the thought I was brought up in French Canada she had a show that I gosh I've got a cat in my throat if you think it's strange for French Canadians to have cats in their throats let me tell you they think it's strange for you to have frogs and yours so you come to a text in French that says he's got a cat in his throat how are you gonna translate it well you might translate he's got a frog in the throat because it's a different word but it has some it's a similar sort of idiom but supposing there's some deep theological connotation associated with the word cat then you got a problem you either preserve cat which makes the whole thing sound silly in English but at least you have the theological connection or you have the word frog which makes it idiomatic but then you've lost the connection and in either case you'll probably stick in a footnote to try to explain it now I'm guessing but I think a septa gentle translator long lost in history came to this passage and said but my ears you have pierced my ears you've dug up that doesn't make any sense at all in Greek I mean I see what it means here it means it means that I so listen to God that I give myself to him I I listen up I I pay attention I I devote myself to him did you see I'm his it's as if I I give myself my whole body my whole being to him says but a body you have given me a body you prepared for me and then it becomes roughly equivalent to what Paul writes in Romans 12 Paul there says that he presents his body as a living sacrifice as spiritual worship to God he he devotes himself to God it's the only adequate response but there's something more important yet about Hebrews chapter 10 where this passage is quoted we read the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves for this reason it can never buy the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year make perfect those who draw near to worship otherwise would they not have stopped being offered for the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins but those sacrifices were an annual reminder of sins it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins therefore when Christ came into the world he said and now we're at our passage sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you prepared for me with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased then I said I Here I am it is written about me in the scroll I have come to do your will my god what we have here of course is an instance of what Christians call Davidic typology that is to say not only does God established the Davidic dynasty in second Samuel Chapter seven and insists that there will always be a David I to sit on this throne not only does this get fleshed out and filled out two or three centuries later under the prophecy of Isaiah who understands that the day is coming when these words will make sense unto us a child is born unto us a son is given of the increase of his kingdom we'll be no end he will sit on the throne of his father David and he will be called the wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the Prince of Peace there is a growing expectation that builds and builds and builds until you're looking for the ultimate David and that means the pictures of the first David are sort of projected down this line bit by bit in a trajectory I'd rather like the word trajectory rather than typology this is a Davidic trajectory all the way down to the ultimate David I'd and so many of the things that happen to David are picked up and fulfilled in the ultimate David so for example if Psalm 69 is devoted to David's suffering in many many respects three times lines are picked up from Psalm 69 and applied to Jesus on the cross betrayed by his own familiar friend David walked this way before my God my God why have you forsaken me Psalm 22 but ultimately picked up by the ultimate David who like the first David at the end of the psalm does not relinquish his trust in God so if David here gives his testimony and his personal devotion to God so there is a sense in which this is a picture of the ultimate David ID who like the servant in Isaiah who has his ears open such that he always hears God indeed in one sense the perfection of David's response could never be managed by David himself he was like the rest of us inconsistent exhibiting the highest devotion in one moment and the most appalling send the next but in this Davidic trajectory here is a David ID with perfect obedience his ears opened his body devoted to God himself in that sense this is not merely saying burnt offerings and and sin offerings God doesn't require be because they're inadequate to the task of personal devotions it's saying you must see that on the long-haul animal blood doesn't wipe out sin on the long haul it's it's a temporary expedient pointed to the ultimate Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world you must see that then I said David writes Here I am I have come it is written about me in the scroll probably when David says words like that he is thinking about things that have already been predicted about about God's Anointed One but when Christians read these lines they cannot help but recall that there are a plethora of Davidic promises looking forward to the coming of the Lord's anointing the scroll who knows what it is a coronation decree perhaps Psalm 2 but here in any case is personal devotion to God that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ Jesus himself who came to do everything written about him in the scroll who perfectly does God's will and finally in this first part there is public proclamation verses 9 and 10 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly I do not seal my lips Lord as you know I do not hide your righteousness in my heart that could be misunderstood there's a sense in which we're supposed to hide God's righteousness in our heart but what he means is I don't hide it away privately in my heart instead rather I speak of your faithfulness and you're saving help I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly now how this is worked out in any culture is dependent on many many many factors I was brought up in French Canada so there is a Latin side to my temperament but my parents were both born in the United Kingdom so there is a pretty reserved in private side too which means I'm a deeply conflicted person basically so there's a part of me you know that that looks up to the person where he just lost his job his wife has died his house is burned down and his dog was killed and then has asked how are things going Robert and the answers things have been better and then three years later he's happily remarried he's got a better job he's built a lovely house and has a new Labradoodle and you ask how are things going Robert lots to be grateful for and there's a part of you that wants to say is there any life in there and at the other end you find some people with more exuberant temperament shall we say and maybe from a denominational Alliance that specializes in venting and expressing itself and and and and now you ask the dear brother or sister how are you doing this week oh I had a cold I was a desk door I prayed and God healed me hallelujah and you want to say why a box of Kleenex you know but somewhere between those cultural polarities you want a people to offer ready public praise to God David recognizes that it's his obligation to do so I will not keep silent I will not hide your righteousness in my heart I will speak in the public assembly there is a sense in which older Christians who have been through deep waters have a kind of obligation in the assembly in the family in the assembly in the church and beyond to model what Thanksgiving to God looks like because the new generation learns picks up socializes into a culture of gratitude before the Living God do you see David understands that too here is public proclamation now the president kindly mentioned that I began yesterday with the first of the Henry lectures on this series and at that time I told one story I won't repeat the lecture you are blessed but there is one story I told them that I will tell now since relatively few of you were at the lecture yesterday for those of you who were there you get to hear the story twice a number of years ago here at Trinity there was a student a doctoral student we'll call him George he had been sent by his mission to Bolivia as a missionary he was about six foot four skinny as a beanpole went down there single learned the language well eventually met a single missionary down there and they were married the time the story begins the little girl was about three and a half the mission decided to send him back to Trinity to do a PhD in New Testament in order to better prepare Bolivian pastors and up the level of training down there so he came up here and started his PhD six months into it his wife was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer he withdrew from the program he had family in the Twin Cities and elsewhere the church helped him the seminary helped him the mission helped him he received a lot of support she went through chemo double mastectomy a miserable year but at the end of it he came back and continued with his PhD six months later he was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer although there are a lot of good cancer hospitals in the metro Chicago area none of them would touch it they recommended hospice care the mission sent him up to Mayo they said we're not going to guarantee anything but there is some experimental stuff that we could do they took out 90% of his stomach started him on drug that were really designed for abdominal cancer after about six or eight months he lost a lot of weight he had to eat every three or four hours because he only had one-tenth of his stomach but he came back and continued on his program another six months passed and his wife's cancer came back and she died some time passed and he came back again finished his PhD and before he returned to his beloved Bolivia with his then nine and a half year old daughter he spoke in our church and his 40 minutes were taken up with exposition of Scripture that did nothing more than thank God for his goodness and grace he was giving testimony in the public assembly for all the kindness has shown him for the love displayed by his parents by the Divinity School by the medical staff above all for the forgiveness of sins for the assurance of life for real hope he would see his wife again and the Lord had spared him still to servant to father his daughter he spent his whole time in gratitude and I want to tell you that is simply normal Christian living anything less is subnormal now that's the first half of the song the second half of the sum I can deal with much more quickly verse 11 is transitional one of the remarkable things about asam is how despite the fact that verses 1 to 10 are all given over to joyful praise to the God who helps verses 11 to 17 the second division of the Psalm finds us back with trouble we might call it renewed anticipation of the God who helps trouble is still around this does not mean that verses 1 to 10 are faked rather God recognizes that in this broken world real and wonderful deliverance glorious that may be as it may be is not final just because you've had a miserable divorce doesn't mean you'll escape cancer just because you've had a bankruptcy doesn't mean you won't get in a traffic accident just because you've had cancer doesn't mean you'll be spared Alzheimer's well this is cheerful isn't it but just exactly what David is doing here he he has been released he has been saved but he knows he's going to need more help do did you see it's not a one-shot deal and then everything's hunky-dory and you go off in the sunset singing happy cowboy songs as as as the Scrolls with a credit it goes up the screen like against the background of a glorious sunset no now we learn something of the sweep of God's help the different kinds of things where God will help us in troubles that David himself anticipates in the future do not withhold your mercy from me Lord may your love and faithfulness always protect me this is an ongoing need first God helps in the arena of personal sin verse 12 for troubles without numbers 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 now we don't know exactly what that first miserable slimy pit was that miry bog we just don't know and it's probably a good thing we don't know because then we can apply the metaphor to other kinds of trouble just as it's probably a good thing we can't be quite sure what the thorn in the flesh was that Paul faced either because we can apply it to other kinds of things that that are not specified but it's interesting that the pit language returns here and my my sins have overtaken me and and I I cannot see it's almost as if he's sinking down and he can't even get his head up to see over them of course what David faced may have been betrayal by his family and may have been illness may have been political problems who knows but it may have been his own sin it certainly isn't verse 12 in the miry bog of shame and guilt a covenant believer a leader amongst the people of God and my sins have overtaken me and I cannot see their more than the hairs of my head my heart fails within me to whom then will you go God helps in the arena of personal sin then second God helps in the arena of bitter enemies verses 13 to 15 they do not have the right to take advantage of David's fall so although his own sin discourages him the smug attacks of his enemies aroused in him a sense of injustice he wants God to take action to help him as in times of conflict over moral issues and even of war and brutality sometimes once prayer is not God forgive them but stop them so also here be pleased to save me Lord come quickly Lord to help me may all who want to take my life be put to shame as confusion may all who desire my ruin be turned back to disgrace may those who say to me huh ha ha ah ha be appalled at their own shame for we serve a God who is not only plentiful and mercy but is passionate about justice that is why ultimately our only ultimate hope is in the cross and then God helps in the arena of personal sin God helps in the arena of bitter enemies God helps all those who seek Him all that is who seek God's glory verse 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 to compare what I am with what you are is actually a very steadying sort of thing to pray for God's glory is not a form of enslavement but a step in liberation the way of victory may all who seek your glory may they coalesce around this prayer this confession yadava now all of you know some Ebru variously rendered may the Lord be exalted the Lord is great write it on a card and put it on your refrigerator door he agaves put it on the mirror in your washroom let that be your confession your cry your common praise your God centeredness God helps all those who seek Him that is who seek God's glory and finally God helps even me it's remarkable after such a psalm of high thoughts and soaring vistas that david ends but as for me I am poor and needy may the Lord think of me you are my help in my deliverer you are my god do not delay let us pray and so in truth Lord God we utter our confession we have not loved you as we ought we have not served you as we ought in our best moments we so often become full of pride and it is never too long until there are also shameful moments oh lord have mercy help us in our relationships help us in our crises help us with the grace of perseverance help us so that our instantaneous response is to devote ourselves to you the way the ultimate servant of God opened his ears to listen to your holy will grant Lord God that we will be quick to give praise in the public assembly in a God focused Christ honoring fashion that constantly deflects self-promotion Oh Lord God meet us in all of our needs in our sin and our guilt and grant it in every area of life our lips will be quick to say may the Lord be exalted the Lord is great egg Dahl Yahweh we asked for Jesus glory and the good of his blood-bought people all men

Channel: Henry Center

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Keywords: scripture & ministry, D. A. Carson, Psalm 40, henry center

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Length: 41min 35sec (2495 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 08 2018