Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. 

Psalm 40:6-8 

David was a man after God’s own heart. He loved God and sought with all his heart to walk in His ways. He eloquently testified of all God had done for him and made much of Christ. In some of the things he wrote he used strongly evangelical language which appears in the New Testament. Our text is one of those passages. The writer of Hebrews quotes this passage in the tenth chapter. The argument he makes is that Christ having come into the world has done His Father’s will and by His sacrifice has removed the need for the sacrifices of the ancient Jewish system. His conclusion is, ‘By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…’ Thus David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, utters in summary the work of Christ to accomplish the redemptive will of God. How does this relate to David’s life? It relates in that David, as he wrote these words was not just writing as a prophet, but also as an ardent follower of Christ. He spoke these words as one who was willing to do God’s will himself. How do we learn to do the will of God? We learn by seeing how Christ did it. He is the Grand Template for us. Even thought David preceded the incarnation of Christ by centuries he understood the spirit of Christ to do the will of God, His Father. As David learned from Christ, so we also learn from His example.   

Our Sovereign, Living God, 
we rejoice in Your perfect will. 
We praise You that Christ has performed it, 
and taught us to follow Him. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.  

Psalm 40:5 

How much does God think about me? This is a worthwhile question. It is something upon which David had meditated and articulates in our text. He realized the truth of Jeremiah 29, long before Jeremiah wrote, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ God thinks about us, not in an abstract way, but in a positive, intervening way. As David puts it, ‘Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted in order.’ He adds, ‘they are more than can be numbered.’ Thus, God thinks of us quite a lot; more than we can comprehend. The idea that He does not think of us or care about our lives is a lie. It is a lie we may tell ourself or that a bad actor tells us. David was fully aware of the truth regarding God’s thoughts toward us. The most salient evidence of God’s thoughts toward us manifests itself in the Person and Work of Christ. God was thinking thoughts toward us when He chose us in Christ before the world began. The plan of redemption was already in place when He created us. He preceded the fall of humanity with the message of the Gospel already prepared. He has orchestrated all the course of human history with Christ as the apex. He has sent Christ to purchase redemption and the Holy Spirit to apply it. This is a  mere scratching of the surface of all His thoughts toward us.    

Great God of wonders, 
we rejoice that Your thoughts are ever toward us. 
We praise You that all these thoughts 
lead us toward a good end. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, and does not respect the proud,   
nor such as turn aside to lies.  

Psalm 40:4  

We will trust something or someone. In our day it is popular to trust in our own self, our ability to make wise and good judgments, investments, and expenditures whether of time, money, or some other commodity. Inevitably the person who abounds in self-trust finds themself in a situation or multiple situations where they have to act or react honestly or dishonestly. They either speak the truth or resort to lies. In the immediate circumstance the lie is more convenient. Perhaps the truth would make them look bad. Perhaps someone has developed a habit of lying to preserve image or status. Maybe their whole life is a lie. Where does this take that person? Speaking of the eternal state, John says in Revelation 22, ‘Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.’ To love and make a lie is to live without trust in God. It is the Christless life. If we do trust God and because of that, Christ, then these people cannot be the ones we honor, venerate, and imitate. We either follow Christ, and seek to imitate Him, because we trust Him or we imitate those who live lies, and seem to prosper, at least for the moment. David contrasted these two groups of people. He sets before us the way to blessedness and the way to perdition. We live and die by faith that God is worthy of our trust. That is the right way. 

Our Good and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You are utterly trustworthy. 
We praise You that through Christ You lead us 
in the pathway of truth. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.  

Psalm 40:5  

God has done many wonderful works. The underlying presuppositions of our faith are first, that God is and second that He has revealed Himself. One of the ways in which He has revealed Himself is creation. If we look at the creation we see, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.’ The rest of that Psalm details the various ways in which God reveals Himself. Our study of the cosmos reveals design and points to the Designer. David spoke of God’s wonderful works and we can confirm that we too are witnesses of those works of creation. When we say God has revealed Himself in creation we are essentially pointing to Christ. He is that One through Whom God created the worlds. One of His continuing wonderful works is that He upholds all things by the word of His power. As far as we personally are concerned, His most wonderful work has been redemption. His incarnation was a wonderful work. His perfect life, atoning death and glorious resurrection were wonderful works. His intercession is an ongoing wonderful work. His return in power and glory will be a wonderful work. He is altogether wonderful. We stand amazed at all He has done, is doing, and promises yet to do.   

Our Gracious God and Savior, 
we rejoice in all the ways You have manifested Yourself. 
We praise You that You continually show us, 
all Your wonderful works. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly. 

Psalm 40:10 

David was many things. He was a shepherd, a warrior, a musician, a poet, a king, and a prophet. As a prophet, his grand subject was Christ. Christ was his Shepherd, his Rock and his Lord, to name a few. When he wrote his psalms, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote on evangelical themes. Our text today speaks of the themes which were to him the most significant. He enjoyed the blessedness of imputed righteousness, but he did not keep it to himself rather he ‘declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation.’ He goes on to say, ‘I have not concealed Your lovingness and Your truth from the great assembly.’ Thus he spoke of these four grand themes publically. All these themes, of necessity, must involve the proclamation of Christ. God is righteous and imputes the righteousness of Christ to us. We observe God’s faithfulness to us by His salvation through the work of Christ. God’s lovingkindness and truth meet together in Christ. David was well aware of these truths and eloquent enough to articulate them in writing and speaking. As a prophet he declared to the great assembly the truth of God by the Person and work of Christ. We can do no better than to proclaim Christ as he did. He has provided us with many texts from which to preach Christ.

Great God of wonders, 
we rejoice at the abundance of Your goodness to us. 
We praise You that in every way, 
You do us good.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning