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

I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD. 

Psalm 40:1-3

David could eloquently sing the song of salvation. Our text is the beginning of one such song. He describes how desperate his situation was. He was in a horrible pit. He was entrapped in miry clay. He was miserable and unable to free himself. This certainly describes us. We were born the children of wrath, sinners by nature and by choice. We could not liberate ourselves. We continued in our entrapment and misery not knowing what to do. David articulated his own state and condition and in doing so accurately described ours. His testimony is one of deliverance. He says that God heard him, brought him up out of the pit, set his feet upon the rock, established his steps and put a new song in his mouth. This is the perfect picture of the Good Shepherd saving His sheep out of the miry pit. Christ was David’s Shepherd. He did all those things enumerated in the text. He set David upon the rock. This is a glorious testimony to the grace of God and His salvation. David has articulated our experience. We have received the grace of God. Christ has sought us and saved us as He said He came to do. We have Him as our sure foundation. He has established our steps. He has given us songs to sing. He has been to us the Good Shepherd in every way. We are one with David in this experience of salvation. 

O Great Shepherd of the Sheep, 
we rejoice that You have seen us in our misery. 
We praise You that You have raised us up, 
and given us a sure foundation. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! 

Psalm 32:11 

David concludes this psalm with joy and gladness. He encourages all those who trust in God. He has expounded the blessedness of the person whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. He has lived through days of dryness and known the relief of confession of sin. He has rested in the assurances of the preserving hand of God upon him. He has articulated the very promises of God to instruct, teach, and guide him. He has contrasted the consequence of wicked choices with the end result of faith. Now he calls upon all who have been with him through his discourse to be glad and rejoice. He calls for the shout of joy. This is the disposition of the believer. Christ has done all things well. We have forgiveness of sins because of Christ. We have daily cleansing by the blood of Christ as we confess our sins. We look to Christ to preserve us from trouble. We believe His promises to instruct, teach, and guide us. We know the way of wickedness will end in sorrow. We are certain that mercy will surround those who trust in Christ. Thus David’s call to us is a good one. We can rejoice. We have every reason to shout of or joy. David’s God is our God. David’s Christ is our Christ. He is ours and we are His forever.   

Our Glorious, Living God,  
we rejoice that we have every reason to be glad in You.  
We praise You that we can shout with joy now,  
And shall continue forever.   

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. 

Psalm 32:10 

There are consequences for every action. We may consider ourselves to be free to make decisions, but we are not free from the consequences of those decisions. The effects may not be immediate, or even immediately apparent, but they are real and impact us in ways we cannot anticipate. Our text is a plain statement about the consequences of our decisions and actions. There are two groups, ‘the wicked, and he who trusts in the LORD.’ This is the baseline division of humanity. The one group chooses to follow a particular course of life which excludes God. The other group follows God, most specifically Christ, Who is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His Person. In a de facto way, Christ is the Continental Divide of all humanity. Over Christ humanity divides to go one direction or the other. The net result, according to our text is either many sorrows, or being surrounded by mercy. This is both temporal and extends into eternity. The consequence of either ignoring or opposing God brings sorrow. The consequence of trusting in God is to receive an abundance of mercy. Thus Christ is the path to peace, blessedness, and good. Christ is the answer to what is the good life. He is much more than that, but to stay with our text, to trust Christ is the way to receive an abundance of mercy.   

Our God of Grace and Mercy, 
we rejoice that You have set before us what is good. 
We praise You that Christ is our great example. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning