Psalm 40:9-17
Today’s reading has a mix of themes – praise and thanksgiving in verses 9-11 and a lament in verses 12-17. It’s interesting that David speaks to the larger assembly of his own proclamation of God’s love and mercy to him. In so doing he mentions a number of the Lord’s attributes in those early verses: deliverance, righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, love, and mercy. Jesus later gave us His own “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:19-20. Again, David was ahead of his time.
When he gets to the laments he mentions both internal and external struggles that trouble him. But again he closes with praise and thanksgiving. I was touched by verse 17a: As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. Some translations have “afflicted” in that pairing of poor and needy. But whatever the translation, David is confident of the Lord’s universal love. As the Marine Corps motto says, “No one left behind…”!