Psalm Chapter 40 - To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David

Psalm 40: The Hand That Lifted

David begins with one of the most physical images of salvation in all of Scripture — a man sunk to the chest in miry clay, unable even to struggle without sinking further, and the hand of God reaching down to pull him up and set his feet on a rock. Notice that David does not say he climbed out. He was lifted. And the first thing that happens after his feet touch solid ground is a song — not a song he composed, but one that is put in his mouth, the way a mother puts a spoonful of something good to her child's lips. But here is the strange and beautiful turn of the psalm: the rescued man does not offer sacrifice, because sacrifice is not what God was after. "Mine ears hast thou opened" — a line so rich that the book of Hebrews would later hear Christ himself speaking it. What God wanted all along was not an animal on an altar but a listening, obedient heart: "Lo, I come: I delight to do thy will, O my God." The miry clay is never the last word. Neither is the rock. The last word is a man who says yes.

00:00 He Inclined Unto Me
00:20 Out of the Miry Clay
00:40 A New Song in My Mouth
01:00 More Than Can Be Numbered
01:20 Mine Ears Hast Thou Opened
01:40 Lo, I Come to Do Thy Will
02:10 Iniquities Taken Hold Upon Me
02:40 The Lord Thinketh Upon Me