Psalms For Life
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Yahveh Elohim hear our prayers

Psalm 40

God of the humble poor

Recalling past deliverance can strengthen our faith when facing another crisis. Rededicating ourselves to trust and obey God is vital too. David does both here while urgently asking for God’s help.

For the worship leader. A David psalm. 

1 I waited and waited for YHWH
and he bent down and heard my cry.
2 He pulled me up out of the desolate pit
out of its muck and its mire.
He planted my feet on solid rock
and made my footing sure.
3 He gave me a brand-new song to sing
a song of praise to our God.
Looking on, awestruck
many put their trust in YHWH.

4 How blessed are those
who put their trust in YHWH
not in arrogant guides
or those who chase after false gods.
5 You, YHWH, my God
have done many wonderful things for us.
No one else has planned anything
like the things you’ve planned for us.
If I tried to list them all
I couldn’t even begin
for they’re far beyond counting.

6 You take no delight
in mere sacrifice or offerings.
No, you’ve opened my ears to hear:
it’s not burnt-offerings
or sin offerings you want.
7 So I said, “Behold, I’ve come
to do what’s written about me in the scroll.”
8 I delight to do your will, O God.
I hold your Torah in my heart.

9 I’ve told the good news of your faithful rescue
to your assembled people.
As you know, YHWH
I’ve kept nothing back.
10 I haven’t withheld
word of how you save the helpless.
I’ve spoken of your faithfulness
in rescuing me.
I haven’t downplayed
your unfailing love or faithfulness
from the congregation of your people.
11 You won’t withhold your compassion
from me, YHWH.
Your unfailing love and faithfulness
will keep me safe forever.

12 But countless troubles have engulfed me!
I can’t see any way out
as my sins have caught up with me.
They outnumber the hairs on my head
and my heart fails me.

13 Rescue me, YHWH!
Hurry and help me, YHWH!
14 Let shame and confusion overtake
all those who seek to destroy me.
Rout in humiliation
all who want to see me hurt.
15 May all who say to me
“Aha! We’ve got you now!”
be devastated by their own humiliation.
16 But may everyone who seeks you
be glad and rejoice in you.
Let all who love what you’re doing
to save humankind
say, “YHWH is great!”

17 Poor and needy as I am
the Lord cares about me.
You are my help and deliverer.
My God, don’t delay!


Celebrating a time when God rescued him and set his feet on solid ground, David recalls how he sang a new song because—as with Miriam and Moses at the Red Sea—nothing else would do. After so dramatic a rescue, it would have been unthinkable to forget it and not publicly praise God.

David is loyal to God alone. He knows worship without the heart doesn’t please God. So he listens with the ears God has opened and obeys him. Even more—like the lover that he is—he longs to please his Lord. And in an act of self-offering, he devotes himself wholly to God, assuring God that his Torah, or instruction, shapes his thoughts and desires. David wants his whole life to be shaped by God.

This psalm may have accompanied David’s presentation of his own personally handwritten copy of Deuteronomy—representing the entire Torah—to God along with his commitment to follow it. Deuteronomy includes the Shema: “You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” which was vital to every Israelite king. David sees this wholehearted presentation of himself as the best offering to accompany his urgent request for protection from his ever-present enemies.

David faces wave after wave of opposition and his many sins entangle him. God’s having set David’s feet on solid rock once doesn’t mean David won’t have to cry to him from the watery depths again. Feeling hopeless once more, his courage failing him, he can turn only to the God who graciously rescues the undeserving. Marvelling that his creator cares for such a poor and needy soul, he once more urges God to help him without delay and puts his hope in him.

Prayer:

Help me turn to you, God, over my head, aware of my weakness and sins, attacked by those who long to see me to fail. You don’t want me just going through the motions. You want my ears, my heart. To change me, inside and out. Help me, Lord, to hope in your unfailing love. Amen.

In your free moments, pray these words:

I delight to do your will, O God.
I hold your Torah in my heart.

Why YHWH?

Every translator of the Psalms must decide how to handle God’s personal name, YHWH or YHVH, which occurs repeatedly in its Hebrew text. Translators of the King James Version usually translated it “LORD” (all caps) and sometimes transliterated it (badly) as “Jehovah.” Likewise, all modern translations either translate or transliterate it. Some other options for translating it are “the Eternal,” “the Almighty,” or “the Sovereign Lord.”

While translating it aims to make it more accessible to readers, transliterating it seems to me more faithful to the text since it’s not a word at all, but rather God’s uniquely personal name. This roots it more firmly in the biblical story as the name God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. Meaning “the self-existent One who answers to no one,” the name YHWH set Israel’s God apart from all the gods of Israel’s neighbors.

Personal names are, well, very personal. Even the sound of a name can evoke strong emotion. I’ve chosen to transliterate only YHWH’s consonants since the earliest Hebrew manuscripts contain only consonants, the vowels being added much later. My aim in doing so is to honor God’s name and set it apart, as unique.

One problem with YHWH is that we aren’t sure how it was pronounced since Jews long ago stopped saying it out of reverence. (They read Adonai instead whenever they come to YHWH in the text.) I take the advice of my esteemed Hebrew professor, Raymond Dillard, who advocated pronouncing it as Yahveh (Yah·vay). He favored that over the standard Yahweh since the modern Hebrew pronunciation of its third consonant makes the name sound more robustly Jewish. It also makes it sound more robust, period.

Finding strength in the ancient psalms
May these psalms be a light to you in dark times. You can read more of Mark Anderson's writings on Christianity, culture, and inter-faith dialogue at Understanding Christianity Today.