I waited patiently for the Lord - It is finished!

Psalm 40 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord.

⁴ How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

⁶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know.
¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me. ¹² For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; Make haste, O Lord, to help me.
¹⁴ Let those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt.
¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
¹⁶ Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” ¹⁷ Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

The psalmist says:  I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
Patience is something not found often in our culture. We live in a micro wave society which seeks instant gratification. We are though called to be not only patient but persistent as well. In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells a parable about persistent prayer:   Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’  For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”    It is not that we wear God out, as the judge in the parable said. In fact it’s not that we change God’s mind about the matter at all. Our persistent prayer doesn’t change God. James 1:2-8 says:  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.   We are the ones who are changed through patience and persistence. Our faith is increased, we are made perfect, complete, lacking nothing. Romans 8:28-29 says:   And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The psalmist says:  And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord.   He brought, He set, He put, these things are in the past tense, they are already  accomplished. We don’t need to change God’s mind because He has already completed everything we need. In John 19:30, when Jesus was on the cross, it says: He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.  Through patience and persistence we obtain the eternal finished work of the cross, in our time, in God’s time. He hears our cries and He has already given us all that we need. The psalmist says:  Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You.   Again, it is what God has already done. It is the finished work of the cross. Isaiah 55:8-9 says:  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”   God’s thoughts toward us are this:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.    Even before we knew to cry out to Him, God planned the finished work of the cross, that we might have all we need.

The psalmist says:  Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. 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; Your Law is within my heart.”   We cannot pay for what God has done for us. There is no sacrifice or offering we could give to God for the demonstration of His love, the finished work of the cross. Yet as 1 John 4:19 says: We love, because He first loved us.    We love God in response to His love for us. Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) All that God desires from us, in response to all that He has done for us, is that we would be obedient to Him and His word.  

The psalmist concludes:  You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me… Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; Make haste, O Lord, to help me… Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God. Amen

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for all that You have done, for all Your thoughts and plans for me, for the finished work of the cross which has accomplished all I need. I delight to do Your will.   Amen.