#720 Just A Little Patience

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,

your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them,

yet they are more than can be told.

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,

but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering

you have not required.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have 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 told the glad news of deliverance

in the great congregation;

behold, I have not restrained my lips,

as you know, O Lord.

10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain

your mercy from me;

your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

ever preserve me!

12 For evils have encompassed me

beyond number;

my iniquities have overtaken me,

and I cannot see;

they are more than the hairs of my head;

my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me!

14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

who seek to snatch away my life;

let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

15 Let those be appalled because of their shame

who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

16 But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation

say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

17 As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

do not delay, O my God! Psalm 40 ESV

The old testament, written in B.C. is yet full of types, all of which point to Christ. This is a beautiful song that I imagine made David and it's hearers pause, for Scripture should never be just read, just a ritual, but it should be chewed upon as the truest food indeed. Read it, contemplate every word, know it from beginning to end, and set about to do what you read, obedience is better than sacrifice.

I waited patiently - Don't consider God delinquent, late for your appointed time, but like Joseph, who was a type of our Lord, do what is right in God's eyes, knowing that He is aware of your every circumstance. Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers, who were jealous of his position as the favored son, yet no matter that he did not deserve to be so ill treated, or whether a slave, a prisoner or second only to Pharaoh, he waited upon the Lord. When revenge was so plainly in front of him, he saw it instead as God's plan to show mercy. 

But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this— to preserve the lives of many people. 21 Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.…Genesis 50: 19-21

More than can be told - Creation is a marvelous testimony to God's greatness, but the further we look into it, the more complex we realize it is. The deeper the sciences take us the more depth we must acknowledge beyond. We see, but there is so much more beyond what we see, we come to understand that we grasp so little, and that is only in the natural world, what of those things of spiritual consequence? Providence came from outside of time, God has called His people before they were even born. Spurgeon wrote:

far beyond all human arithmetic they are multiplied; thoughts from all eternity, thoughts of my fall, my restoration, my redemption, my conversion, my pardon, my upholding, my perfecting, my eternal reward; the list is too long for writing, and the value of the mercies too great for estimation. Yet, if we cannot show forth all the works of the Lord, let us not make this an excuse for silence; for our Lord, who is in this our best example, often spake of the tender thoughts of the great Father. C. H. Spurgeon

For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.…Jeremiah 29: 10-12

In sacrifice and offerings You have not delighted - This must have seemed like a bomb falling from the heavens beyond the visible heavens, a cause for pause would be an understatement. What have we been doing all these long years then? Or, the better question, what does it all mean? 

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for me. 6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight. 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”…Hebrews 10: 5-7

How compounded are some of the prophecies of the old Testament. Let's look back a bit. It has always been about Christ and you will never understand the sacrifices without Him.

So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head,and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3: 14-15

And then it really compounds here, for David will become king and fight Israel's enemies, introducing an era of peace, but the Son of David will defeat the greatest of enemies, issuing in the way of eternal peace and a right standing with God. 

the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open: 17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob,and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth. 18 Edom will become a possession, Seir will be owned by his enemies, but Israel will perform with valor.…Numbers 24: 16-18

Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Two other forms of offerings are here mentioned; tokens of gratitude and sacrifices for sin as typically presented are set aside; neither the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded. What need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present? We learn from this verse that Jehovah values far more the obedience of the heart than all the imposing performances of ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not to us as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the effect of our great Substitute's obedience to the will of Jehovah. - C. H. Spurgeon

The wages of sin are death. The law taught me about sin, that what was right to me in my own reasoning was still short of God's righteousness. The sacrifices and burnt offerings let me see where I stood, that I was perpetually dead in my trespasses and sins. The blood of bulls could not save me forever from the Holiness of God, but all these were shadows of Christ's perfect sacrifice on the cross. 

I am poor and needy - Indeed, as we all are, let know one deceive you, least of all yourself, if God has called us to repent of our sins then the answer is to come humbly.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Jesus Christ