Psalms 40:17

DISCOURSE: 571
CONSOLATION TO THE DISTRESSED

Psalms 40:17. I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

THAT part of the Holy Scriptures which most fully opens the exercises of the heart is the book of Psalms. There we see a man of God unbosoming himself before his Maker, and declaring all his hopes and fears, his griefs and consolations. Sometimes he speaks in the person of the Messiah, and sometimes in his own person: sometimes his words are applicable both to the one and the other. These varieties often appear in the very same psalm; some parts of which exclusively relate to the type, or to the antitype; and other parts are common to both. It is thus in the psalm before us. That it refers to the Messiah, there can be no doubt; because it is applied to him by God himself [Note: Compare ver. 6–8. with Hebrews 10:5.]. Yet there are in it some expressions, which should rather be explained in reference to David only. The twelfth verse in particular must be understood in this way: and the circumstance of all the following verses being repeated in another place, and formed into a distinct psalm by themselves [Note: Psalms 70..], is a strong reason for referring them also to him principally, or perhaps to him alone. In the words of our text we notice,

I. His complaint—

David on some occasions was reduced to great straits and difficulties with respect to his temporal concerns: but he was also much tried in his spirit: and the complaint before us seems to have arisen from,

1. A sense of his guilt—

[In ver. 12, he speaks of “his iniquities having taken such hold upon him, that he was not able to look up; that they were more than the hairs of his head, so that his heart failed him.” It is very probable that he alluded in some measure to those dreadful enormities which he had committed in the matter of Uriah. But he would not consider those actions merely as insulated and detached, but rather as indications of the extreme depravity of his heart [Note: In this light he speaks of them in Psalms 51:5.]: and in reference to that he might well say of himself, “I am poor and needy.” Indeed, who that knows any thing of the spirituality of God’s law, or of his own immediate departures from it, can use any other language than that in the text? Was Adam poor when despoiled of the Divine image through the commission of one sin; and are not we, whose iniquities are more in number than the hairs of our head? Was he needy, when banished from Paradise, and doomed to eternal death; and are not we, who from our very birth have been “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath?” Though God has forgiven us, it does not become us to forget what we are in ourselves, but to go softly before him all our days, repenting in dust and ashes.]

2. A sense of his weakness—

[David had other enemies than those who opposed his regal authority. He complains in another psalm, “Iniquities prevail against me [Note: Psalms 65:3.]:” and he found it exceeding difficult to subdue them. On this account also he used the expressions in the text. He felt himself poor and needy in reference to every thing that he accounted good. He lamented especially his want of wisdom, and strength, and righteousness. Hence he cried, “Open thou mine eyes;” “O give me understanding in the way of godliness!” “Hold thou me up!” “hold up my goings in thy ways, that my footsteps slip not!” “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord! for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” Similar to this is the experience of all the saints. All are insufficient of themselves for any thing that is good: and the man who was stripped, and wounded, and left half dead [Note: Luke 10:30.], was but a faint emblem of the man who, feeling in himself innumerable corruptions, is unable to mortify so much as one of them, except as he is aided from above, and strengthened by communications of the Spirit of grace. St. Paul himself lamented his state in reference to this; yea, he even surpassed the Psalmist in his humiliating confessions and mournful complaints [Note: Romans 7:24.]

But in the midst of all this, we view with pleasure,

II.

His consolation—

He considered that God’s thoughts were exercised upon him—
[God is not an inattentive observer of any of his creatures: but “his eyes are more especially upon the righteous [Note: Psalms 33:18; Psalms 34:15.].” As “his eyes were upon the promised land from one end of the year even to the other [Note: Job 36:7; Deuteronomy 11:12.],” so are they upon his own people in every place and in every age. He says, “I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you an expected end [Note: Jeremiah 29:11.].” He thinks of his people with tender compassion—with anxious care—with joyful complacency. How tenderly did he listen to the effusions of Ephraim’s sorrow [Note: Jeremiah 31:18 and Hosea 14:8.]! With what anxiety does he sit, as a refiner, to watch the vessel which he is purifying in the furnace, lest it should by any means suffer injury by the process that was intended only for its good [Note: Malachi 3:3.]! With what exultation too does he say, “To this man will I look, even unto him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit;” as though not all the angels in heaven could engage his attention in companion of such a sight! David was sensible, that in the midst of all his spiritual distress he was not forgotten of his God; but that he was, notwithstanding all his unworthiness, an object of his paternal care [Note: He knew it from both his past and present experience, Psalms 31:7. with ver. 5.]

What comfort must such a consideration afford him!
[Surely greater consolation could scarcely be conceived than that which would arise from this source. What must it be to have unsearchable wisdom contriving for his good! — — — almighty power ready to execute whatever Divine wisdom should judge expedient! — — — unbounded mercy pleading, that his sins and frailties may not provoke God to withdraw his loving-kindness from him! — — — and, lastly, unchanging faithfulness demanding on his behalf the accomplishment of all the promises! — — — The consideration of these things must of necessity check every desponding fear and constrain him to exclaim, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God [Note: Psalms 42:11.].” And every one who can realize this one consideration, has within himself an antidote for every fear, and a balm for every wound.]

Address—
1.

Those who know little of David’s experience—

[The generality of those who are called Christians would be ready to despise any one who should express himself like the inspired Psalmist. They would suppose that he was under the influence of a weak deluded mind. But let them not congratulate themselves on their fancied superiority; for they only betray their own ignorance [Note: Revelation 3:17. with Micah 4:12.]. Let them rather seek to know themselves, that, being made sensible of their destitute condition, they may be made rich in Christ Jesus [Note: 1 Corinthians 1:30.]

2. Those whose feelings are like his—

[While you are complaining of your poverty, God is saying, “But thou art rich [Note: Revelation 2:9.].” The truth is, that the more we are sensible of our guilt and helplessness, the more ready God is to help and deliver us: “The hungry he filleth with good things; but the rich he sends empty away.” Indeed he paints the most destitute condition that can be imagined, on purpose that he may administer consolation to us under it [Note: Isaiah 41:17.]. If any then be cast down as though there were no hope, let them plead with him as David did [Note: Psalms 142:1.]: and they shall soon find, by happy experience, that “God’s thoughts and ways as far exceed ours, as the heavens are above the earth [Note: See Psalms 72:12. which may be illustrated by John 1:6; John 1:15; John 2:1.].”] [Note: If this were a subject for a Charity Sermon, the Application should be altered, and another substituted, recommending the audience to imitate God by thinking of the distresses of their fellow-creatures.]