I had prepared a blog on Psalm 40 when I realised that my Church, Holy Trinity Huddersfield, were having a sermon on that passage. My version is my previous post. This is the church version.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
40 I waited patiently for the Lord;
Psalm 40 ESVUK
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 towards 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 dishonour
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!
A cool and wet day in Huddersfield. Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield’s new curate Helen Jones would be preaching, her first sermon I have heard. On Psalm 40 too, which I have just written a blog post on. I’m interested to see how her sermon differs from what I have written.
Even before the 10:45 sermon started we were told the words that would dominate the sermon, the words delivery and deliverance, the former illustrated by the picture of Postman Pat above projected on the screens. During the sermon, children were invited to colour in some pictures on cards and put them in envelopes. After the sermon, they were invited to deliver them to people in the congregation: They were so engrossed in their colouring that they continued colouring. I love the deep focus of children.
The rest of this post is from what I can read of my notes written during the sermon.
Deliveries: Things that can be delivered, things that can be moved from one place to another.
Deliverance: Being rescued from something, based on a Hebrew word meaning escape. The New Testament word is Redeemer.
Psalm 40 was written by David. He calls out to God to deliver him .
Sir Nicolas Winston helped rescue 669 Jewish children from being murdered by the Nazis during the late 1930s. Theirs is a story of escape.
David talks about being delivered from his enemies. God does not leave David in the pit and like he did for David god does not leave us but like a potter moulds us into something better. God loves every one of us.
Are you in a place of depression or suffering? God lifted David out onto a solid rock. What is this solid rock? It is Jesus the firm foundation. Jesus is our ultimate rescuer and redeemer, offerings and scrolls refer to the coming of Jesus to rescue us from sin and despair and are quoted in Hebrews 10.
When we pray and it seems like nothing is happening it is because everything does not always work out quickly, David talks about waiting patiently. We need patience when we need help with healing and deliverance. Our escape reminds us to celebrate and praise is our response to dedicate our lives to God.
verse 6 talks about having an open ear, and reminds us that slaves would have their ears pierced as a sign they were slaves forever. We can choose to sing a new song in good and bad times, it moves us from a place of pain to a place of freedom.
Proclamation—In verses 9 and 10 David proclaimed God’s deliverance, he did not hide God’s righteousness, and neither should we. Our calling is that we should speak out what God has done for us. We are God’s postmen to deliver God’s good news in our conversations.
The service was recorded and can be found here on YouTube. The sermon starts at 42:30.
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Making an ass of myself 