Ps 40 11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD ;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD , to save me;
O LORD , come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"
The Psalmist has been teaching in the beginning of this Psalm that the Lord had saved him from the pangs of war. The Lord lifted him out of the mire and put his feet on a rock...which is the Temple mountain...a place where the Psalmist sings praises to God The temple is the place where God is moved to defeat all of our enemies. The temple worship is seen in the musical procession that proceeded the troops into the battle field and the procession up to the temple after the victories of war.
The Psalmist is comparing the visual destruction that is experienced by the Israels military and the opposition that we experience in this sinful world. The truth is that we were never made to handle the destructive world where Gods law is violated. We were never given the ability on our own to even view the hateful and depraved actions as a result of sin. The Psalmist is describing the plan of attack that he experiences being in a world were Gods law is violated. He is saying that the violation of one of the smallest laws of God are the same as the threat of destroying the innocence of the entire world. If we lived in a world where no one treated sin with contempt then all of us would be innocent of violating the the rights of other people. And if we overlooked the smallest violation of the law we would in some ways be deceived. We would allow our hearts to be hardened like the frog in a hot pan who does not feel the heat. So the Psalmist here is a person who has spoken the curses and covenants as the cause of finding innocence in the mystery of the curses and blessings coming together. He actually feels the innocence in the effect of the heat of Gods word that codify the prior abuse.A man who experiences the mystery of Gods presence describes his experience as feeling the effects of sin that sweep over him.
Remember that any time a sin is practiced then there is a violation in the community.When the sin is multiplied it is the same as being in a world where the culture is violent. But the Psalmist is the person who meditates on Gods word and so he reorders his view of being in this depraved inner experience casting off the weight that crushes him in the self knowledge of experiencing the danger by this continuous experience of mystery. In the attempt to reduce the multiplicity of the violations to the smallest sin the Psalmist is pushing the violence away so that he overcomes all of his opposition.
You must understand that every man who practices sin is hardened at some point to the violence that is propagated. Not only do we live in a violent world but we live with others who are blind to their neglect to come to mystery. Every man swears by his experience. Every man believes that he is always right. So we must look away from men and deal with our hearts in severe desperation. No one exalts the Lord in the highest sense who treats sin as if it was not an attack upon his neighbor. As I have been saying that applying the gospel is the opposite of how we applied the truth in our former lives. We experience sin by the weight of the violence that is put upon us. And we cast it off by the perfect righteousness that is imputed to us.
may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD , to save me;
O LORD , come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"
The Psalmist has been teaching in the beginning of this Psalm that the Lord had saved him from the pangs of war. The Lord lifted him out of the mire and put his feet on a rock...which is the Temple mountain...a place where the Psalmist sings praises to God The temple is the place where God is moved to defeat all of our enemies. The temple worship is seen in the musical procession that proceeded the troops into the battle field and the procession up to the temple after the victories of war.
The Psalmist is comparing the visual destruction that is experienced by the Israels military and the opposition that we experience in this sinful world. The truth is that we were never made to handle the destructive world where Gods law is violated. We were never given the ability on our own to even view the hateful and depraved actions as a result of sin. The Psalmist is describing the plan of attack that he experiences being in a world were Gods law is violated. He is saying that the violation of one of the smallest laws of God are the same as the threat of destroying the innocence of the entire world. If we lived in a world where no one treated sin with contempt then all of us would be innocent of violating the the rights of other people. And if we overlooked the smallest violation of the law we would in some ways be deceived. We would allow our hearts to be hardened like the frog in a hot pan who does not feel the heat. So the Psalmist here is a person who has spoken the curses and covenants as the cause of finding innocence in the mystery of the curses and blessings coming together. He actually feels the innocence in the effect of the heat of Gods word that codify the prior abuse.A man who experiences the mystery of Gods presence describes his experience as feeling the effects of sin that sweep over him.
Remember that any time a sin is practiced then there is a violation in the community.When the sin is multiplied it is the same as being in a world where the culture is violent. But the Psalmist is the person who meditates on Gods word and so he reorders his view of being in this depraved inner experience casting off the weight that crushes him in the self knowledge of experiencing the danger by this continuous experience of mystery. In the attempt to reduce the multiplicity of the violations to the smallest sin the Psalmist is pushing the violence away so that he overcomes all of his opposition.
You must understand that every man who practices sin is hardened at some point to the violence that is propagated. Not only do we live in a violent world but we live with others who are blind to their neglect to come to mystery. Every man swears by his experience. Every man believes that he is always right. So we must look away from men and deal with our hearts in severe desperation. No one exalts the Lord in the highest sense who treats sin as if it was not an attack upon his neighbor. As I have been saying that applying the gospel is the opposite of how we applied the truth in our former lives. We experience sin by the weight of the violence that is put upon us. And we cast it off by the perfect righteousness that is imputed to us.
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