Sing a New Song
Psalm 40:3 “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
The deliverance in verse 2 produces the praise in verses 3-5. It is deliverance from the bondage of sin in a very illustrative picture. It is the picture of a deep pit that one can not climb out of, full of miry clay that causes every movement to be difficult. Every person who has dared remember the bondage of sin which kept them enslaved, can identify with this picture. Held deep in the miry clay in the bottom of a deep pit where every turn leads to the same wall of darkness. In such bondage of sin, every tomorrow is like every yesterday. The only change is the deeper in sin with no way out.
If anyone will dare remember what life was like before the deliverance brought by God by way of the Cross, where our deliverance was paid for by the death of Christ for our sins, they can certainly enjoy this new song. It is the rejoicing over the forgiveness and cleansing they received by God’s grace. It is sincere praise to the Father for His grace which we could never earn nor deserve. This is not formal singing, but rather a singing heart that remembers often and bursts forth in praise out of shear gratitude.
The result is that He has set our feet “upon a rock, and established my goings” (v. 2). The rock is a picture of Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). He has “established my goings” in the Hebrew is literally , to make my steps firm. No more miry clay, but able to move freely about. It is again the picture of Christ who sets us free from the bondage of sin and gives us joy in Him. What a picture to focus upon regularly! Sin equals bondage. Christ equals freedom. I am not speaking of “doing what ever we want to do, for committing sin again only leads back into bondage. However following Christ leads us into the fullness of His life and overwhelming joy for our freedom from bondage.
He said “many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” They will see our joy and freedom. As we sing our new song, they will begin to fear for themselves, for they are still in bondage and Hell is coming. When they see our joy and freedom in Christ, they will “trust in the Lord.” Perhaps the most frightening part of this study is that few are trusting in the Lord. Is it because they do not see our joy nor freedom? Our lives look too much like theirs; despair, depression, anger, emptiness. Where is our victory? Where is our joy? From their point of view many Christians are still in bondage, although of a different kind. Our bondage is that we want to follow Christ and still live the “American Dream.” So there is no joy from either source.
Pray for repentance, then focus on Christ and Him alone. All other things will only get in the way and cause more frustration. All other things are only things. We may have begun with the thought “my things!” Yet very soon our things owned and controlled us. They needed cleaned, protected, repaired, maintained and brought very little joy. Christ can fill us with overwhelming joy and “many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Look at the blessing in v.4.