Psalm 40:5: Proper Worship
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.
Disappointment is easy to find. Disappointment lurks when keys are missing, and thrives in the chasms of a broken heart. Is disappointment easily found because life does not go as planned or because our hearts worship lesser things? Counselor and pastor, Paul David Tripp, defines worship as “[our] identity as . . . human being[s]. [We] were designed to worship. This means that [we are] always attaching the hopes, dreams, peace, motivations, joy, and security of [our] heart[s] to something. So you don’t just worship on Sunday; you worship your way through every day of your life” (Tripp, Sex and Money, 35). If Tripp is right, then God created us to be worshipers. Because the Fall into sin (Genesis 3), we regularly place our hopes, dreams, and peace on people, possessions, and perspectives that only God can fill (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
How does worship relate to Psalm 40:5? Psalm 40:5 depicts a heart in proper worship of the Triune God of Scripture. Because of proper worship and trust the Psalmist, King David, has hope in the face of pain and suffering (Psalm 40:1, 12, 14, and 17). Because of proper worship, David could proclaim and wait for God’s most wondrous deed: redemption through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:7-10). What about you? Where are your hopes, dreams, peace, motivations, joys, and securities resting today? The truth is Christians and non-Christians struggle with worshiping the right thing. The only way to escape improper worship and have lifelong hope is to rest in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ Who through His Spirit gives us all hearts like David (2 Corinthians 5:16-21).
This blog was written by Seth Dunn