The Incomprehensible Thoughts of the Lord Towards Us

[Psalm 40:1-10]

During this morning's prayer meeting, as I proclaimed God's Word, the Lord brought to light my sins. The sin was my failure to obey His Word, even though I had been meditating on it continually. The Word in question is from last week's Wednesday prayer meeting, from Psalm 39, which says, "Be careful with your words and actions" (v. 1). After proclaiming that Word, I spent the past week reflecting on times when I failed to guard my speech. I remember regretting it after speaking: "I shouldn't have said that..."; "Why did I say something that didn't help anyone?"; "I should have just listened quietly..." and so on. Later, I regretted not guarding my tongue. If I had been continuously meditating on the teaching to "be careful with what you say," I would have been more cautious before speaking and during the conversation, exercising self-control over my words. Therefore, I am determined today to put more effort into living a life of faith, continuously thinking on God's Word.

Living a life of thinking about God's Word, and even more, living a life that thinks about God, will lead us to be more pleasing to God and help us grow as more faithful believers in His eyes. However, what is more important than how much we think about God is how much He thinks about us. In other words, it is not as important how much we think of God, but how much He thinks of us.

Let’s look at Psalm 40:5: “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the thoughts of You toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” How great is the love of God! His thoughts toward us are so many that they cannot be counted. This verse reminds us of Psalm 139:17-18: “How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You.” Our God loves us deeply. The fact that His thoughts toward us are innumerable shows just how much He loves us. We truly cannot fathom the depth of His love. Today, as I reflect on Psalm 40:5, I want to meditate on the Lord who has uncountable thoughts toward us, and I hope we can experience His love through four points.

First, the Lord who has uncountable thoughts toward us is the Lord who hears our cries.

Look at Psalm 40:1: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.” I believe this stage is like the “infant” stage, or the stage where we cry out like a baby. Just as an infant cries out when hungry and seeks its mother's attention, we cry out earnestly to the Lord when we are struggling, facing difficulties, and need His help. However, it seems that we often stop crying out, unlike a baby, and we cease to pray. The reason we stop praying and give up before we receive an answer is because we fall into the temptation of thinking that God is not present. How often do we fall into this “temptation that God is not there”? Even though we cry out to God, when it seems like there is no answer, we become discouraged, frustrated, and start to blame not only the people and circumstances around us but even God Himself. As a result, we give up trusting God and begin to lean to the left or the right. However, a person who prays continues to trust God until the end. Such a person is blessed: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud or to those who turn aside to false gods” (v. 4). When the answer to our prayers is delayed, we may fall into the temptation of giving up on trusting God. Therefore, we must endure and persist in prayer (Park Yun-seon). We must pray, like David, to be delivered from difficulties, enduring in prayer to God. When we do so, just as God listened to David’s cries, He will also hear our prayers.

We must pray persistently, just as David did. We must not give up in prayer. Jesus gave us this lesson through the parable of prayer in Luke 18:1-8: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (v. 1). In the parable, there was a judge in a city who did not fear God and had no respect for man. A widow came to him repeatedly asking him to grant her justice, bothering him to the point where he finally relented and gave her justice. Then, Jesus said: “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly” (vv. 7-8). Our God is a patient God, but He is also a God who cannot wait forever. In other words, God patiently waits for us to confess our sins and repent, but once we do, He will not delay in answering us. An example of this is the Apostle Paul. Look at 1 Timothy 1:16: “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.”

But another aspect of God's nature is that He is a God who thinks of us with an immeasurable number of thoughts. He loves us so much that when we seek Him earnestly in the midst of hardship, He is not a God who will delay answering our prayers. It is like a mother who, while thinking about how to express her love for her child, hears her child crying out for help in a time of great difficulty. How can she not rush to answer that plea? Our God, who has an innumerable number of thoughts toward us, is a God who hears our cries and answers us quickly when we call upon Him.

Secondly, the Lord, who has innumerable thoughts toward us, is the Lord who strengthens our steps.

Psalm 40:2 says: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." I consider this stage as the stage of "walking," from about one to three years old. This morning, during the early prayer meeting, I meditated on Psalm 37:31, which says: "The law of God is in his heart; his steps do not slip." Reflecting on this, I thought of three factors that cause us to stumble in our walk: “competition,” “complaints,” and “anger.” The way to overcome these obstacles is by placing God’s law (His Word) in our hearts. The deeper we engrave God's Word in our hearts, the firmer our steps become, and we will not stumble.

In the text of Psalm 40, David speaks of how God heard his cry and lifted him out of the pit of despair and the mud and mire (verse 2). In other words, David is talking about experiencing the grace of salvation. However, God's saving grace does not end there. After rescuing David, God made his steps firm. He placed him on a rock (verse 2).

Personally, when I think of the word “rock,” several Bible verses come to mind, one of which is Psalm 61:2: "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I." "The rock that is higher than I..." Like David, who asked God to guide him to a rock he could not climb on his own, I recognize my own helplessness and pray, relying on God's power and His omnipotence. When I do this, when my heart is overwhelmed, or “surrounded by distress, exhausted, and hopeless” (as Park Yun-seon put it), God strengthens my heart and affirms my steps. Let us remember that our God loves us so much that His thoughts toward us are beyond counting. And let us not forget that this God, who guides us to the rock that is higher than ourselves, is the one who makes our steps firm.

Third, the Lord, who has innumerable thoughts toward us, is the Lord who places a new song in our mouths.

Look at Psalm 40:3: "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him." I consider this stage as the “growth stage.” The stage of praising and worshiping God is the stage of spiritual growth. The reason why David, the psalmist in this passage, praises God with a “new song” is because of the grace of God’s salvation. After hearing David's cry for help in the midst of his difficulties, God answered him and “lifted him out of the pit of despair and the mud and mire,” and He placed his feet on a rock, making his steps firm (verse 2). Therefore, David confesses that God placed a new song of praise in his mouth (verse 3). This “new song” is a song sung by one who has been saved and has experienced a new salvation (as Park Yun-seon put it). Because of God’s "new experience" of salvation, we are able to sing a new song of praise to God. How much does this apply to our lives? In the difficulties we face, every time we cry out to God for His saving grace, we should open our hearts and lips and praise Jehovah. Even if He does not rescue us immediately, as the three young men said in the fiery furnace, “But even if He does not,” (Daniel 3:18) we must offer our praise to God in faith. In other words, even if God does not rescue us immediately, we must still offer praise to Him in faith. The reason is that God is worthy to receive our praise. When we do this, just as Paul and Silas were delivered from prison (Acts 16:25ff), we too will be rescued.

Recently, personally, I feel that God has put Hymn 404 on my lips:
"The great love of God, I cannot describe it with words...
If the sky were a scroll and the sea were ink, even then, I could not record God's infinite love.
How could I write of God's great love? Even if I pile it up to the heights of the heavens, it would not be enough."
(Chorus)
"God's great love cannot be measured,
An eternal love that never changes.
O saints, let us praise Him!"

When I praise the eternal and immeasurable love of God, I feel God's love toward me. And by feeling His love, I am growing.

Lastly, fourthly, the Lord, who has innumerable thoughts toward us, is the Lord who opens our ears.

Let’s look at Psalm 40:6: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You did not require."
God not only opens our mouths to praise Him with a new song, but He also opens our ears. God opened David’s ears and made known His will to him. In other words, God, in His grace, opened David’s spiritual perception, allowing him to understand what pleased God (Calvin). What pleased God is simply obedience. To explain it further, we can refer to the verse that says "to obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22).
Dr. Park Yun-seon said: "The system of offering sacrifices in the Old Testament, such as grain or burnt offerings, was not because God wanted those offerings, but because He desired the obedience of the one offering them."
Having realized this truth, how did David act? "Then I said, 'Here I am, I have come; it is written about me in the scroll of the book.'" (Psalm 40:7). In other words, David, like a servant presenting himself to his master, stood ready to obey God's will. He knew that God's will was written in the scroll, and he resolutely decided to obey the words of God's law (Park Yun-seon).

What a beautiful spiritual posture this is! The posture of waiting before God in order to obey His will…
Look at David’s heart posture: "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).
The one who has God's law in their heart delights only in doing God's will. David, who was pleased by God, experienced that joy. In difficult and challenging circumstances, he only desired to do the will of the Lord.

The Lord, who has innumerable thoughts toward us, is the one we cry out to in times of trouble and adversity. As we wait for the answer to our prayers, the believer who experiences God's saving grace not only opens their lips to praise God but also proclaims the joyful news of His salvation: "I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart, I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly"(Psalm 40:9-10).
Like David, after receiving the grace of God's salvation, we must testify to the joyful news of salvation before the whole congregation. The Lord, who has innumerable thoughts toward us, we must not hide His lovingkindness and truth before the assembly. We must go forward, proclaiming His faithfulness and salvation.

With a heart of gratitude for the Lord's love, who has thoughts toward me that cannot be counted,

Pastor James Kim
(After praising God with the hymn "The Great Love of God" and offering a prayer of thanksgiving)