Too Many To Count

Psalm 40:11-17

11LORD, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me.

My only hope is in your unfailing love and faithfulness.

12For troubles surround me—

too many to count!

They pile up so high

I can’t see my way out.

They are more numerous than the hairs on my head.

I have lost all my courage.

13Please, LORD, rescue me!

Come quickly, LORD, and help me.

14May those who try to destroy me

be humiliated and put to shame.

May those who take delight in my trouble

be turned back in disgrace.

15Let them be horrified by their shame,

for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!”

16But may all who search for you

be filled with joy and gladness.

May those who love your salvation

repeatedly shout, “The LORD is great!”

17As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord is thinking about me right now.

You are my helper and my savior.

Do not delay, O my God.

Every day millions of people play the lottery, hoping for a big payoff. If they win, they figure they can quit working, buy a mansion, and live it up. Their biggest worry will be how to count all that money.

It was the church of Laodicea that boasted, “I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!” (Revelation 3:17). Apparently they had already won their lottery. But that was a church in deep, deep trouble. When you bask in your own riches, you stop looking to God to meet your needs.

In this section of Psalm 40, David has more troubles than he can count. They are piled up so high around him that he can’t see his way out. Maybe you know that feeling.

What’s the answer? The lottery? No way. David looks to another treasure trove that he has already mentioned in verse 5: God’s many miracles, plans, and wonderful deeds for his people. David exclaims that he could never even count all of God’s wonderful deeds—and this outweighs all of David’s innumerable troubles. God’s care for us is always greater than our troubles.

Although he is king of Israel, David acknowledges that he is “poor and needy” (verse 17). That’s a confession the self-satisfied church of Laodicea refused to make. But it is when we admit our need that God begins to meet it.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind,

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need in thee I find,

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT

Bible Networking

Psalm 40:13-17 is almost identical to Psalm 70. What are the differences? Why might these differences exist?

Notable Quotable

“To compare what ‘I am’ with what ‘You are’ (verse 17) is a steadying thing, but to pray for God’s glory (see verse 16) is a liberation, the way of victory and the way of Christ himself.”

DEREK KIDNER