Tehillim Tools: Psalm 40: The Gift of an Insight
“I have hoped continually for God, and He inclined His ear to me and heard my cry. And He raised me from the turbulent pit, out of the miry mud, and He set my feet upon a rock, He firmly established my steps. And He put in my mouth a new song, praise to our Lord; many will see and fear and will trust in God. Fortunate is the man who has made God his trust, and has not turned to the arrogant and to those who stray after falsehood. Many things have you done, You, God, my Lord, Your wondrous works and Your thoughts are for us, there is none that can compare to You; to declare and speak of them is impossible for they are too numerous to be told.”
I sense that the phrase, “And He put in my mouth a new song,” is the key to understanding these verses. King David is celebrating a new insight, an insight that came from suffering, an insight that came after being heard by God, after God “raised him from the turbulent pit,” once God “set his feet upon a rock,” when God “firmly established his steps.” King David found in his mouth a new song and he understood that that new song, or new insight, was a gift from God. When he was able to understand more of God as being his trust, and was able to express it in words, he understood that he had just received a beautiful gift.
How often do we discover new insights! How often do we find new words of praise for God in our mouths! King David is teaching us that when we find such new insights, when we discover such new words, we must acknowledge that the insight and the words are gifts from God, and then praise that gift of insight and words.
There are two steps: the first is to a knowledge each new insight and each new praise as a gift. Then we must find words to acknowledge and celebrate that gift.