No Old Testament saint attests to God’s grace quite like King David. Raised from the sheepfold to the throne of the house of Israel; raised again from sin: pride, murder, adultery, and despising of God; lifted clear of the snare of the wicked (Psalm 119:110), of the pit (Psalm 30:3), of the very gates of death (Psalm 9:13); with no merit or worthiness in himself, David was continually raised up by God’s grace and favor.
God’s grace wells up in Psalm 41, where David exults in divine mercy amid his own weakness, powerful enemies, and treacherous friends. In this psalm, David tracks the flow of divine grace back to its source at the cross and, with prophetic vision, finds it springing forth in the lives of all baptized believers—including you.
How has God’s grace raised you? Maybe he’s blessed you with a new job or a new child. Maybe he’s raised you up from a long illness. Or perhaps family strife has been quieted after a tumultuous time. If so, rejoice and thank God for His grace and favor!
But if you feel like you’re sinking instead of rising, what then? Is there any comfort for the saint of God who looks around to find that “the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1)? David knows that saint’s fortunes because they are his as well:
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
You do not give him up to the will of his enemies. (Psalm 41:1–2)
You have a sure hope! Therefore, do not look for hope in your experiences or your emotions, which will portray for you the same bleak scene that David captures in Psalm 41:
* My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?” (v. 5)
* When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while His heart gathers iniquity. (v. 6)
* Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. (v. 9)
Faith offers a better vision: despite all the times we are tempted to compromise or even sin, God will raise you up. He has raised you already! In Holy Baptism, God has “raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). If you are in Christ, how can you sink? How can you fall?
Lent is the ideal time to meditate on David’s ordeals and your secure position in Christ. Psalm 41 provides the ideal guide to your meditation. If the laments of Psalm 41 call to mind your numerous difficulties and need for deliverance, they depict even more clearly the work by which your deliverance has been won.
David “prophesied about the grace that was to be yours” and “searched and inquired carefully” concerning your salvation (1 Peter 1:10). And that salvation is this: the Son of David, by grace, “might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).
Are the scheming enemies of Psalm 41:5 not the foes of Christ, who is sustained on His sickbed (v. 3) but the one by whose wounds you are healed (Isaiah 53:5)? Even the close friend of our Lord has lifted his heel against Him (Psalm 41:9). God be praised, all these sufferings are yours too! Or “do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3)?
Because you are in Christ, you share in all things with Him, even the prophetic Word. David’s vision in Psalm 41 has become your reality in Christ. In the day of trouble, the Lord delivers you; the Lord protects you and keeps you alive; you are called blessed in the land (see Psalm 41:1–2). Press on to know the Lord’s suffering, death, and Word. As surely as the Lenten journey ascends to the victory of Easter, you shall be raised up. Psalm 41 will be the theme for our Lenten reflections this year. We listen to David as he guides and teaches us by the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ at all times.
See you on Sunday…but also, remember that Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) is on Wednesday February 14, 2024.
In Christ,
Pastor Ottmers