Psalm 40 first became noteworthy to me when it appeared in 1983 on U2’s third album, War. I was 15 years old at the time. The song, simply entitled, “40,” soon became one of the most popular songs on the album. Someone told me that the lyrics of the song were simply the words of the psalm. I doubted it. I doubted that so popular a song would simply be Scripture sung by an Irish rock band. I opened my Bible and read Psalm 40. Sure enough. It was true. U2 just sang the words of the psalm (at least the first three verses). To this day I can’t read the opening verses of Psalm 40 without hearing Bono singing them to me (in my head of course).

Psalm 40 was part of my daily Bible reading this morning. It’s actually much better than I remembered. It’s filled with rich truth and deep, soul-sustaining wonder. The psalm is about rescue and deliverance. It’s about answered prayer and safety. It’s about God’s power and might, his faithfulness, and his enduring steadfast love. It’s about not being forgotten by God.

David wrote this psalm. He wrote it after being delivered by God. David was in distress and then he prayed…

“I waited patiently for the LORD;
He inclined and heard my cry.
He drew me up out of the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.” (Ps 40:1-3)

Psalm 40 is a song of praise to our God. David is praising God for rescuing him from his external enemies, “from those who seek to snatch away my life” and “desire my hurt” (v.14), as well as from his internal enemies, “my iniquities have overtaken me and I cannot see” (v.12). God overcame David’s physical foes and his own internal spiritual ones. This is why David is rejoicing.

“I have told the glad news of deliverance…
I have not restrained my lips…
I have spoken of your steadfast love and faithfulness.” (v.10)

But the best part of the psalm is what I had never seen before. It comes in the very last verse of the psalm, verse 17,

“As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.”

This is very personal. David was not a rich king when he wrote this psalm. He was “poor and needy.” Even if he was king when he wrote it, he didn’t think of himself as a mighty conquering king, but as an impoverished beggar. He’s needy. He’s poor. He has nothing to offer. He cannot pay for his deliverance. He cannot reward his rescuer with silver and gold for all his expended effort at freeing him. And yet “the LORD takes thought of me.”

Note that David says, “the LORD takes thought of me.” As I read this verse, it was as if I heard the Lord speaking directly to me, to Todd Cravens, saying, “I take thought of you.” I can believe that the Lord took thought of king David, but it’s hard to believe that he thinks about me. King David was awesome. I am not. David killed giants and defeated nations. Me, I’ve done nothing noteworthy.

And yet that’s the point, isn’t it? The LORD thinks about me, the little no one, the poor needy beggar who lives in a little town in MA. The only reason David killed a giant was because God took thought of him. The only reason he routed nations was because the Lord was mindful of him.

This is the wonder of our God. This is the glory of our LORD. He rescues those who trust in him (v. 3). He blesses those who have nothing to offer. He saves those who simply look to him for salvation (Jn 3:14; cf. Is 45:22 KJV). He thinks about poor, needy, nobodies like me. He thinks about me!

And he thinks about you too. He thinks about homemakers and home-builders, landscapers and lawyers, nannies and nurses, cooks and clerks, singers and students. He thinks about all who will cry out to him for deliverance. He thinks continually about all who seek him. Rejoice in this wonderful truth. Rejoice in the fact that the LORD of the universe thinks about his children. Rejoice that David wrote this down so that you and I would be blessed with this knowledge.

“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the LORD!’” (v.16)

I hope you can say this. Rejoice in him today. Be glad in him. He is great. If you don’t believe me, then read Psalm 40 for yourself. I’ll make it easy for you. Just click here.