“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1, ESV).
David inclined upward to the Lord in prayer; God inclined downward to David in listening. The phrase “He inclined to me” means that the Lord bent down to pay attention to David. God accommodated Himself in order to hear a mortal human like David. Such an inclination tells us something about the nature of God: He is always towards us and more than willing to relate to us. David understood his God in a relational and covenantal way. David knew that the God whom he believed was the God of covenant, not a Greek god, who is only up there without getting involved with human affairs.
The God of covenant got involved with Israel, made a covenant with Israel, and promised to dwell among Israel: “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God” (Exod. 29:45-46, ESV).
For David, his present context was a context of trial. He could only wait. Not only did he wait, but also waited patiently. John Calvin translated it as “In waiting, I waited.” In the Commentary on the Book of Psalms, Calvin noted:
He tells us, not merely that he had waited, but by the repetition of the same expression, he shows that he had been a long time in anxious suspense. In proportion then as his trial was prolonged, the evidence and proof of his faith in enduring the delay with calmness and equanimity of mind was so much the more apparent. The meaning in short is, that although God delayed his help, yet the heart of David did not faint, or grow weary from delay; but that after he had given, as it were, sufficient proof of his patience, he was at length heard.[1]
As one theologian said, “God may delay, but He is never too late.” In waiting, David waited again and again because he believed that God would never be too late to rescue him. God’s “delay” was His loving concern for David. It was in His delay David learned the lesson of waiting. In waiting, God created a space for David to meditate upon his faith. David reflected and prayed, “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart’” (Ps. 40:6-8, ESV). In God’s “delay”, David had a space to distinguish true religion from false religion. How easy it is to use sacrifice and offering to substitute for doing His will with gladness.
David grew toward maturity in God’s likeness in God’s gracious “delay.”
[1] John Calvin, Psalms 36-92. Calvin’s Commentaries, vol. V. 500th Anniversary Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009), pp. 89-90.
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