Ps.40:11 – You, LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.
Psalm 40 has always been a special Psalm for me. David is describing being in a horrible pit of despair, calling out to the Lord, and the Lord hearing him and responding. The Lord put a new song in David’s mouth and brought him out into a wide place of deliverance. Today’s verse has several key words that we can look to for spiritual enrichment. The first one is the word compassion; here is a definition from the CWSB Dictionary followed by a comment from Adam Clarke.
“Compassion – raḥam: A feminine noun meaning womb, compassion, mercy, affection, maiden. The singular form of this word always signified the physical womb of a woman and was commonly used in this way. Yet when the plural form was used, the author had in mind the idea of compassion, tenderness, or mercy. The Old Testament authors thought of the womb or bowels as the seat of warm and tender emotions.”
Clarke
“such propensities and feelings as a mother bears to her child; or animals in general to their young.”
The next word is one that David used often, mercy. David had learned to live off of the mercy of the Lord and was a common theme in his Psalms. Here is some of what Vine says about
“Behind all these uses with man as subject, however, stand the repeated references to God’s checed. It is one of His most central characteristics. God’s loving-kindness is offered to His people, who need redemption from sin, enemies, and troubles. A recurrent refrain describing God’s nature is “abounding/plenteous in checed” (Exod. 34:6; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 103:8; Jonah 4:2). The entire history of Yahweh’s covenantal relationship with Israel can be summarized in terms of checed.”
The next word that I love in this verse is truth, it is describing the consistent actions of the Lord on our behalf. Here are thoughts from the CWSB Dictionary on this beautiful Bible word.
“Truth – Truth was the barometer for measuring both one’s word and actions. Accordingly, God’s words and actions are characterized by this Hebrew term also. Indeed, God is the only God of truth.”
All of this describes the fact that the Lord is considering me in all of His thoughts and has a beautiful plan for my life.