“Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You, let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified!” But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer, do not delay O my God.” Ps 40:16
The Psalmist states that all who seek the Lord should rejoice and be glad in Him. That is where one can find real help. The psalmist is also making a choice to say ‘The Lord be magnified’ in whatever circumstances he is in because he says it continuously. There is real victory here and one would assume at first glance that he is one of the ‘never struggle, super-human types who is always in a state of ‘acceptable perfection’ in which he can approach the Lord. But this is not the case because in the previous verses he says:
“Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord, let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have surrounded me, my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart fails me.”
Yet, he recognizes his true position when he says in verse 16: “But, I am poor and needy.” There is a ‘but’ and that didn’t stop him from still magnifying the Lord in his neediness. He knew where his help came from and he knew he would not be rejected when he approached Him“…yet, the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer, do not delay, O my God.”
“…and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order, if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Vs5
In other words, we don’t approach God when we are in a self-sufficient, perceived state of human perfection. We approach Him in our need and imperfection because that is our continual state on earth. God knows this and yet His thoughts are continually upon us and He still delivers us again and again. Therefore, we can rejoice and be glad because we have a redeemer who cares.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIs countenance.”