Psalm 41

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 Blessed is he that considers the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?

6 And if he come to see me, he speaks vanity: his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes abroad, he tells it.

7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

8 An evil disease, say they, cleaves fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.

9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

10 But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

11 By this I know that thou favor me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

12 And as for me, thou uphold me in mine integrity, and sets me before thy face forever.

13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.  (KJV)

Blessed is he who has regard for the poor:

The LORD delivers him in times of trouble.
The LORD will protect him

The LORD will preserve his life

The LORD will bless him in the land

The LORD will not surrender him to the desire of his foes.
The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed

The LORD will restore him from his bed of illness.

I said, “O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

My enemies say of me in malice:

When will he die?

When will his name perish?
Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely

While his heart gathers slander

Then he goes out and spreads it abroad.
All my enemies whisper together against me

They imagine the worst for me, saying, “A vile disease has beset him

He will never get up from the place where he lies.

Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

But you, O LORD

Have mercy on me

Raise me up, that I may repay them.
I know that you are pleased with me

For my enemy does not triumph over me.
In my integrity you uphold me

Set me in your presence forever.

This is another psalm which we can see the life of David, the life of Christ and the life that we are now living entangled together. Verse eleven “I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me” could refer to many enemies.  As we study this psalm it starts out as blessing the one that is a friend to those in need.  As we consider the word friend, we must realize that the word enemy comes from the Latin word inimicus which means unfriendly or hostile.  So, this psalms centers around the behaviors that are either friendly or unfriendly. So, as the psalmist writes in verse eleven “for my enemy does not triumph over me” is referring to these forces that are unfriendly to him.  So, the next time you considered the word enemy considered the word friendship.  To love your enemy is to love these who are not a friend to you.  That is what God did for us on the cross.  We were all unfriendly to God, yet in his love he reached out to us his enemies (whose who were not his friend) to make us his friend.  This is the same love we must reach up to our enemies (those that are not a friend) to make them a friend of ours as well as God.

In his devotional for February 9 titled “Are You Exhausted Spiritually?” Oswald Chambers writes “Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ?”.  As I read the words of this psalm, I cannot help but see the desire of the Psalmist to fulfill the purpose that God has for him in this life.  Verse eleven states “I know that you are pleased with me.”  However, this desire of having God being pleased with us can sometimes make us feel spiritually exhausted.  This is especially true when we have realized that we have sinned against God.  When sin does take place in our life, we must realize it and turn from it.  This is the examination that Oswald writes about in this devotion.  Paul writes about this call for service in II Timothy 2:21 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work.”  There are usually two reasons that I believe Christians become exhausted spiritually: first they are so focus on the things around them that they forget about God; or because they focus on and become assumed by trying to discover what is God’s purpose for them in this life.  To me the answer to renewing a spiritually life is to live blameless before God.