GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 40:4-5
4 Blessed is the one who puts his trust in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
or to those who go astray after a lie!
Quite a few psalms have at least one verse that begins, “Blessed….” A study of Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11) is always instructive and productive, but a look at the twenty or so “blessed…” verses in the Psalms might make an interesting comparison for a group Bible study.
In verses 4-5, David rejects anything that might be in competition for our trust. He calls anyone who trusts in the Lord both “blessed” and “a hero,” since the word for “man” here is not the usual one but gever, “mighty man, hero.” He is a man who doesn’t fall for the swaggering boasts of the proud, the braggarts, the back-stabbing idolaters who only want to use the ordinary people of the world to get their way. In fact, it follows perfectly with David’s language to understand the inverse of his “blessed” statement: Cursed is everyone who does not put their trust and faith in the Lord, but looks to to the proud and boastful instead, who go chasing after lies.”
I was asked a question by a thoughtful girl in Catechism class this morning that falls along the same lines: “Why did the other evil angels follow the devil when he fell? Did they all fall for the same reason?” Not necessarily. The sin of the angels who became the demons may not have been as deeply developed as that of Satan and his pride, but may simply have been doubt stirred up by his sin. The doubt that he caused wounded them, wounded their faith, and was accounted to them as unbelief. No wonder the Lord threw them out of heaven, to keep them from causing doubt and sin among any of the rest of the angels. John’s account is brief but to the point: “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan), and the dragon and his angels fought back” (Revelation 12:7). In the mere act of fighting, the devil and the demons showed that they were no longer obedient to God; no longer submitting to God’s will and authority. In effect, they were throwing themselves out of heaven. John continues: “But he (the devil) was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down– that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:8-9). His lies can touch mankind, to tempt us, but he can no longer corrupt any more of God’s holy angels.
5 O LORD my God, you have done many wonders
And many are your thoughts toward us;
Nothing can be compared to you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be counted.
The “wonders” in the first line include all sorts of miracles, but they emphasize the spiritual miracles of God’s word more than the signs and wonders, the spectacular things, that Jesus and the apostles performed. Miracles really fall into three categories (the fourth kind listed below does not deal with godly miracles):
1, The incarnation of the Son of God. This is a miracle in its own class (Isaiah 9:6). The true New Testament miracles are also all done with reference to Christ, just as the true Old Testament miracles (especially those of Moses, Elijah, Elisha and the other prophets) were done to show the true people of God the true doctrine of God’s people as opposed to the false prophets of Egypt, of Baal, of Babylon, etc. The word “miracle” is also sometimes used of God’s extraordinary guidance in the Bible (Job 5:9; Psalm 71:7).
2, Bodily (physical) miracles, such as Jesus walking on the water, changing water into wine, and all of the healing miracles of the Bible.
3, Spiritual miracles, which involve the operation of divine doctrine for faith and sanctification. These miracles are the bringing of human beings to faith through baptism and the work of the gospel, as well as the miraculous working of the Lord’s Supper, and of the word of God for our spiritual benefit.
In the second category, the miracles are done against the force put into natural things by God, and against that natural force by the extraordinary power of God (such as when an axhead floats, or bread is multiplied for the benefit of the hundred, the four thousand or the five thousand, etc.). Along the same lines, we might define the third category as miracles done against the force of the fallen nature of man, although an important “or” should be understand, and would be: the spiritual miracles are done against the fallen nature — or — for the benefit of the spirit of man either before or after the fall.
A fourth kind, and the least important for our purposes, is any counterfeit, false miraculous sign worked by the devil for the corruption and fall of human beings. This is warned about in 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Such things deceive those who are already perishing (2:10). “Miracles,” says Gerhard, “if they are not connected to the truth of doctrine, prove nothing” (Matthew 11:5 also says this plainly enough).
Returning to the godly miracles, the third category, the spiritual miracles such as the working of the gospel in the heart and the sacraments, is the one that mainly applies to Christians today. The other sort, the spectacles that were so common in the days of the Lord and in the earliest days of the church in the Book of Acts, were done for the benefit of unbelievers, and not really for believers. For while believers were blessed by such things, they were more of a sign for others that this doctrine being taught was real, was true, and was the correct teaching.
Although miraculous and of the second kind, the resurrection of the dead (including ourselves) will take place on Judgment Day by the power of God as all of nature is brought to an end and to a rebirth in the new heaven and new earth.
David considers God’s many miracles and his careful and “many thoughts” for us, and his conclusion is that it’s all just too much to count! God has done so very much! We fall to our knees and praise him. When we consider just how much of God’s creation is there to bless us directly, to bless mankind, we are overwhelmed with awe. Is there anything at all that does not bless us in some way, or that does not display his glory, his power, or his divine goodness? Nothing, David says, can be compared to him! Some of the Scripture’s greatest writers say the same thing as David does here. “You are God my Savior” (David, Psalm 25:5); “Let it be known today that you are God in Israel” (Elijah, 1 Kings 18:36); “You are God my stronghold” (The Sons of Korah, Psalm 43:2); and “From everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Moses, Psalm 90:2). And to them we add Peter: “You are the Christ!” (Mark 8:29).
This is the God who loves you. This is the God who made this wide world and its all-encompassing universe in order to make you his child, bring you to faith, and bring you at last to life with him forever in heaven.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Additional archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2022
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 40:4-5 Types of Miracles