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#3.
The blessedness of this trust (Psa. 40: 4).
pp. 35, 36
In the O.T. there are seven different words translated "Trust". These we considered in
the opening article of this series. We discovered that the first one of this set of seven has
the significance of "clinging", as the Melon plant does by means of its tendrils. Out of
the hundred or more occurrences of this word we selected seven, and set them out on
page 13. The first of this set of seven was the "blessedness" that was pronounced upon
the man that trusted in the Lord (Psa. 40: 4).
Upon examination we find that there are four occasions when this peculiar blessedness
is pronounced. They are as follows:--
(1)
"Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him" (Psa. 2: 12).
(2)
"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him"
(Psa. 24: 8).
(3)
"Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust" (Psa. 40: 4).
(4)
"O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee" (Psa. 84: 12).
These four Psalms, with their blessing upon the man that trusts in the Lord, have four
very different contexts.
(1) THE DAY OF THE LORD.--Psalm 2: is prophetic of the days immediately
preceding the coming of the Lord. People and king alike agree in counsel against the
Lord and His anointed. It will be a day when any who cling to the Messianic hope will
be persecuted. As indicated in verse 12 of this Psalm, it is upon such that the Divine
benediction rests. They believe the prophecies and the promises, they cling to the Lord
and His faithful fulfillment of them, and receive the Divine approval, "Blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him".
(2) THE DAY OF TROUBLE.--Psalm 34: 8 deals largely with the deliverance
of the righteous in all his troubles. We read his experiences; we are called upon "to taste
and see". The Psalmist places on record,
"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears . . . . . This
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them out of all
their troubles . . . . . Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him
out of them all" (Psa. 34: 4, 6, 7, 17, 19).
(3)
THE DAY OF CONFLICT.--In this fortieth Psalm the writer tells of his
deliverance from a horrible pit and from miry clay. The marginal note to the words
"horrible pit" reads, "a pit of noise", and if the reader will note that these words were
penned in London towards the end of June 1944, he will probably realize why they struck
a responsive chord. The Psalm indicates the exemplary effect of this deliverance, saying,