A Devotional Thought From Psalm 41:1-5

Psalm 41:1–5
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed is he that considereth 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?
David begins this wonderful Psalm with a much-needed beatitude that our society needs to understand.
Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
There is joy that comes from helping those who are in need. The word consider does not mean to merely think but implies understanding. I must confess that I have been guilty of the selfishness that holds back help from someone in need but more often I have been guilty of giving without going to the trouble of empathizing. David’s point is that God helps those who help the poor.
I think we should all remember that in our spiritually poor state our Lord Jesus Christ considered us.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Certainly, we need to follow his example.
Here are a couple of things that stand out to me about these opening verses of Psalm 41.
1. The Connection with The Previous Psalm
In the closing of Psalm 40 David had just confessed that he is poor and needy.
Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; Make no tarrying, O my God.
Perhaps I read too much into this connection, but could it be that when David was down and in need there was no one to help? Could it be that he longed for someone to come and there was no one who took the time to care for him in whatever area he lacked, whether it be literal or spiritual need? More likely there was a few folks in David’s life that took the time to care for him in his need and he wanted them blessed and expected to see that God would reward them for their care.
2. The Confession in This Psalm
In the first few verses of the Psalm we see promised blessings on those that help the poor but suddenly the subject seems to change, and David testifies of his confession of sin.
Psalm 41:4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
What a shift in the conversation huh? Maybe not. What if David is not changing the subject but the sin that he is confessing is in the area about which he has been speaking? Knowing what David said in the last verse of the previous Psalm along with the opening verses of this one what if David is saying something like this? “I didn’t realize that I was so guilty of ignoring the poor and needy until I became poor and needy, God forgive me”
This makes sense to me because this has been happening to me a lot. Pain and problems have made me look back and see how inconsiderate I have been to those around me. I didn’t realize the hurt that others were experiencing until I felt what they had gone through myself. I have confessed many times asking the Lord to forgive me for my self-centered, inconsiderate past life.
Can anyone else relate?
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