PSALM 41
Testing Infirmity and the Treachery of Friends
According to Alexander Maclaren, “The central mass of this psalm describes the singer as suffering from two evils: sickness and treacherous friends.”
Psalm 41:1
BIBLE TEXT: "Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." (Psalm 41:1 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: If we are charitable to the poor in times of need, God will deliver us in times of trouble.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To think of the poor is to be thought of by God.
Psalm 41:2
BIBLE TEXT: "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." (Psalm 41:2 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: Those who sincerely preserve the poor by being benevolent toward them, will surely be preserved and blessed by God.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The doctrine of reciprocity—what you do unto others will be done unto you—is not only taught here, but elsewhere throughout Scripture.
Psalm 41:3
BIBLE TEXT: "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." (Psalm 41:3 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: The saint is not immune from sickness, but assured that his or her sick bed will be made by God and turned from physical affliction into spiritual advantage.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Oft have I sat in secret sighs
To feel my flesh decay;
Then, groaned aloud with frightened eyes
To view the tottering clay.
But I forbid my sorrow now,
Nor dare my flesh complain:
Diseases bring their profits too—
The joy overcomes the pain. (Isaac Watts)
Psalm 41:4
BIBLE TEXT: "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee." (Psalm 41:4 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: The first and foremost prayer for you to pray is for the healing of your sin sick soul by a merciful God.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The healing of our immortal soul from sin is far more critical than the healing of our mortal body from sickness.
Psalm 41:5
BIBLE TEXT: "Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?" (Psalm 41:5 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: The lights of the world are no delight to the world, but so disdained by the world that it hopes to rid itself of them.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The irony of all ironies is seen in the saints wanting to see the salvation of sinners and sinners wanting to see the elimination of saints.
Psalm 41:6
BIBLE TEXT: "And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it." (Psalm 41:6 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: Fake friends, who feign to feel for us, only come around to forage around for gossip to spread all around about us.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All gossips tell things they love to tell about those they don’t love at all!
Psalm 41:7
BIBLE TEXT: "All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt." (Psalm 41:7 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: The coconspirators of hate are always whisperers, lest their hidden devices against those they despise be divulged before hatched.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Love for others is a child of the light, but hate always colludes and connives in the dark.
Psalm 41:8
BIBLE TEXT: "An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more." (Psalm 41:8 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: When saints are chastened by Providence, sinners are quick to champion and celebrate it as capital punishment.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Before his 60th birthday, John Wycliffe suffered the first of three strokes. The friars rejoiced at the news and rushed to Wycliffe’s bedside believing he would repent of the “evil” he had done to them and the church, by violently attacking the Catholic Church’s practice of indulgences. Gathered about the supposed dying man’s bedside, the friars said to him, “You have death on your lips, be touched by your faults, and retract in our presence all that you have said to our injury.” However, motioning to his attendant to set him up in the bed, Wycliffe responded in a clear and strong voice, “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars.” Astonished and embarrassed, the monks all hurried from the room.
Psalm 41:9
BIBLE TEXT: "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." (Psalm 41:9 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: There is no blow more brutal than to be backstabbed by a bosom buddy with whom we’ve often broke bread.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The epitome of betrayal, by one who dips his hand in the bowl alongside us and eats bread at the table with us, only to betray us and lift up his heel against us, is Judas Iscariot, who will ever be remembered as the traitor of our Lord. (Matthew 26:23; John 13:18)
Psalm 41:10
BIBLE TEXT: "But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them." (Psalm 41:10 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: To requite our malicious enemies requires us being raised up by our merciful Redeemer.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To triumph over those who mercilessly put us down we need to pray that the Lord will mercifully lift us up!
Psalm 41:11
BIBLE TEXT: "By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me." (Psalm 41:11 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: We know we’re in God’s favor when our enemies can’t get us in their grip.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It’s not so much for our name’s sake, but for Christ’s name’s sake, that we should pray for our enemies to never prevail over us.
Psalm 41:12-13
BIBLE TEXT: "And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen." (Psalm 41:12-13 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: We should praise God for upholding us, in spite of our iniquities, and uplifting us, in spite of our deficiencies.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: For mere clods of clay to become perpetual courtiers in the throne room of the universe, where they will forever find themselves before the face of God, is certainly reason enough for their eternal exultation of their eternal King!