Psalm 40

Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

(Psa 40:4)

We have here in Psalm 40 another verse about the “blessed” man. We talked before about the fact that this word literally means “oh how happy”. We read here one thing this truly happy man DOES and one thing he DOES NOT do.

1. We read that the BLESSED man makes the Lord His trust. It is so important for us to be reminded of this. Lasting joy and happiness only come for a person who truly places their trust in the Lord, and in Him EXCLUSIVELY. One translation says it like this… “Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God”. The idea is that we can only GAIN real lasting joy when we LOSE ourselves in the Lord.

2. The blessed man has no respect toward the proud. This doesn’t mean the route to blessing is disrespect toward proud people, it simply means that we don’t look to the self-sufficient and their ways to find satisfaction in this life.
3. The blessed man ignores the idolater and the gods of this world. There is so much that this world worships, so much that it places in the position that should belong exclusively to the Lord. If we want lasting joy, we will pass those things by and fix our eyes on Jesus.

What we see here is really quite simple: The truly blessed life is one that rejects the desires of this world and the flesh for the things of the Lord. Follow the advice of the psalmist, and you will not be disappointed!