11LORD, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me.

Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.

12For troubles surround me—

too many to count!

My sins pile up so high

I can’t see my way out.

They outnumber the hairs on my head.

I have lost all courage.

13Please, LORD, rescue me!

Come quickly, LORD, and help me.

14May those who try to destroy me

be humiliated and put to shame.

May those who take delight in my trouble

be turned back in disgrace.

15Let them be horrified by their shame,

for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!”

16But may all who search for you

be filled with joy and gladness in you.

May those who love your salvation

repeatedly shout, “The LORD is great!”

17As for me, since I am poor and needy,

let the Lord keep me in his thoughts.

You are my helper and my saviour.

O my God, do not delay. (NLT)

In recent psalms, David has been honest about his sinfulness, and its impact on his life. Who of us cannot identify with his language about a ”pile” of sin – so much sin it blocks his view. He can’t see clearly. What to do about a pile of sin? The answer for David is the same for us: it is to look for help to the God who alone can save. Let’s remember that earlier verses in this Psalm (6-8) prophetically point us to Jesus and His finished work on the Cross. There is our salvation, our healing, our all.

”To the end of life we shall continually need God’s lovingkindness, to deal mercifully with our failures and sins, and His truth, that is, His faithfulness. The Covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and that which binds him irrevocably, is the rock of our comfort, whether we are compassed by innumerable evils or overtaken by iniquities, Psalms 40:12 .

Our sense of sin grows with our increasing knowledge of the holiness and love of God. They who are nearest to the heart of God are least able to forgive themselves, though they know that they are forgiven. But while we think hard thoughts against ourselves, and confess ourselves to be poor and needy, we may take great comfort in God’s thoughts for us, Psalms 40:17 . They are tender and loving, Jeremiah 29:11 . Poverty and need are never reasons for despair. These things do not alienate God’s interest. They rather attract Him; just as a sick child will get more of the mother’s care than the healthy members of the home-circle.” F.B. Meyer