Psalm 40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
In his book, Why Church? Scott Sunquist gave an account of a recent occurrence on the campus of a large university in Los Angeles. A student in a drama class told him of an assignment the professor had given asking the students to prepare and present “something extreme” to the class.
She decided that as a Christian she would write a hymn of praise to the Lord and sing it. Alice, the student presenting before her led the class outside to a trash can. She proceeded to read excerpts from the Old Testament about war, God judging nations, God sending Israel into exile, etc. With each passage Alice would ask, “Who would ever believe in a God like that?” Then she would tear out that page, burn it and drop the ashes into the trash can. It was extreme drama.
Mary was next. She accompanied herself with a guitar and sang her hymn of praise and love to the Lord for His mercy, grace and salvation. The class was silent, turned away, with each going on about their day. All of them except for Alice. With tears she told Mary that her testimony song deeply touched her.
She said, “That is the God I want to know.” After some time in the Word with Mary, Alice trusted Jesus Christ as her own Saviour. She was in church with Mary the following Sunday, publicly professing her new faith in Christ. Mary was glad she did not hide God’s righteousness within her heart, but declared it, as the Psalmist had said.