PSALM 40:1-3

4. Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

    out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

    and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,

    a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

    and put their trust in him.

TO PONDER

Have you ever felt like you are in a pit? That feeling when you can’t see a way out and even if you try you find yourself slipping around without a safe place to put your feet? A pit is a scary place to be! Being patient while in the pit is a hard thing to do! I don’t know about you, but I try and get myself out of it, even if I end up exhausting myself and getting deeper and deeper in. My instinct is to try myself. The psalmist here is reminding us to do something different, to wait patiently on the Lord, and trust that he sees our predicament, he hears our cry and he can lift us out. Even more than this, he puts a new song in our mouths, one of praise to Him. When we trust in God to get us out of our troubling pit he not only saves us, but uses it to point others to himself. So, let us stop struggling and instead turn our faces to Jesus, cry out and patiently wait on Him.

PRAYER

Jesus, I thank you that you know how to get out of the pit, because you have been there too. You have been utterly alone, totally afraid and yet completely trusting in your heavenly Father. Help me to have the same trust and to sing a song of praise, that those around me might know your mighty power and praise you too, Amen.

Today's devotion by Elise von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle