"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 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. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." [Psalm 40:1-3]
I simply love the imagery of this Psalm. Imagine being stuck in a pit of mud, slime and mosquitoes. Or better still, imagine being stuck in a pit of unrealistic expectations, endless to-do lists, and the hopelessness of a life without meaning. We struggle, we fight, we live exhausted lives in the pit of despair, depression and denial. But are we ready to cry out for change.
First Questions: "What is your pit of mud and mire? (ambition, affluence, loneliness, fear, bitterness, control, laziness?)
We must be willing to get rid of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is awaiting us. -- Joseph CampbellThe Psalmist doesn't say much about how they got in this situation, probably for obvious reasons (embarrassment), only that they were powerless to get out on their own. In the midst of a crisis, many people are ready to remember God. We cry out to God: "remember me, have mercy upon me, save me!" And then, here's the most powerful part of this Psalm, "He turned..." God has not set the universe in motion and then stepped away to watch it run, usually down. That's deism and I'm not a deist. God interacts with us, engages us, listens to us and helps us when we ask for it, although not always the way we ask for it. God doesn't owe us a thing, we have no right to expect God will or should do what we ask (He's not Santa you know) and we have no right not to receive the consequences of our actions. But God turns...
When you forgive...you heal. When you let go...you grow. When you cry out to God...you surrender. When you love unconditionally...you show others Christ's loveSecond Question: What do you want Jesus to do for you? I would image that in a pit as described I would just ask for relief of any kind, but the psalmist writes that (1) God turned (2) God heard and (3) God responded. But God's response is greater than anything we would have asked for. He set my feet on a solid rock, gave me a firm place to stand, and then He put a song in my mouth. In this short passage God restored security, purpose and joy.
None can sing a new song who has not the new life. But many who have the new life seem to have lost the song. The first thing that goes when we begin to backslide is the joy of the Lord. -- Evan H. HopkinsThird Question: What is your story, what is your song? (i.e. what has God done in your life that others can benefit from?) Try and answer these questions before you proceed. But if you're ready to move on consider the following. If you life is built around any of the four common motivations in life, you may want to think about muddy pit again. (1) Family, (2) Career, (3) Health & happiness (4) Possessions If you think about it, all of these can be taken from you. We've seen it before and I will happen again. So... What is your Solid Rock, Firm Foundation, your New Song?
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“What do you want Jesus to do for you?”
In addition to what you well-wrote defining God’s being there with us — “(1) God turned (2) God heard and (3) God responded. But God’s response is greater than anything we would have asked for. He set my feet on a solid rock, gave me a firm place to stand, and then He put a song in my mouth” — I humbly and with all humility and awe ask Jesus to use me to do whatever work I can for Him here on earth in order to fulfull whatever purpose He has for my life…I ask Jesus to grow me into a closer relationship with God so that when my life is called to pass to the other side, I can and will spend eternity in the presence of God’s glory…and I ask Jesus to walk with me, to sustain me, to guide me, and to love me with His all-sufficient grace when the price of the discipleship I offer to Him requires testing, pain, and suffering to grow it and for me to learn from it with the intent that it become “my story” with which I can help others.
“What is your Solid Rock, Firm Foundation…?”
God — in all places, at all times, and under all circumstances — God — and the knowledge that He is in control of all things and that “He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me that I am His own.”
…and in similarity with David, who advanced to kill Goliah with five pebbles in his pocket and a sling-shot, my “solid rock, my firm foundation upon which I stand” not all-inclusive, not in order of significance and importance but three which undergird and enable me to “stay strong in Christ” and not weaken and drift away from God under the evils and the pressures of this earthly life are…
1. The Bible — “abiding in God’s Word”…attending church, participating in Bible studies…”this is God’s Word for my life in this place and at this time; today I am a new creation in Christ, and I believe He has a purpose for my life.”
2. Worshiping — choosing to come and to follow into God’s house, the church, in order to be mindful of God’s blessings, to praise and honor God for those blessings, and to be taught the meaning and the message of God’s Word.
3. Prayer — that God, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, and the Omnipresent God, grants me the privilege, through His Son and His Spirit, to talk with Him whenever, wherever, and however often I choose about whatever I choose; that He listens; that He talks to my “still, small voice”; and that “in His time and in His way,” He answers me.
What’s “my new song”?
If you grant as well as excuse my literal-ism — “Amazing Grace” and “Grace Alone.”