Canvey Methodist Church Bible Study- 6th October 2020
The Rescue
Psalm 40:1-5- For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 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.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.[b]
5 Many, Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
Footnotes. a.Psalm 40:1 In Hebrew texts 40:1-17 is numbered 40:2-18. b.Psalm 40:4 Or to lies
Comment:
Psalm 40, a psalm of king David is grouped with others (Psalms 6, 38, 39, 40, 41, 51, 88, 102, 130) in a section known as “Prayer Songs of the Sinner” (tepÌ illôtÌ ) in which the need for healing and deliverance is expressed.
In fact Psalm 40 actually is a combination of two earlier psalms; a psalm of thanksgiving (1-10) and one of supplication (13-17)- also be found as Psalm 70.
In Psalm 40 we find King David, weighed down by some great and pressing trouble, rejoicing in his deliverance from it by the power and goodness of God.
He describes the great distress and trouble he was in as like being plunged into a horrible pit and into miry clay (Ps. 40:2), out of which he could not work himself, and in which he found himself sinking further and deeper the more he struggled. Sensibly he stopped struggling, cried out to God for help and then waited for God’s deliverance. If you are anything like me, when things go wrong and difficulties and problems arise, there is the temptation to want the matter sorted out immediately, or even “by yesterday if possible” with very little patience in evidence to “wait” for God’s timing and purposes. I remember the late “Rev Dr David Watson” writing about his distress upon learning of his diagnosis with terminal Cancer. He said, “I asked God ‘Why have you allowed this to happen to me’ and then I sensed His gentle reply, ‘You are asking the wrong question, it is not Why have you allowed this to happen to me, but rather, What are you going to teach me about your love and power and grace through this illness”?
There are many things that might be to us a “Pit of miry clay” into which you and I can fall and I suspect that feeling sorry for ourselves is one of them. Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Psalm 40 wrote these encouraging words to all who might find themselves in their own “Slough of Despond or Pit of Miry Clay” - ‘Those whose expectation is from God may wait with assurance, but they must also wait with patience. There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest’.
Haddon Robinson, the author of this week's “Daily Bread Finding Hope in the Psalms” study writes the following observation of Psalm 40.
“The psalmist told us that God “put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God” (Psalm 40:3). The song did not come easily to him. “He lifted me out of the slimy pit”, he testified, “out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand”(v2).
We don’t know what this “pit” was. Perhaps it was a devastating calamity, or the result of a wilful, ungodly choice. In either case, it was horrible. The place was unspeakably lonely, as silent as death, and he could find no solid place to put his feet. He couldn’t climb out of “the mud and mire” by himself. It took God to rescue him.
A Chinese scholar who converted to Christ told this parable: “A man fell into a dark, dirty pit, and he tried to climb out but he couldn’t. Confucius came along. He saw the man in the pit and said, ‘Poor fellow. If he had listened to me, he never would have fallen in’. And he left. Buddha came along and saw the man in the pit and said, ‘Poor fellow. If he can climb up here, I’ll help him’. And he too left. Then Christ came and said, ‘Poor fellow!’ And he jumped into the pit and helped him out.”
God rescued the psalmist from the “pit”. And He gave him a new song to sing, which we too can sing if we’ve experienced God’s deliverance from trouble through his Son”.
These are indeed troubling times with daily news updates chronicling the impositions of local “regional shutdowns” of reporting increases of ‘second spike” new cases of Covid infection all against a backdrop of “last ditch” Brexit negotiations and USA election bulletins. Some of us might even feel like we have fallen through a crack in a time warp into the deep pit of a ‘parallel Universe” and are just hoping that someone will wake us up when it is all over!! The good news brought to us across the years and generations by King David of old in Psalm 40 is that even now, even here, even in the future and with no exceptions, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, 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”.
May God Bless and encourage each of us as we “wait upon Him”.
Hymn: He Lifted Me: https://youtu.be/Yi5UlpqUjzA
Points to Ponder:
How has Jesus transformed your life from hopeless to hopeful?
Who can you share your story with?
A Prayer:
Dear God, thank You for not leaving me in my pit; a place of no hope. Thank You that the sacrifice of your beloved Son, Jesus, has provided the way for me to come to You. He is the Rock on which I have a firm place to stand.