March 8, 2022

Psalm 40:1–4 (ESV)
I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

None of us likes to wait. We get impatient. We get frustrated. We wonder what’s taking so long.

We get upset that something was ordered on Amazon Prime and it says next day delivery but it didn’t get here until 6pm. Wha —!! The audacity of a company to say we will get something to you the next day and to not get it to us before noon.

Or if you’ve ever gone to El Pollo Loco, and used the drive through. You are immediately hit with the fact that this is taking waaaay to long. This is not fast food!

I love how Louis CK, when making fun of impatient people, remarks how a person is on their phone and frustrated that Google or Siri is taking so long to answer. And he buts in and says, “Can you just give it a second! It’s going up to space and coming back down….just….give it a second!”

These four verses from Psalm 40 are packed with rich nuggets of truth and advice. And they are written by King David, a man that knows a little bit about the ups and downs of life. When I read these verses it’s no wonder that David is referred to as a man after God’s own heart.

Before we tackle the first verse, let’s look at verse 2 - where was David. First he says “the pit of destruction.” I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound too pleasant. It doesn’t sound like a place I want to spend any amount of time in or even visit.

Did you ever see the movie “The Princess Bride?” If not, it’s worth a watch, if you have, you remember the scene where our hero, Westley, has been captured and is taken into a secret torture chamber, lovingly referred to as the pit of despair. The pit of destruction is that place. There’s no hope, seems to be no way out. The walls and roof are closing in and there is o escape.

Second, David references a miry bog. What’s that? It’s like swampy ground. Have you ever walked in really wet, slushy mud, where you foot seems to slink down into an endless abyss of massive suction. Then it takes almost all your strength to bring your foot out, and when you do you realize the mud has swallowed your shoe whole. It’s gone. You’re not going to find it or get it back. It’s exhausting.

This is “where" David says he has been. And what has he been doing in the horrific places in life. Waiting. Our Bible translates it as waiting patiently. It is actually the same Hebrew word for both (although the nuance of the second word gives the meaning or idea of patiently). Literally David is saying, “While waiting, I waited even more for the Lord.”

Maybe some of this resonates with you right now. Maybe you are in that pit of destruction, that miry bog. Maybe you’ve just arrived, maybe you have been there a little, or maybe you’ve been there so long you’ve lost count of the number of days or years.

Maybe emotionally or physically you are worn down. Maybe mentally you are on your last straw. Maybe financially you are barely keeping your head above water, and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight.

First let me say this, “I’m sorry.” I’m sorry you’re there. I wish life were perfect. I wish I can make it all better. I wish I could take all the struggles and hardship away.

But I can’t. What I can do is remind you that David, the man after God’s own heart, gets it. He’s been there too. He knows the struggles we can face in life. And I think he knew the secret that can help us out as well.

David knew he wasn’t alone. He knew the love and power and grace of God. He knew that God would not and had not abandoned him, even in his darkest days.

So he waited. He waited while waiting. He didn’t grumble. He didn’t shake his fist. He didn’t consult the proud. He didn’t try to solve the problem himself. He didn’t stand there all angry tapping his foot (he couldn’t; it was stuck and sunk down deep in the miry bog). He waited.

And….he trusted. He trusted God to know when to do what He does best. He didn’t rush God’s timeline. He didn’t beg. He waited and trusted and believed that God would deliver him.

Like tom Petty famously sang, “the waiting is the hardest part.” But the blessings that come from waiting on the Lord are invaluable.

How is your waiting going? Patient? Impatient? Frustrated? Content? Vocal? Silent? Complaining? The truth is you decide how you wait. David gave us a great example - while waiting I waited, patiently.

What happened to David, that he shares with us. God rescued him. God pulled him from the sinking, sticky, miry bog and set his feet on solid ground, where He didn’t sink into the earth. God gave David the assurance in each step that he took, that he didn’t need to worry about falling, slipping, or sinking (or losing another shoe).

And I love this: God gave David a new song to sing. Another reason to shout out praise to God for His great love and mercy and kindness.

God gives us a reason to celebrate. That might seem so far away from some of you, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Think back to other times God has delivered you. Maybe it wasn’t anything huge or big; maybe it was small. But God has a way of rescuing us (over and over and over). And each rescue is a reason to sing.

God has got you. He is with you. Even in your greatest despair, you are not alone. Trust Him. Wait on His timing for rescue. And he will give you even more reasons to sing.

I love how Henry Blackaby talks about our times of waiting on the Lord:

“Grass that is here today and gone tomorrow does not require much time to mature. A giant oak tree that lasts for generations requires much more time to grow strong.”