He brought me up

Psalm 40:1-10 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.

⁴ How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

⁶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You know.
¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells a parable regarding prayer.   Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she wil lwear me out.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said;  now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”   Will Jesus find faith in us, faith to pray and cry out to Him day and night?   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says:  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  In John 16:33 Jesus says:  “These things I have spoken to you, thatin Me you may have peace.In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer,I have overcome the world.”    So, there will be difficult times; trials and tribulation. We are encouraged to cry out to God day and night, without ceasing. We though, also should rejoice always and give thanks in everything. It is not that we give thanks for everything. We are not expected to be thankful for tribulation. But knowing that God hears and answers quickly; knowing that Jesus has already overcome the world and anything it can bring against us, we rejoice and give thanks even as we walk through the difficult times. That’s the faith Jesus hopes to find in us, faith to believe in the fact that He has already overcome.

The psalmist says:  I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Although Jesus says God will answer quickly and our faith should be in the fact that it is already done through the overcoming power of the cross; still we need patience. Our time and our concept of time is not always God’s time. We live according to finite time; while God’s time is infinite and eternal. We who live today, in this time have become accustomed to instant gratification. There is an adage that says: “patience is a virtue.”  There are not many today who have the virtue of patience. Yet if we would be patient and if we would pray persistently; rejoicing and giving thanks, having faith in what Jesus has already done, we too would say that the Lord heard my cry and brought me up out of my struggles and tribulation.  Lamentations 3:22-23 says:   The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.   Every morning then we should have a new song to the Lord; of His goodness and His great faithfulness to bring us up out of our difficulties. How much more quickly can God answer our prayer than that it is already done?  

The psalmist says:  Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord… I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.   In Acts 1:8 Jesus says:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”    The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us the confidence to walk through the difficulties of our lives, knowing God is with us and in us. But, the Holy Spirit also should lead us, like the psalmist, to proclaim God’s righteousness and faithfulness and His salvation to those who are around us. We are to be witnesses to the world, not of the troubles that we still have, but of the truth that Jesus has overcome and lifted us up from them. Far too many times we see and hear believers complaining about their difficulties rather than rejoicing, giving thanks and proclaiming glad tidings of righteousness, faithfulness, loving kindness and salvation.   

The psalmist says:   How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”   Are you blessed today?   In Psalm 37:4 the psalmist says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   In verse 23, he says:  The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. God has established and ordained our steps. Every outcome for every situation and circumstance in our lives is already established. Jesus has already overcome everything we will face today and tomorrow. If we will rejoice in God and give thanks, if we will have the faith that Jesus hopes to find, if we will trust and walk in His way, God will delight in us and we will have the desires of our heart, God’s law and His will.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; because You have overcome, because of Your everlasting love, mercy and faithfulness, I will rejoice and give thanks and I will declare Your goodness and Your salvation. Thank You Lord.   Amen.