I waited patiently for the Lord

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

God Sustains His Servant.

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.

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; Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord.  Waiting patiently for the Lord is one of the most difficult things that we need to do. There is a saying: Patience is a virtue. It could be said that few today are very virtuous. We as a culture tend to seek instant gratification; quick results. We get frustrated when waiting on the phone or waiting in line. We are impatient when it takes more than a few seconds for us to have years worth of information available through the click of a mouse or a request to Siri. We sometimes expect that God should respond immediately as well. The thing is God does hear immediately. It is not a matter of us having to wait until He processes our request. There are a number of reasons we may need the virtue of patience. James 1:2-4 says:   My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.   The end result of our patience is that we are made perfect. It is sometimes more important that we change than that the situation our circumstance changes. Romans 8:28-30 says:  God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. We are perfected as we are conformed to the image of Christ. God does not cause the hard and difficult things in our lives, but He will cause them to work together for our good as we patiently persevere through them, continuing to love and trust God, not doubting or becoming frustrated.  The psalmist says:  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.  Even more than praising God for our deliverance when we are standing on solid ground, we need to praise Him in the midst of the storm and the trial.

The psalmist says: 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. 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.  It is not that we should not seek the help or the counsel of people. If we are sick it is good to go to a doctor. We can seek wisdom and help from other people, but our trust should always be in the Lord. He may use others, but it is the Lord who is our deliverer. There is none to compare with Him, regardless of the need that we have.  In Jeremiah 29:11, God says:  I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  Those are His thoughts toward us. The Bible and even our own lives are filled with testimonies of the wonders God has done for us and for others. Surely they are to numerous to count.

The psalmist says:  Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.  Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”  We cannot earn the favor or deliverance of God. It is not because of what we give or what we do that God saves and delivers us. It is by what Christ has done. Nothing more is required than the finished work of the cross. Yet we should note what 1 Samuel 15:22-23 says:  Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. To obey is better than sacrifice.  Like the psalmist, we need to delight to do the will of God. Our hearts need to be aligned with the heart of God. In Psalm 37:4 the psalmist says: Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   Again, the greatest and most profound change that happens as we patiently pray and delight ourselves in God and in His will, is not the change in the circumstance, but rather the change in us. We become aligned with the will of God and so, as we are obedient to Him, we become aligned with His plan for our future.

The psalmist says:  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.  Today whether you have been delivered from the trial and raised up from the mire, or you are still waiting, let the words of the psalmist be your declaration and prayer. Whether you are through the storm or in the midst of it, declare the faithfulness, the salvation and the lovinkindness of God. May this song be your song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNHTPEkj90Y

Amen.