Psalm 40:1-4

1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. 3 He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. 4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,     who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols.

There are times when we all find ourselves in the pit of despair sinking deeper into the muck and mire of discouragement, depression and disappointment. The Psalmist had experienced the pit of despair, that place where we feel left alone, stuck in our hopelessness and overwhelmed by our loneliness. In those moments in the pits of life we need the help of God to deliver us from the emotional, spiritual, mental, financial and physical predicaments. This passage is personal, it refers to YOUR situation, it is talking about the trial that seems to be leading to your despair and destruction. When we are trapped in the mire of our circumstances, hopelessly and helplessly being dragged down, we must remember that God is there reaching down but do we trust enough to reach up?

The focus of this passage is not our problems but His power, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair”. He is able to deliver, He is able to save to the uttermost. Sometimes, the Lord delivers us directly but other times He uses our circumstances to develop and change us as well as the people around us. God wants to move you from the pits to praise through His mighty power to deliver. There are several lessons we need to learn from Psalm 40 that will help to move us from the pits of despair to the pinnacle of praise, from pouting to a higher perspective. Trust is always more of a challenge while we are waiting on God but trusting in the wait means:

• Patiently wait on the Lord

Waiting requires patience which is always a challenge but especially when we are waiting from the painful position of the bottom of the pit. Our tendency is not to wait but to wiggle to try and change our situation yet we need to remember that when you’re sinking in quicksand, the harder you struggle, the faster you go down. Waiting on the Lord from a human perspective may seem counterproductive and humanly we can’t relax when we are stuck in the muck and the mire, but trust will always allow us to relax into His timing.  Do you want to find His overcoming help to deliver you from emotional, mental or relation pits? Then trust Him enough to wait, Isaiah 41:10 says, “Those who wait (meditate, look to and hope in) upon the Lord, will renew their strength. They will run and not be weary they will walk and not faint.”  Waiting on the Lord requires discipline and the confidence that God is more powerful than the problem.  God wants to use these down times to draw us closer to Himself. Often in our attempt to escape and live a problem free life we miss the relational connection and closeness that comes when we stop trying and start trusting. In the Hebrew, this first verse would say, “Waiting, I waited” because waiting is not about waiting for an answer, it’s about waiting for the Lord, He IS the answer. If I find a quick end to my troubles, I have temporary relief, but if I let God bring the end in His time, I have growth, and I have a song of praise on my lips. Trusting is the fuel that helps us to wait and waiting is the vehicle that brings us into that place of praise. Waiting is not inactivity it is a stillness of activity that becomes focused upon and shaped by who we are waiting on. The psalmist was crying out to God while waiting, so go ahead and pray, go ahead and cry out. The scripture says that “He turned to me and heard my cry” He is a loving Father who both answers our cry and saves to the uttermost. Are you worrying or waiting?

•             His Power

Will we wait on and focus on His Power or our predicament? There can be peace even before we experience His provision if we will focus on His power instead of our predicament. His plan is rooted in His power to deliver and to lift our head, David wrote in Psalm 121 “I lift up my eyes to the mountains     where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” We need to be reminded that the one who created this planet also has a plan for your problems and the power to shape you through the process. God will bring you up out of any rut, depression or difficulty that you are in. He will set you on a new foundation which will become His launching pad to things far beyond your ability because He is the God of new beginnings. He will establish your way as He provides you with new energy to embark on greater projects for the advancement of His kingdom. David wrote, “He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” Not only is His power great enough to deliver you but He will also bring others to Himself as a result of your experience of deliverance. Do you want to see His power displayed through your problems? Do you trust God enough to wait on His power?

2 Chronicles 16:9

9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”

As we saw in Part I of a heart fully committed to trust Him who we seek and who our hearts are committed to reveals our real heart relationships. We focused on several questions like “How is your heart in relationships?” because it is good for us to take time to reflect. Often in scripture God asks us questions and in those moments we need to take time to be still in quiet internal reflection. Friedrich Hegel said “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history” The reason this is so true in our culture is that we put all our effort into forward motion and consequently there is little time for true reflection. We are so busy trying to get somewhere that there is no time to reflect on where we have been. It is important to move forward but not at the expense and ignorance of God’s past teaching. Who we place our trust in impacts several areas of our lives that are all woven together through trusting. Who we place our trust in reveals:

•             RIGHT HEART

Right relationships start with a right heart. God is looking for our total trust and obedience He is looking for people with a right heart attitude.  We need a heart that sees the reality of who God is and what He is able to do for those that love Him. He longs to give us the victory over everything that comes against us in this life, 2 Chronicles 16:8 says “Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.”

Huge problems and seemingly insurmountable things can come against us but we can still have the victory if we will keep our heart right and be fully committed and fully loyal to Him. It is not the size of the enemy that comes against us that is the problem it is who or what we are putting our trust in. I’ve found in my own life that if my walk with God is not carefully maintained there is that subtle drift to hollowness. It doesn’t take very long before Christianity becomes a heartless habit, often moving me into some form of hypocrisy. Our walk with God is, above and beyond everything else, an inside-out reality.  God begins to work in our lives on an internal heart level and He is not impressed with just the externals.

• REBELLIOUS HEART

The Lord is searching to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him, in other words those whose hearts are COMPLETELY His. Who does your heart belong to? Asa had a divided heart, he was not fully committed to the Lord and we need to understand that this is a heart of rebellion. Asa did not want to listen to the Word of God through Hanani the prophet, when confronted by the prophet Asa threw him in prison. Our actions often reveal the true condition of our hearts, because our behavior is a true reflection of what we believe. The Lord is searching for people that He may powerfully strengthen through every circumstance, trial and difficulty. The Lord knows those who need His strength, grace and power demonstrated on their behalf.  He sees every hurt, every trial, the hardships and circumstances that we face and He desires to strengthen our weary hearts and weakened faith. God will strengthen those who acknowledge Him as Lord and God and trust Him by follow Him faithfully, trust is a heart issue.  Through our circumstances the Lord wants to show His mighty power and faithfulness, He searches and sees the heart that cries out to Him and those who acknowledge their need of Him.  A rebellious heart does not request help but rejects what it really needs. What and who are you receiving and rejecting? The scriptures are filled with those that God powerfully strengthened and helped because their hearts were committed:

Moses when he was afraid to go to Egypt and face Pharaoh, the Lord promised “I will be with you”. The Lord demonstrated His might and faithfulness to Moses and Israel and He alone delivered them out of Egypt through the parting of the Sea.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego the three Hebrews refused to bow down to the golden idol of Nebuchadnezzar, they remained true to worship the One True God. As a result they were thrown into the furnace of fire but they refused to compromise in the face of death. The Lord intervened and protected them with His presence, they were delivered out of the fire alive and unburned.

Daniel also refused to compromise the law of Almighty God for the law of a human king. When he chose to pray to and worship God alone he was cast into a den of lions. The Lord sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions and kept Daniel from harm.

Peter in Acts 12 was imprisoned for preaching about Jesus, under heavy guard an angel of the Lord came and released him and set him free to continue his preaching.

When we turn to God and commit our whole hearts to Him we find ourselves trusting in Him alone and we experience what He alone can do. We experience the powerful arm of deliverance that parts the circumstances of our life. We experience the preserving presence of the water of the word that quenches the burning flames of our circumstances. We experience His powerful hand that holds the jaws of our deadly circumstances closed. We experience His light that breaks the chains of darkness and sets us free to praise and preach about His name. These examples should increase our faith in the faithfulness and power of God.  Whatever situation we may face the Lord desires to “strongly support” us, to strengthen our weak hearts.  It is in the heart that a person believes Him and it is in the heart that a person denies Him. Are you weak and weary is it time to trust in His Strength? To trust in the promise of His Word, Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”?