I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
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.
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.
Psalm 40: 1-3 (NIV)
If you’ve made it to adulthood, you’ll know that life isn’t perfect; that whether you are a Christian or not dark times will come your way. The psalms are a great way for us to pray or even cry our way through those difficult seasons.
David wrote Psalm 40 when he was waiting for something. Different Bible commentators speculate on what he had been waiting for. Perhaps for God’s help after a crisis of sin or after being an outlaw, on the run from King Saul. But whatever it was, he was waiting and here was the man of God in a slimy pit. The same word for pit is used to describe where Joseph was thrown by his brothers in Genesis 37: 24 and the dungeon where Jeremiah was thrown in Jeremiah 38: 6.
We too may find ourselves in a slimy pit, in the mud and the mire. A pit is a dark, lonely place which is difficult to escape and when making any attempts to move you may find yourself slowed down by or simply stuck in the mud. Maybe this is where you find yourself, waiting patiently, like David, for God to do something. In the Hebrew, waiting is repeated twice: in waiting, I waited’. David was in the metaphorical pit for a long time.
Let’s not miss the fact that David was crying out. Don’t be afraid to cry. Depending on your personality, you may never talk about the pain you are feeling, preferring to muddle through until the storm is over. Bottling our emotions up can lead to emotional or even physical problems in the future. Find someone you can trust and talk it out and cry out to the Lord – you can definitely trust him!
David says God he turned to him (v1). Other translations say God looked, he listened, he inclined himself or bent down towards David. The root word is the same as the word used to describe Moses stretching out his rod to part the Red Sea, at God’s command.
God wants us to know that when we are stuck in a pit, he has not forgotten us. In fact, he is turning – even stretching – towards us at our time of greatest need. The great all-powerful God of heaven is hearing your prayers – even though you have been waiting and waiting and waiting; he is turning his ear towards your cry. We’re not told that we won’t encounter any times of despair in life, but we are told that God can and will lift us out of them and pull us out of the mud (v2).
As we read on, we know that God doesn’t just pull David out of the pit, he sets his feet on a rock and gives him a firm place to stand. This is a beautiful picture of a loving God not leaving us to find our own way when we come out of those dark seasons, but planting us firmly on solid ground so our feet won’t slip.
In other places in the Bible, God assures us that he will settle and stabilise us after coming out of a difficult time:
You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance – Psalm 66: 12 (NIV)
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So, after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation – 1 Peter 5: 10 (NLT)
Whether you call it solid ground, a place of abundance or a firm foundation, you can be assured that God will plant you in a good place after you have waited, and even suffered, awhile.
In addition to this, He will also give you a new song, a testimony of his goodness. Many will see what he has done in your life and trust him for themselves.
So, if you are waiting patiently in what feels like a pit, God has heard you and He will lift you up and out until you are standing in your abundant place.
Pause: Take a moment to consider what’s going on in your life right now – what season of life are you in? Read through Psalm 40: 1-3 again and see if you can find your current season in these verses? Do you feel like you’re in the pit? Or like you are firmly planted on solid ground? Are you singing a new song because of what God is doing in your life? Or, perhaps it’s a mixture of all three.
Reflect: Think about something you are waiting for and speak to God about it again. Read verse 1 again and remember that God is turning towards you right now.
Rise: Make a note of a difficult season that you went through in the past and how God lifted you out of this. Pull this note out in the times when you are feeling impatient and as if God isn’t listening. Encourage someone else who may be a in a pit at this time.