A Meditation

 

For my devotions, after reading THE ONE YEAR BIBLE in 2022, I have resumed my meditations on the book of Psalms. As David Prairie once said, “Psalms is a guidebook of praise.”  Today I read the first three verses of Psalm 40 (probably familiar to you) and recorded some of my thoughts:

 Verse 1a - “I waited patiently for the Lord...” WOW! My take would be - “I waited for the Lord.” I like to think that I am waiting on the Lord when the choices I need to make are not clear or when circumstances are difficult and answers are desired. But I like to know as soon as possible what is going on. I like to planJ.

Verse 1b - BUT...two wonderful verbs are in this part of the Psalm. Because “I waited patiently,” the Psalmist says that God “inclined unto me and heard my cry.” He leaned toward me; He heard/listened to me when I was crying for help.

 If I stop at verse one, I can say He heard me, but did He help? That is what I need.

Verse 2 - OH, YES! He brought me out of

(1) a horrible pit. My Bible has an explanation that the pit is “a pit of noise.” Think about that. Could the pit be a place of confusion, fear, insecurity about different voices all giving instruction to me? A pit of noise!

(2) the miry clay...that would be a place of great instability for achieving any success because one’s only concern would be survival and rescue.

 Then the positive:

(3) He set my feet on a Rock - JESUS CHRIST... (I Corinthians 10:4). What a change from “miry clay!”

(4) He “established my goings or my steps.” He not only set my feet upon a Rock (Jesus), but made them firm. I am no longer in a pit of confusion or in a miry clay of uncertainty. I cannot go anywhere when I am in a pit or in miry clay. He is my firm foundation so I can stand! Now I can go forward in life.

 Verse 3 - (5) He put a new song - not a dirge - but a song of praise. It is a NEW song for me to sing because my God has raised me up to a new life. It is a song of PRAISE TO OUR GOD! And guess what happens?? “Many will see it and fear and trust in the Lord.”

 So why do we need to “wait patiently” for the Lord to hear our prayers and to act? We have no idea the people we will influence for the Lord just by their watching our waiting on Him with patience and a song of praise for our Rock, the Lord Jesus.

 --Maylou Holladay