May it please Almighty God to
be with us tonight as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn
to the book of Psalms, Psalm 40, and we'll read the first
three verses. So, Psalm 40, and reading verses
1, 2, and 3. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear
and shall trust in the Lord. As I've sometimes spoken, it's
a wonderful blessing that the Lord in his great providence
ordained that David should be able to write such truths concerning
himself and his own spiritual walk and those upsides and downsides
and therefore as we now walk upon the earth many years later
and yet you see we face the same devil and thankfully we have
the same God And may that be an encouragement to us to realize
that as David waited for the Lord, and we're told he waited
patiently for the Lord, may each one of us in our spiritual life
wait patiently. We often become impatient, don't
we? The Lord God says, Your time
is always, but my time is not yet. You see, God has a perfect
time to visit our souls, a perfect time to bless us, a perfect time
to direct us, because you and I only know what's occurring
now. God knows what's going to occur
in the future and that's why it should be a comfort to us
to be able to commit our way unto the Lord and to trust also
in Him and to therefore commit our way to Him and to wait patiently
for Him and you see David's able to confirm he didn't wait in
vain and he inclined unto me and heard my cry." Won't it be
a very humbling experience for each one of us if in our little
lives we can observe those occasions when we have cried to God, when
we pray to God and as you know a cry is almost an instantaneous
utterance, not perhaps something particularly well formed but
it emanates from need and therefore to think that if we come like
David did and cry to God, he does hear, he does hear and therefore
to wait patiently for him to incline unto me. Sometimes we
think perhaps that God hasn't heard. Well, be assured of this. If we have prayed in faith, God
has heard. Just because we don't receive
the answers when we think we should and in the way we should,
we shouldn't discount our prayers as of no value. But we need that
same grace that David had to wait patiently. By nature, we're
impatient. But God brings about those times
when we are patient. We're made to be patient. And
we can thank God for it. You know, there are a number
of instances in the Hebrews that speak about patience. Patience. wouldn't expect to find such
words in the Hebrews but nonetheless God in his mercy and love has
recorded these things for our blessing and he tells us in the sixth chapter to the Hebrews
and in the twelfth verse he says this that ye be not slothful
but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Again, that's a good word, isn't
it? To just take hold of. To be not slothful, that means
be not lazy. And listen to the devil. The
devil's very clever at trying to stop us praying. just as a
simple illustration sometimes at night we may feel tired and
the devil is very clever so he tells us well don't worry tonight
you're too tired God knows about that you needn't pray tonight
you see the reality is that we're just being slothful and that's
why God gives us a statement like this to encourage us that
ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. That's a good result, you see.
To inherit the promises. What a mercy there is. And then,
just a little bit further on in the 10th chapter, A very beautiful
chapter. Let's start in verse 35. In the 10th chapter he says,
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great
recompense and reward. Again, sometimes we may be tempted
to cast away perhaps a promise that God has spoken to us. Because
there doesn't seem to be any appearance of it. There doesn't
seem to be any working out of it. And we therefore think, well,
perhaps we made a big mistake. Perhaps God wasn't speaking.
Well, therefore says the Apostle, cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense and reward for ye
have need of patience. that after he had done the will
of God, he might receive the promise. Again, perhaps in our
lives, there's something that we have to do. We have to wait
for God to appear. We have to wait for God to answer
our prayers. And so here we have this encouragement
for you need a patience. We do have need a patience. But
after you've done the will of God, it's good to be found doing
the will of God, and then to be patient, then we might receive
the promise. Because he goes on to say, for
yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will
not tarry. God does appear. He does come
in his time. to visit our souls. And we may
therefore be tempted to think, well, God surely is never going
to answer my prayers with respect to something that I prayed for. Now, we have to be very careful
when we consider such a position to examine ourselves as to whether
we have asked in a right way. We're not to ask in a way that
we can consume the answer upon our lusts. We're to ask in a
way and for things which are for the honour and glory of God. As I so often say, your life
and my life on this earth, if we are God's children, is for
his honour and for his glory. It's not for our honour and glory,
it's for his honour and glory. And therefore, what a blessing
if God gives us that patience to wait for his appearing when
he comes and when he sends answers to our requests. where also the
12th chapter lovely chapter in the Hebrews having given that
grand list of those who are blessed with living faith in the 11th
chapter he comes he says wherefore wherefore because of all that
glorious history which has been recorded wherefore seeing we
also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us. My friends, the devil weights
us down with the poor things of time, the poor things which
do not profit, the poor things which turn us away from the things
of God. Let us lay aside Every weight,
every weight, not only big weights, small weights. And the similes does so easily
beset us. And we're not left in a vacuum. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God well that's a wonderful
statement in those first two verses in the twelfth chapter
you can go home and read them and meditate upon them because
how true they are and especially if You and I seek for the same
grace that the Apostle desired, and let us run with patience. Not dawdle, not dawdle, but run
with patience. The race that is set before us,
and it may not be an easy run. It may be difficult. There may be obstacles which
you have to overcome. But remember, He giveth more
grace. He giveth more grace. And as
we therefore run this race, remembering what we are to do, looking unto
Jesus. You don't want to run the race
set before us without looking to the Saviour. We want to have
the encouragement that He's with us. He's leading us. He led them on by the right way
that they might go to a city of habitation. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. It's wonderful, isn't
it? God begins the work of grace. He finishes the work of grace. He doesn't leave it undone. He
doesn't leave it half done. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross. What a wonderful Saviour we have,
endured the cross on your behalf, on my behalf, despising the shame,
the only begotten Son of God, humiliated on the cross, and
yet despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand
the throne of God there to intercede for us how wonderful is it not
and therefore as we have such a statement as this I waited
patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my
cry don't be discouraged if it appears the Lord hasn't heard
because he has heard And what a wonderful thing it is to believe
that He will incline to us. And then David goes on to explain
a little bit about his personal experience. He says, He, Almighty
God, brought me up also out of a horrible pit. It's interesting. I never really noticed before
until I was thinking on these words that in the margin it has
this statement the Hebrew is a pit of noise he brought me
up also out of a horrible pit a pit of noise and that may well
be when the devil tries to shout us down the devil keeps on speaking
into our ears such words as well you can get involved in that
you can do that there's no harm in it and my friends it can be
very noisy sometimes because don't forget the devil never
gives up he perseveres he perseveres and that's why we have those
gracious words he that endures unto the end shall be saved The
Christian life is one of endurance. But the blessing is there is
a good end. And we can look forward to the
end. We can look forward to that time
when by the grace of God we shall complete our course on this earth. And then to believe that through
his glorious grace we should go to be with Christ which is
far better and so David tells us he brought me up the Lord
you can't deliver yourself you'll just sink farther and deeper
into this Maori pit this pit of Maori clay and this noisy
place where there's no rest for the soul you won't be able to
deliver yourself from it That's why we have a record here of
David's personal experience. Don't forget the psalm commences
with this word, I, a personal word. And what a mercy it is
when you and I can say, yes, he, almighty God, came to my
aid. He found me. He found me. He directed me. He comforted
me. He blessed me. He brought me
up also out of a horrible pit, out of the Maori clay. You know,
I don't know if any of you have tried to walk on Maori clay,
but Maori clay is exceedingly slippery and it can be very deceiving
sometimes. You know, we can think it's all
right to walk on and you don't realise how slippery it is. and
how quickly you can slip and fall. Well, here was David. He was delivered from a pit of
this. A pit of this Maori claim. You can imagine, can't you? Being
in a pit and utterly unable to get out of it. The sides of the
pit are so slippery and so difficult. And the harder you try, the worse
it becomes and you keep on slipping back. Well, in that situation,
in a spiritual situation, we need God to come and to bring
us up out of it. As it were, he gives us his hand. You may remember poor old Jeremiah
was cast into the dungeon. He couldn't get himself out of
it. and thankfully the king spoke and told people to go and take
ropes with them and old cast clouts, old clothes and tell
him to put them under his armpits and then the ropes under and
to lift him up and so he was delivered he said Lord knows
how to deliver he perhaps uses people to come and help deliver
us But it's God that does it. God it is who's the instigator
of it. Because then you see God gets the honour and God gets
the glory. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit. You know the pit. Pits can have
various elements in them. You know we can think sometimes
of the pit of pride. We can so easily be proud of
what we do, proud of what we say, proud of our own ability
perhaps in things, proud of our own ideas, and yet failing to
realize it's the God, Almighty God, who gives wisdom. It's God who comes and helps
us. So there is again a pit of pride,
all my friends, It's very subtle. The devil is subtle. He knows
how to trap us. A pit of pride and then sometimes
we can come and there's such a thing as a pit of tradition
which we may not think much about but you know there is such a
thing as a pit of tradition and the Apostle Paul, he touches
on it when he writes to the Colossians And in the second chapter, he
tells us, beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ. We have to be very careful in
our little lives to make sure that we are following Christ,
and not anything else. He gives this little list here,
doesn't he? Philosophy. Vain deceit. The tradition of
men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. How relevant it is, isn't it?
Well, David tells us, he brought me up also out of this horrible
pit. Well, it is indeed. A pit of
tradition. And then also we have the pit
of the world. The pit of the world. The devil
says, well, you can stay there, where you are, and enjoy the
trifles of the world. And yet, reality is, the things
of this world pass away. And remember what Solomon tells
us, all is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit. There's no
real peace, there's no real happiness. No, it's a pit of the world and
the Lord tells us, love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. We have plenty of things in creation
to thank God for and to praise Him for, but not the vanities
of this world. Yes, they are pits. And my friends,
you know, if you and I fall into these pits, they don't bring
us nearer to Christ. Do you know what they do? They
take us farther away. What happens? We become hard-hearted. yes and the worse we are the
deeper we sink it's just like Mari clay unable to free ourself
from it and then also the Apostle speaks about that pit of unbelief
he speaks about it in this way an evil heart of unbelief how
the devil homes in sometimes in that and brings us to that
position so that although the word of God may have been a comfort
to us the devil comes and tells us well he did that he spoke
that word and therefore you don't have to believe it the evil heart
of unbelief the pit of unbelief And then also the pitter rebellion. The pitter rebellion, that means
rebelling against God. Rebelling against God, you may
think, well, I don't rebel against God. Well, we can rebel against
God very, very simply without really understand it. And the
prophet Isaiah, he speaks about this in the 30th chapter. He
says, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel,
but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of my
spirit, that they may add sin to sin. We have to be very careful
that we don't rebel against God just because something attracts
us naturally and we go after it and we think well that was
all right that didn't harm me but you see what it may have
done it may have hardened our heart to enter in more easily
into sinful ways and to rebel against God and so therefore
the Lord speaks in this way with a warning whoa to the rebellious
children. Well, may we not fall into that
pit of being rebellious. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the Maori clay. And this is then the wonderful
blessing of Almighty God. And set my feet upon a rock. I'm sure you understand what
that rock refers to. It refers to the glorious Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see my friends, that
won't move. Whatever trials and temptations
we'll come into, and we will, we won't be excluded from those
situations. Yet you see, if our faith is
founded upon a rock, we will not be moved. What a mercy it
is then. to realise this. Here was David. Tells us he waited patiently
for this, but it came. He was established, established
and put his feet upon a rock and established his goings, established
his walk, his path, established him in the right way. As we read
in the 107th Psalm with regard to Israel, He led them forth
by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. And they wandered about, didn't
they? And they disobeyed God very often. But blessed be God,
He led them about. He led them about. He instructed
them. What a mercy, therefore, to have such a God as that. And set my feet upon a rock. Well, if you've ever been in
a miry clay, slipping and sliding around, and then come to a rock
which you can stand upon, firm and sure. What a wonderful refuge
that is. And it's the same in regard to
our spiritual life. The hymn writer tells us, a refuge
for sinners. The gospel makes known, it is
found in the merits of Jesus alone. And that would be a wonderful
deliverance. If God comes and places you on
this rock, it'd be a place of refuge, It'd be a place of rest. It'd be a place of repose. And
you'll give God the glory for bringing you into that situation. And set my feet upon a rock and
established my goings. God does establish his children
in the things of God. Sometimes it takes a long time
because Often we want our way to be worked out. Sometimes we
have to throw it all overboard. Got rid of that which we thought
emanated from God. And we find it emanated from
our flesh. And if we examine it carefully,
we will find that if it had come to pass, we would have gloried,
our flesh would have gloried. whereas when God comes and God
puts us on a rock and God establishes us we praise and glorify God
there's a great difference and it's good to just recognise that
that's why we have such accounts as this to direct us and to encourage
us he set my feet upon a rock and established my gains and
that means to establish us in the right way, the right path,
to walk in His way and not walk in our way. What a mercy it is. You know, Israel of old, you
know how they were led? A pillar of cloud. They were
told not to move until the cloud moved. Pillar of cloud by day,
pillar of fire by night. When that went up and moved,
they moved. They didn't move unless that
occurred. So it is in our lives today.
We want God to go before us. We want to see Him going before
us. Just like it was in the wilderness
with the Israelites. and you see God he led them about
it wasn't a direct journey no it wasn't a direct journey it's
not always a direct journey for us but he leads us around so that
we are instructed and in that path what happens we're established
in the things of God and my friends we do need to be established
in the truth of God and to blessed God for it and established my
goings. And then he tells us really the
result. What was the result of this?
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our
God. Now I'm sure that when God appears,
when God moves us, when God directs us and we realise It is his work. It's what he's done. Surely, it brings praise unto
our God. And it would seem here, in David's
case, it was a new song. Perhaps he hadn't really praised
God before. And we're very often, we fail
in praising God. Is it easy to pray to God? Is
it easy to accept answers? But do we praise God? Do we truly
thank Him for what He's done? Do we thank Him that He has inclined
unto us? That He has heard our cry? That
He has brought us up out of the horrible pit? He has set us on
a rock. He has established our goings. Or do we just let these things
pass by? Well, my friends, God does these
things for His honour and glory. And it is a wonderful favour
and a wonderful blessing to be brought to this position where
we recognise, yes, God has done it. He reminds us. He has put
a new song in my mouth. even praise unto our God and
it wasn't something which was just silent it wasn't something
that was only done for perhaps the person next to him to observe
we're told this many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord you see there was a wonderful knock-on
effect and what a great truth that is and how necessary for
us to realize that through our testimony never be embarrassed
never be backward in praising God and telling people what he's
done how he's appeared don't listen to the devil who will
say I'll tell you what he'll say he'll say oh don't say anything
about that because it'll only bolster your pride That's how
the devil tries to silence us. Well, tell him, tell the devil,
God has done this. Not me. God has done this. And God shall have the honour
and the glory. God shall have the praise. And
I'm not going to be silent. You know, there's a wonderful
relief in our souls when we're able to praise God. The Word
of God has a wonderful phrase, praise is comely. What that means is it's very
suitable. And so it is in occasions like
this, when we've cried to God, when He's inclined to us. How
humbling, isn't it, to think that Almighty God inclines to
such an unworthy sinner. We're not worthy of any notice.
And it's good when the Holy Spirit shows us that. That we don't
deserve any notice. We're unworthy of it. And God,
in His love, and His compassion, and His mercy, looks upon us
and inclines to us and hears our cry. Isn't it humbling? Isn't it worthy of praising God
and exalting His name? And He has put a new song in
my mouth. Well, I wonder how many new songs
we've had in our mouth. I hope we've had some whereby
we have been able to acknowledge it is the Lord. He's appeared. He's blessed me. He's favoured
me. He's heard my cry. There I was
in a terrible situation. He came, lifted me up, put me
on the rock Christ Jesus, and established me in the things
of God. What a change. What a change. What a blessing. What a favour. and have put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear. There'll be a result, you see.
Those that honour me I will honour. God honours such statements. And shall trust in the Lord. How strengthening these experiences
are. Gives us confidence to trust
in the Lord. and we can then turn to the devil
and tell him he's a liar and to tell him that God has heard
and answered our cries and God has blessed us unworthy as we
are of any favour and we can praise him for his love and his
mercy and his great grace to such a sinner you see it's a
time of favour it's a time of blessing It's a time of spiritual
prosperity. It's a time to bless Almighty
God. Well, they're lovely verses,
really. This psalm is a lovely psalm, really. It's worth reading
carefully. I waited patiently for the Lord.
Yes, sometimes we wait patiently for other things. But here, I
waited patiently for the Lord. And He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock,
established my goings, and he put a new song in my mouth, even
praising unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Amen.