A new song

DEVOTION

PSALMS

A NEW SONG

Ps 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 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. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

NIV

As we work our way through the songs written by David, we can certainly see the highs and low of his life. Through his lyrics he expresses his emotions, his feelings about his life and his relationship with God. We have seen already those moments of almost complete desperation. But here is a song of joy and gladness, of thanksgiving and praise. The first lesson we can learn from this song is that we too should wait patiently for the Lord. This is not a case of we want what we want and we want it now. This is a case of waiting, waiting for the Lord. The Hebrew uses the word for wait twice so this translations says wait patiently which conveys the right thought. We wait and we wait, not in a hurry, not rushing him to answer. This implies God is not our genie in the bottle who is at our beck and call, his is God and we are his creation. However, when we do wait for him, when we do not rush ahead of him, doing sometime without hearing from him, thus making some mistake, he turns to us and hears our cry for help, our prayer for guidance, for direction, for assistance, for deliverance. He lifts us up and out of the difficult situation, the slimy pit and mud and mire and sets our feet on the solid foundation of his truth. The picture, the imagery this portrays for us is how our life, when we rush ahead of God becomes so convoluted, so messed up, it becomes a slimy pit. We struggle to walk through the mud and the mire, our feet become heavy laden. It reminds us of the time we were in the army, on a forced march. After spending almost an hour plowing through a muddy path, our leader ordered us to then put on our rubber galoshes over our now muddy boots. The increased weight and the added mud on the galoshes now made our feet feel like fifty pound weights. The march became even more difficult. This is our life without hearing from the Lord. This is our life as we attempt to live it based on our own decisions. But when we wait to hear from God and he gives us the answer we then can stand on solid ground. He makes our path straight, he makes our life straight, we are going in the right direction and it is clear, free of mud and mire, no pits to fall into as he guides our way. It is not that we always have to be moving forward either. That may be the reason we find ourselves in the mud and mire. God lifts us out and puts our feet on solid ground and gives us a firm place to stand. Although the Hebrew word is translated goings, as in, God establishes our firm goings, it also carries the meaning of standing. Our life is established by God and we need to hear from him before we take a step, so there can be times of simply standing firm where he has us at the moment. We do not always have to be on the move. This can apply to our daily lives as well as our spiritual journey. There are many truths of God, but at times we simply need to sit or stand firm on one truth, allowing it to soak into our being. We do not have to understand everything in the scriptures all at once, but sit at his feet and learn what he has for us today. As we trust in him, in his direction, his provision, his guidance, his assistance, his deliverance, he puts a new song in our heart. We sing of his praises, we live our faith out loud, we speak of his wonders and many will come to know God because of our life in him. Let us sing the new song he put in our heart.