22 May | EVERYONE
“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my stePsalm He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord." Psalm 40: 1-3
The horrible pit is not a definite point of pain; it is rather a long road that seems to have no end. David was a fugitive, a persecuted man who fled for his life. When he wrote this psalm, he had not yet assumed the throne; he had not yet committed the horrible sin of abuse of power. There was no logical reason to suffer other than the fact of wandering through this sin-distorted world. King Saul refused to give him the kingdom even though David had already been anointed king.
The anointed wanderer walked along the rugged slopes of his destiny, trying to escape from his pain and to recover his lost optimism, but he could not, and on one occasion, he collapsed between banks and hollows. He began to wait and wait.
In Psalm 37, the psalmist begins to hope. In Psalms 38 and 39, he continues to wait and ruminate on his pain, but in Psalm 40, he tells, as we have read above, that at last God intervenes to deliver him.
God’s apparent delay was not divine but human. We are not the ones to tell God when to intervene. He knows the pain of every child and the suffering of every soul. He hears the silent cry of every son or daughter and inclines His ear. The expression "inclining to me" describes God's attitude of reducing distances. Sin separated you from God, but as you turn your eyes to the Lord in your defeat, He draws near to you and your enemies can no longer touch your life.
Take Action
Part of the fruit of the Spirit is patience, an essential element of renewed character. God does not just want to "pull you out of the pit," He wants you to come out of it transformed. That is why sometimes you might think He is late, but His Spirit is already at work in you. Sing "He Heard My Cry" (if possible, with your family).