WAITING FOR THE LORD

Psalm 40: 1 - 3 reads "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 has given [ Malayalam Bible version] a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord"


Normally, when a person comes to the Lord in prayer, he expects a blessing from God. He expects to be more blessed than what he already is and expects something to show for the time that he spent in God's presence. We fast, we observe religious days, take part in our daily and weekly rituals with enthusiasm and fervent prayer, hoping to please God with our commitment and worship and get blessed.


When we study the above verses, Psalm 40:1 -3, the only obvious blessing that the psalmist received from the Lord is in verse 3, wherein it is written 'He has put [NIV] a new song in my mouth". In the Malayalam Bible version, it is written "He has given a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." When you look at the Malayalam Bible, the only thing David 'received' was this new song for his trouble of waiting patiently for the Lord.


We are often forced to wait a long time for a doctors' appointments or to meet our friends for an evening out or to pick up a loved one from a particular spot and so on. We fret and fume when the opposite party delays to put in an appearance as we feel that our time is precious [ even if we have nothing to do once we get back!! ] and we feel our counterpart is so unfair.


Mankind has never been very patient in waiting ... and that too for no reward. This is an age of instant coffee, instant tea, instant cricket, instant chicken curry, instant noodles and so on.


David sings, " I waited patiently for the Lord .." All this patient waiting just for a new song ??? No, and that is what I want to share with you today.


Psalm 40: 1 - 3 reads "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 has given a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord"


There are seven different blessings David received from the Lord as a reward for his patience given in the above verses.  Let us look at them one by one..


1. "He has inclined to me" [verse 1] This great Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the One who controls destiny of Kings and Kingdoms and rulers of this world, it is EL SHADDAI, the Almighty, who has inclined to hear the prayer of the afflicted David. He was not yet the king of Israel; he was only a shepherd boy. This is the first blessing when we wait patiently for the Lord. 


2. "He heard my cry". [verse 1] We find so difficult to get our local member of the Parliament, or a government minister or a public official to hear our petition ! But the psalmist says, the reward for patience in waiting for the Lord was His presence near him, to hear him pour out his complaint and submit his petition!


3. "He lifted me out of the slimy pit" [verse 2] It is very difficult to get out of our old habits and addictions like drinking, smoking etc. Even though we know these habits are dangerous hazards to our health and as a child of God, we are the temple of the Living God and God will destroy those who destroy his temple, we just cannot quit these habits. We keep on trying and striving to stop, only to go down deeper and deeper until, either our health gives out OR THE LORD HEALS OUR ADDICTIONS. This is what David means when he says, "He has lifted me out of the slimy pit".  I can say this with impunity as I was an alcoholic and a chain smoker until the Lord touched me and overnight, I was a cured man. This is the third blessing when we wait patiently for the Lord.


4. "He lifted me out of the mud and mire". Only if our feet has ever got entrapped in mire or quicksand will we really understand what the psalmist means here. The more we try to lift ourselves out of the mire, the more we sink deeper. That is the quality of the mire.  The fourth blessing when we wait patiently for the Lord is deliverance from such miry situations.


5. "He set my feet upon a rock". [Verse 2] This is the blessed feeling of a person whose feet is firmly planted upon the Rock that is Jesus Christ. When we stand on the beach, we really feel our feet slipping under our weight because the sand keeps moving with the waves. In the New Testament, Paul refers to Jesus as the Rock that followed the people of Israel in the wilderness from which Moses provided water for the masses [ Exodus 17: 1-7 and 1 Corinthians 10: 4 ]. 


6. " He gave me a firm place to stand". [Verse 2] This is the sixth blessing for waiting patiently for the Lord. In Jesus' parable, we see the contrast between a house built upon the sand and upon a rock.  


7. " He gave me a new song" [Verse 3] This is the seventh blessing in Psalm 40: 1-3 for patient waiting upon the Lord.  Let me elaborate this blessing, because the verse adds, "many will see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord"


The purpose why Jesus puts a new song in our mouth is because He wants us to be witnesses to His grace and to His redeeming power in the society wherein He has planted us. There are still people who are unsaved and who have never been exposed to the Gospel of Salvation in Christ Jesus.


When we look at John chapter 4, we see a Samaritan woman with whom Jesus interacts. In those days, there was no interactions between the Jews and the Samaritans as the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans as a contaminated race.


She was an outcast in her society. John 4: Verse 6,7 says, "....it was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "will you give Me a drink"? His disciples had gone to town to get food.'  


Jesus and His disciples had walked in the hot sun till noon [ sixth hour]. They were all tired. Only Jesus stayed at the well, He sent all the other 12 to get food. Why? [normally, only one or two would need to go while the others could rest with the Master]. Because, Jesus knew, that at the sixth hour a woman would come to draw water from that well. He also knew that if there was a crowd of 10 or 11 Jews around the well, she would not approach the well or Him, but wait until the crowd had gone away.. 


Palestine lands are not very hospitable as far as the weather conditions go. It is hot and dusty and normally, women would go to draw water for their household needs only either early in the morning or late in the evening towards dusk. These times are times for sharing and chatting and catching up on village gossip, normal amongst women. But then why did this woman come alone to the well at noon?


The answer is in John 4: verses 17 and 18, in response to Jesus's direction to go and call her husband she replies "I have no husband" And Jesus said,  "you are right when you say that you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband" ... scandalous, is it not? No  wonder she came alone at noon when she would not have to face the cruel barbs of the other women in her community. 


The Lord testified to the Samaritan woman about Himself [ verse 25, 26 "I who speak to you am He"[ - the Messiah] and we read in verse 28, she went back to the town and said to the people, '"come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" She forgot her shame, she forgot the barbed tongues of the gossips, she forgot the fact that she was an outcast in the society; but she testified to the village about Christ.


John 4: Verse 39, 40 and 41  reads ' many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the womans' testimony....they urged Him to stay with them and He stayed two days. And because of His words, many more became believers'


The testimony of the lost woman lead an entire community to be exposed to Jesus's words and to salvation.


THIS is what the Psalmist means when he wrote, "He has given a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord" 


The woman was not a Bible college graduate; she was not one of the upper echelon of the society; she may or may not have been educated enough to give a long protracted talk on the gospel and salvation. But she opened her mouth and boldly proclaimed the Christ ! And the Lord reaped a harvest !


Let us then wait patiently for the Lord, as David did, obtain the blessings, and sing a new song which brings our communities to Jesus. God has a purpose for all of us. Let that purpose be fulfilled in His time..


God bless you
Motty


[Message given at Chembur on Sunday, 5th June, 2011]