Psalm 40:1-3 ESV
I waited patiently for
the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the
pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a
rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in
my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and
fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
In Context
In context, this “pit” is not talking about hell, and the
deliverance is not speaking of our eternal salvation, either. For, we don’t
have to wait and wait for the Lord to answer us with regard to his salvation.
It is always the Lord’s will at all times to deliver people out of the pit of
hell, and to set them free from their sinful addictions. For, today is the day
of salvation!
So, if you are holding on to your sinful practices,
convinced that it just isn’t God’s timing to deliver you yet, then you are
believing a lie straight from hell. If, too, you are convinced that you are the
one having to wait on God to deliver you, then that is a lie, too. And, it is from
Satan. For, Jesus already provided the way of salvation. He is not the one
holding out. You are!
You just have to surrender your life over to him, leave your
life of sin behind you, and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit walk daily
according to the Spirit of God and no longer according to the ways of this
world and of your sinful flesh. For, you just have to accept God’s grace into
your life by saying “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and by living a self-controlled,
upright and godly life while you wait for our Lord’s soon return (Tit.
2:11-14).
The Pit
“The pit,” nonetheless, appears to be some type of danger,
difficulty, trial or tribulation. It could be a temptation to sin, a severe
persecution, a sickness, and/or a severe attack of the enemy on our bodies,
minds or emotions. For, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are going to face
trials, tribulations, persecutions, and attacks of the enemy. And, some of them
can be quite distressing and overwhelming to the point to where we just cry, “Help!”
But, I must note here that the deliverance doesn’t always
come in a physical form. Sometimes the Lord does relieve us FROM our suffering,
but often he relieves us THROUGH our suffering, for suffering is part of the
Christian life (Ro. 5:3-5; Phil. 3:7-11; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; 4:12-17; 1 Thess. 3:1-5;
Jas. 1:2-4; Matt. 5:10-12; Lu. 21:12-19; 2 Co. 1:3-11; Heb. 12:3-12).
So, the “pit of destruction,” in this case, has to do with
those things which threaten to undo us, which move us to fall apart
emotionally, which pressure us to get us discouraged, and which persuade us to
lose faith, etc. In fact, “depression” can easily be translated “pit of
destruction.”
Yet, it isn’t that we have to wait on the Lord to get us out
of depression, for the mere fact that we are depressed (if we are) is a signal
that our faith is failing. But, we may have to wait and wait for him to deliver
us from those situations which are tempting us to give up and to surrender to
the flesh rather than to surrender to God. Or, we may have to wait and wait for
that particular battle to cease and for us to be victorious and at peace.
Basically, as followers of Christ, we are in a spiritual
battle with the enemy of our souls. So, we have to resist him, flee temptation,
put on that armor of God daily, and draw near to God in full assurance of
faith. For, the flesh is at war with the Spirit, and the Spirit is at war with
the flesh.
So, this is real warfare. And, sometimes it is very painful
and distressing. But, we need to persevere, and we must keep calling on God,
and keep fighting the good fight of faith, and the Lord will put us on that
solid Rock, and he will give us a firm place to stand. For with each battle we
face, and with each battle we win in the power of God, the stronger we will become
in our walks of faith and in our battle against Satan.
Singing songs of praise to God, too, is one of the best ways
to fight off the enemy when he is attacking us. For, he hates praise to God.
And, singing lifts our spirits, as well. It is one of the ways in which we put
on that armor of God and we use that sword of the Spirit with which to fight
off Satan’s evil attacks against us. But, also, the Lord does put a new song in
our hearts with each battle that we win, which is for the glory and praise of
God.
Psalm 40:4-5 ESV
Blessed is the man who
makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to
the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O
Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts
toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and
tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
There are many lies circulating within the church, or within
organized Christianity. And, these lies are opposed to Christ and to his
gospel. For, they come from Satan. I listed one of those at the beginning of
this writing, but there are many, and they come in various forms. But, at the
root of these lies is Satan, for he wants to pull us all away from following
Jesus Christ with our lives, and he wants to convince us to keep walking in sin.
So, he has convinced much of today’s church to buy into his
lies. He has convinced many to believe that they can merely acknowledge Jesus
Christ and what he did for us in dying on a cross so that we could be delivered
from our sin and have eternal life with God. But, they don’t teach repentance
and obedience to Christ and to his commands. They don’t teach that we have to
leave our lives of sin behind us and to follow Jesus Christ with our lives if
we want to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God.
But, that is what scripture teaches. It says we must die
with Christ to sin daily, and we must live with Christ to his righteousness. We
must walk (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the
flesh. And, we must walk in obedience to the Lord’s commands or we don’t know
God and he is not in us or us in him, and we don’t have eternal life with God
(Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Pet. 2:24).
So, making the Lord our trust is not merely professing faith
in him or making some public declaration of faith in him, or saying some words
after someone in a prayer. Making him our trust means submitting to his will
for our lives, making him Lord (owner-master) of our lives, leaving our lives
of sin behind us and following our Lord in obedience to his will and to his
ways (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; Jn. 10:27-30; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; Jn.
6:35-66).
Psalm 40:6-8 ESV
In sacrifice and
offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin
offering
you have not required.
Then I said, “Behold,
I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of
me:
I delight to do your
will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
So many people think that God is pleased with them if they
go to a church service once a week and sing praise and worship songs and listen
to a sermon. They think if they give to the church and to the needy, if they
have a ministry of some kind within the church, and if they have daily
devotions that God is pleased with them that they gave him that time.
But, God does not delight in what we are willing to give to
him, if we are the ones still in control over our own lives, calling all the
shots, and determining what we will or will not do for God. God doesn’t want
what little we are willing to offer him. He wants it all! He wants us on the
altar of sacrifice as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is our
acceptable worship of God – no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful
world, but transformed of the Spirit of God in the renewing of our minds by
God.
Psalm 40:9-10 ESV
I have told the glad
news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not
restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your
deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your
salvation;
I have not concealed
your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
Not only does our Lord want us fully surrendered to him,
letting him have complete control over our lives, with him determining what we
do and what we don’t do, but he wants us telling others about his love and
grace, too.
But, he wants us telling them the truth, not the “feel good”
messages that so many are preaching these days which leave people still in
bondage to sin while promising them heaven when they die. He wants us
proclaiming the truth with regard to the way to deliverance from sin, which is
via true repentance and walks of obedience to our Lord (Eph. 4:17-24).
In
Truth
An
Original Work / January 10, 2012
Fellowshipping with my Lord, Savior, King.
He is Lord of all; Lord of ev’rything.
He is with me through ev’ry hour of day,
List’ning to me speak, as I humbly pray.
He cares for my needs,
and He intercedes for me,
‘cause He loves me in ev’ry way.
Obey His commands, and do all He says.
Sitting at His feet, daily in His word,
Let His word speak to me in ev’ry way,
Giving comfort and healing through each day.
Oh, how Jesus loves,
And He cares for you,
Which is why He died for our sins, in truth.
Love our Lord God, Savior, and King of kings.
Worship Him in truth, for He reigns supreme.
He created us with a plan in mind
For us to be His servants, and Him mind.
Follow Him in truth;
Go where’er He leads.
Share His love with others, and their needs meet.
Others: their needs meet.
Monday, October 21, 2019
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