Good Morning Family,
How is everyone doing today?
Anyone ever feel like your life is stuck in a pit
and you are just unable to pull yourself up, to escape from it?
I think we all have at some point in our lives..
Amen?
Today's message is entitled From Pit To Praise.
Before we begin, let us pray..
Heavenly Father,
Though we are Your children, created in Your image
We acknowledge we fall short daily, of what You expect from us
we stray from the ways You that have taught us to treat others
we have often fail to love one another, as You have instructed us to love
through Your Word.
We create messes by not following Your commands
then pray, asking You to fix everything
As You bring our sins before us
forgive our transgressions
have compassion upon us, Your children, O Lord
that we may rejoice in Your mercies
Set Your Word deep within our hearts
that we gain wisdom and understanding
In Jesus' name
Amen
Our text today is Psalm 40, verses 1-3
"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 steps.
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
Here we find, first of all, that the Bible compares our sins to the miry clay.
What in the world is miry clay, you ask?
Miry clay is a thick mud type substance, much like quicksand.
Any of you ever felt like David?
You find yourself sinking, up to your neck
pleading urgently for God to rescue you from your immediate troubles?
"Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God."
Psalm 69:1-3
"Deliver me out of the mire,
And let me not sink;
Let me be delivered from those who hate me,
And out of the deep waters."
Psalm 69:14
I believe every one of us, can relate to how David feels..
We've all been stuck in the 'quicksand' of our sin.
Some of you, maybe still are?
The harder you struggle to pull yourself out, the farther you sink...
slowly sinking, deeper and deeper, being pulled downward
and eventually, pulled to the bottom.
The only means of escape, is for someone to pull you out..
Notice the three things David did:
First, He patiently waited
This is the right kind of waiting. He patiently waited.
All too often, what we consider to be waiting, is filled with a fearful sense of urgency and impatience.
Reminding God of His promises, as if He had somehow forgotten them..
Church, just for the record...
counting the seconds, since we first prayed, asking Him to help us, is NOT patiently waiting!
Secondly,
He Cried To The Lord
David chose to use his words and express his heart directly to God.
How often, when we are frustrated or in trouble, do we express our
emotions and feelings with everyone but God?
So many times, more often than not, He is the ONLY One who can help us
yet, we literally go to everyone else first, and He is our last resort!
Oh come on, don't look at me like you are shocked...
I can't tell you how many have come to and asked,
"Pastor, what should I do about this?"
To which I always respond, have you talked to God about it?
If so, what did He say?
And almost always, they quickly respond, "No, I wanted to talk to you first."
Well, let me make something clear, I do not have any higher authority than any of you, He won't listen to me more intently or even first!
When it comes to pray, though I am always more than happy to pray with you and for you,
don't bypass God and come to me... Go to Him first!
"So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”
So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”
Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you."
1 Kings 18:42-44
"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
2 Corinthians 7:10
And thirdly,
He Got A New Testimony
But at the end of David’s waiting, God proved faithful
in rescuing him, strengthening him, and anchoring him even more deeply
in the place of trust in God.
6 Things God Did For David:
He Inclined To Him
Can you picture God the Father, gently leaning over toward David listening and then
responding? He’s a good good Father who desires to help His children.
Sometimes what we most need to happen requires His work in a lot of
people and places in addition to what He needs to do in us.
He Lifted Him Up
David was in the pit, so to speak. Ever been there? One thing about
being in a deep pit, somebody above you has to help you before you can
get out. David trusted and waiting until God let down the rope. Know
what I mean? You may feel that way today, stuck in a pit, waiting on a
rope, not even sure if anyone, including God, knows that you are there
or even cares that you are there. But David waited patiently on the
Lord, which means He knew the rope was coming; He just had to trust God
to do it the way God wanted to do it.
You see, if a legalist came by and saw a sinner in a pit, he would preach a sermon about the dangers of the pit.
If a religionist came by and saw that same sinner in
that pit, he would talk about steps the sinner could take to help him
get out of that pit and avoid other pits in the future.
If a pessimist walked by, he would tell that sinner that he is going to die in that pit.
If an optimist passed by, he would tell the sinner that he had seen worse pits than that.
If a realist walked by, he would tell that man to just accept his pit.
If a spiritualist came by, he would tell the sinner that there is no pit.
But, if Jesus came by, He would get into the pit with that sinner and lift him out.
That is just what Jesus did for each of us.
He robed
Himself in human flesh, entered the pit of this world and died for us on
the cross.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name"
Philippians 2:5-9
Like the lyrics of the song says: “Now look He brought me up! I was
sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained
within sinking to rise no more, but the master of the sea heard my
despairing cry, from the water lifted me now safe am I!”
He Set Me Down
Isn’t it magnificent feeling to know that God doesn’t just stop there when He gets us out of the
pit; but, that He also sets our feet on the rock? That’s a great place
to be when you have spent a lot of time in a miry pit.
Our rock is
Jesus Christ.
He has seated us in Christ.
He is the unshakable foundation of
our very lives as believers.
"He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.’"
Psalm 89:26
"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation."
Psalm 95:1
He Established His Steps
This is the picture of God guiding and marking out the path for us.
This
in itself may well keep us out of many a pit.
Not all of them, for
sometimes like Joseph, others may toss us into the pit.
God establishes
our steps.
He controls our destiny as we place ourselves in His hands.
That is a treasured reassurance..
Isn't that true?
Oh He established me!
He Put A New Song In His Mouth
This must have been a song of deliverance.
I wonder what it would
sound like today.
Can you think of a song of testimony that tells of how
God has rescued someone?
God loves the praise that proceeds from our
singing the story of His love expressed to us.
The mouth can sing because the heart has been
helped.
When this Psalm began, David was not talking about singing but
about crying.
He Created A Testimony To Bring In Others
In Closing...
Christ is glorified when we share our story with others.
He uses it
through the power of Holy Spirit to bring forth the praise of others.
Your testimony is one of the most powerful things you can share with
people to open their hearts to the Lord. Telling the story of how Jesus’
life and love changed us causes their hearts to move toward Him.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries