A Look At Psalm 40
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
Some of my favourite verses in all of scripture are found in Psalm 40, which I don't think I fully understood or appreciated until recently.
If you're unfamiliar with Psalm 40, allow me to share the first three verses with you.
I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:1-3
Today I want to break down these verses, these encouraging words from scripture that can speak to us when life isn't going according to plan or we feel hurt or rejected or stuck. We don't know if David wrote this psalm from inside the walls of a palace or when he was cast out into the wilderness. But we do know if anyone has something to teach us about trials, it's David. His life went from mountain top moments like defeating Goliath to lows including having to be on the run for his life, facing many battles, losing two children, and the denial of his dream of building God's temple. But even with a long history of trials, David never lost his faith, so let's learn from him by breaking down these three verses.
Verse 1: Waiting Patiently
I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.
And isn't that the struggle for so many of us when we are suffering? We don't wait patiently. We want an answer to our prayer today, we want our loved one healed yesterday and we want a guarantee against pain for tomorrow. We aren't patient. We want God to operate on our timetables instead of surrendering ourselves to His. So we don't suffer well because we don't wait well. Impatience chips away at faith because the second we try to place God on our timetable, is the second we make Him less of a God we serve and trust and more into someone we try to control. Pain is going to happen in our lives, we aren't always going to understand why on this side of heaven, but that isn't a cause for us to give up faith. No, it's a cause for us to be more patient than ever, knowing that if something has or hasn't happened yet, there is a good reason for it.
But that doesn't mean we have to wait on mute. As this verse tells us, God does hear our cries. Go to Him with your pain, petition Him on your knees, but then wait and trust Him for the answer in His timing.
If this Psalm teaches us anything it's that in order to get to the beauty described in verse two and three, it requires some of the patience described in verse one. You might be in verse one today, but someday you will get to the other side. Keeping that in mind can help us to stay patient.
Verse 2: Lifted
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
This is the part of the Psalm I thought I understood until recently. When it says mud and the mire, I just pictured some mud like what we might see after a rainstorm. But when mud and mire is mentioned, the imagery is more than that. As I learned watching the discovery channel, and was confirmed by a google search, mud and mire isn't surface level stuff after a sweet rain in the spring. Mire is thick, the kind of mud that sucks you down and can leave you stuck in place with no escape. Often this mud and mire not only looks but smells disgusting and isn't the place one wishes to spend time. But it's not like you often have a choice, because mud and mire can leave you stuck in place, helpless to move or do much of anything.
So when David describes God lifting him out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire, he isn't talking about some minor trial. It's not likely the kind of trial that David could have worked his way out of on his own. No, he needed rescue and God reached out, took him out of that absolute mess and set his feet upon solid ground. But He didn't just leave David there. No, God our Father stayed to help steady David as he walked along. Isn't that just incredible? And isn't this the very same thing that God can do in your life and mine? No matter how deep or smelly or gross the mud is, no matter how deep the mire has you pulled in, God can be your rescue. He's done it before and He can do it again.
And when He does, well, that's when we get to verse three.
Verse 3: Testimony
He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.
When God lifts us out, a gift He leaves for us and the people around us is the story we can tell, our testimony. But the only way people will “see what He has done and be amazed” and then “put their trust in the Lord”, is if we tell them. When God rescues us, we owe the people around us that story of what He has done. Instead of filing it for later, we should be sharing it with the people around us. Both to encourage other believers who might not see the light at the end of the tunnel right now, but also to draw people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 40 reminds us that we can wait patiently, that God can rescue us out of any mess we could find ourselves in, and that even our pain has a purpose and it's titled testimony. Remember that.
Return To The Impact Devotional Archive
