Are there times in your life that you feel despair or like tough things just won’t end? Or…are there times that it’s just hard to figure out the RIGHT thing to do…everything is slippery and you feel like you are just sliding around in a pit trying to figure it all out? Are there times you simply feel in a rut? There is hope! That hope is Jesus!
Psalm 40:1-2a (TNIV)
1 I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2a He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.
As we trust God with our lives and all that is going on around us, as we look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial with a focus and anticipation of His deliverance, and His will being done in our lives……. HE WILL BE THERE! We are promised that He will turn and hear our cry!
I would point out that the Psalmist is not saying here that instantly, everything will be solved, everything will go away. We must wait patiently.
I found it interesting that the Hebrew words translated as “waited patiently” in V1 are actually forms of the same word: “qavah” [kaw·vaw]. A more literal translation would be “Waiting, I waited”. This word, “qavah” imparts a hope and an expectation and even more than that…..a trust that the Lord would hear the writers cry. No matter who we ar or what we have been through, indeed, no matter what we are going through–when we truly trust in God and wait patiently, He will hear our cry! The Lord can help the weakest and His grace can help the unworthiest! What does he over and over want from us….trust in Him.
The writer waited patiently which indeed implies that relief did not come quickly. YET….the trust the writer had in the Lord was implicit. What do we do as we wait? We believe, we pray and we trust with hopeful expectation. Waiting…we wait….and we can wait with assurance that the Lord will hear our cry, but we must also wait with patience.
Psalms 40:1-3 (TNIV)
1 I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 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. 3 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.
May you find that in your patience God hears your cry and responds. May you find trust and comfort in Jesus!