TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN REDEEMED
“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1-3
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This is a Psalm of David and it talks about God’s care of the poor and those who have waited on Him.
We will talk here about those who wait on the Lord and the meaning of redemption. Redeem means to set free, rescue or ransom, to save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences, to make up for.
There are THREE POINTS I will cover that address waiting on God and the aftermath and purpose of waiting –
1. Waiting patiently-
“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
Waiting patiently for the Lord – (Hebrew - in waiting, I waited) many times blessings cannot be received unless we go ‘through’ the trial of waiting.
Psalm 27:15, 14 states - “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.”
The land of the living means now. David was going through a trial, but he was still confident that God would see him through the trial in this life.
David knew what it was to wait for God. He was anointed king when he was 16 years old, but he didn’t actually serve as king until he was 30. David had to wait on God for the fulfillment of God’s promise for him to reign as King. During this time he was chased through the desert by King Saul. Now Saul also had a lesson in waiting on the Lord, which he failed. Saul had to learn that obedience was better than sacrifice; this was after he disobeyed God and then tried to make up for it by offering a sacrifice. Obedience is very important to God.
I also know from experience that waiting for God is not easy. A pastor from my home church use to say “…God does not have to do anything by Friday”. I’ve had situations, usually involving paying a bill by a promise date or a date set up by Bell South or Georgia Power, and I’ve prayed and asked God to please send me the money by that date. But God is God, the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth; Omnipresent, Omnipotent God - He does not work by man’s time tables. He “…does not have to do anything by Friday”.
Sometimes it seems as if He is not going to answer or does not hear us, or He does not understand the urgency of our situations. Lamentations 3:22-26 shows us to hope and wait for the Lord because often God uses waiting to refresh, renew and teach us. Jeremiah knew from past experience about God’s faithfulness, and that He would keep His promises. This is one reason why we should trust God, and also seek what God is trying to teach us in the midst of the trial.
2. God will bring you out -
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
(Hebrew - a pit of noise – the pit often is noisy, it may be hard to find peace during this time of waiting.)
After waiting on God, God lifted David out of his despair and set his feet on a rock, a firm foundation and established his goings. After waiting 14 years, he took his place as king.
Psalm 69:2:14 states - “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters”.
A lot of times this ‘mire’ may be of our own making, such as financial messes, family discord, or relationship issues. At other times it may be part of what God is taking us through to make us more like His Son. The operative word is ‘through’. He will deliver us out of and ‘through’ the messes.
Even while we are in this ‘mire’ He will keep us safe - Psalm 27:5 “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.”
This should also encourage us, remember what He has done in the past. As I researched this message, I looked through one of my older Bibles, and next to this passage I have listed prayers from 13 years ago, which included prayers for success in grad school, with my classes, and internship, prayers for a job, and for my children, etc. a multitude of prayers, and you know each of those prayers were answered.
3. God gave me a new song
God put a new song of praise in David’s mouth.
Psalm 33:3 “Sing unto him a new song: play skillfully with a loud noise.” David was a skillful musician and often commissioned music for temple worship (1Chronicles 25)
Fifteen years ago, I had an operation on my thyroid; the surgeon thought it was cancer. After the operation, they sent the tissue sample to the hospital lab, they couldn’t determine if it was cancerous, so they sent it to a cancer lab on the east coast, and then a lab on the west coast, but they also couldn’t determine if it was cancerous. During this time I prayed - 'Lord I don’t want to have cancer, or even recover from cancer, not now'. I knew that God had plans for my life and at the time I had seven children in my home, while I worked full time, there were things that I had to do. I felt the hand of God on my life. I trusted God, not the surgeon, I listened to God. I sold everything I had, left family and friends and everything I knew and every support, and took my children and moved across the country to start a new life once I decided to totally follow and trust God. When we trust God we give Him space to work in our lives, it becomes not our will, but His Will be done. I could never have imagined what He would do in my life.
Now I have a ministry of praise and worship, I have a testimony that if we wait on God, He will lift us out of the miry clay, and give us a new song, even a song of praise to Him.
