Sun, 20 January 2008 Often as kids, we would play a game at the beach where we would go under water, and just like the cartoons we watched, we would come up three times before sinking down… supposedly for the last time. One… two… three… going… going… gone.
Whoever was “it� was the one who would doing the “going, going, gone� routine. After the third “sink,� the rest of us would try and find him or her and provide a good dunking. Ah, those were the days.
That’s a lighter way of seeing the teaching of this psalm. The message of Psalm 40 is that one of the greatest joys which follows being restored to new life after a brush with death is the joy of entering one’s house of worship to declare before all in the community that one’s life has been saved and restored by God.
In other words, the writer has returned to his church to give a witness which praises God for rescue and restoration from hardship.
Verse 1 describes how the psalmist waited for the Lord to become aware of his situation and rescue him.
In verse 2, God rescues the writer of Psalm 40 from “the pit.� A Jewish translation of this psalm uses images that clearly bring home that the psalmist was in a bad way: the pit was filled with slimy clay. Symbolically, this means that this person was near death, and in danger of being lost in the underworld forever – but God rescued him from the place where no one is supposed to ever escape.
Once God has drawn the petitioner back from the brink of death, then life returns to normal. One can rise and stand up securely, finding the ability to walk restored as well. One can once again speak or sing praise to God, and verse 3 declares that respect or fear of God is thus instilled in all who see the recovery of the person once believed to be in the grip of death.
In verse 4, happiness or fortune is promised to the person who trusts in the Lord instead of trusting in less worthy sources of help.
In verse 6 there is another possible return to the image of the well or cistern from verse 1 in that the psalmist credits God with “digging� him a new ear, hollowing out his ear, as one would dig a well (Genesis 26:25). In exchange for the cistern of death in which he was trapped, God has dug through his obscured thoughts and given him a new enlightenment with which to understand the true desire of God for right devotion instead of sacrifice.
In the final stage of his restoration (vv. 9-10), the psalmist presents himself to the “great congregation,� presumably those gathered at the temple in
It’s a terrible thing to consider what it might be like, to slip away into nothingness; to be trapped in a place where you can never exit.
Yet, we all have experienced something like that at one time or another. Consider this verse from Psalm 69:
“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. 3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.� (NIV)
The point is that, even though we have all known despair at some time in our lives – perhaps even more than once, it happens to us all – God is the one who can pull us up.
Maybe we’re dealing with some mystery of illness that we can’t pin down or control, and life has become one dreadful doctor visit after another.
Or, maybe a family member just can’t seem to get his or her life on track. Perhaps there’s an addiction that’s threatening to pull you under the waters for the last time. Going… going… gone.
If you’re at this point, you’re at the point where you need to know that God will pull you up. Even if you are the one who got yourself into the muddy pit, God cares enough to help you up and out.
Like the guys who went out with their brand new speed boat one sunny July afternoon, and were very frustrated because it just wouldn’t perform well. They came back to the dock and had a maintenance man check it out… they had never unhooked it from the trailer!
Even if your troubles are of your own making, there is relief that can come your way.
Now remember the teaching of the Psalmist: First, wait for God… patiently… as you cry out for help.
Then, grab on to the life that He offers and LIVE. Don’t let the fear of what might happen keep you from moving forward.
And then, remember to tell others of how you have been saved from the pit.
Your rescue might be a fast one, or you might need to wrestle with your demons first. You might end up with a limp like Jacob, who kept that remembrance of his own deliverance for the rest of his life. Just remember, praise and gratitude to God can come from all times and situations.
We will always be in some need of God’s help and rescue. But even so, your life can be changed for the better by the challenges you face and your experience of God bringing you through them.
Sing a new song and tell others of your deliverance. Tell of how God is faithful, with your words and your actions. Remember that, whether we are standing or sinking, when our remembrance gives way to praise and our gratitude creates hope, our response will be “Here I am Lord.�
Going… going… gone? Not hardly – not with God there to pull us up. Amen.
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