You Raise Me Up

YOU RAISE ME UP. Psalm 40: 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 mouth - Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord.

What an amazing proclamation of what God has done for us.

David’s life was one of many valleys of despair and incredible trials of faith. As he pens this psalm we get a glimpse of the depths of his misery and the delights of his salvation.

A. David found himself in a horrible pit of miry clay.
Of course, David wasn’t physically in a pit of clay, but this is very descriptive of where he found himself, emotionally and spiritually.
‘Horrible’ - uproar, tumult, turmoil, destruction.
Has anyone ever said to you: my life is the pits…. This is what they are describing..
The miry clay – the position he found himself in was messy, ugly and dirty.
Clay – sticky. He found himself in a sticky situation.

The point of this verse is to show us that he found himself in circumstances of extreme difficulty and danger from which he could not free himself.
His efforts to help himself would only increase his distress and difficulty.
His own struggles to get himself out of his dirty, sticky situation would only sink him deeper in the mire. He would become more and more desperate and most likely just make matters worse for himself.

This is an excellent description of the person without God.
A life in turmoil headed for destruction. The more they try to fix the situations of their life, the more they become entangled and stuck in the mud. They may reach out to anything or anyone that promises to get them out of their horrible pit, but still they sink deeper.
There are lots of choices out there that promise to bring peace and hope to the sinner but none do. In fact, they just cause people to think they are free when they aren’t. Which often puts people in a worse situation than they started with. Sinking deeper in the miry clay.

But unfortunately, even as Christians we can find ourselves in the horrible pit of destruction, stuck in the miry clay. HOW??
By continuing to do things our own way instead of choosing to walk in God’s ways. By taking the path of rebellion against the ways and purposes of God instead of walking in obedience. David made some bad decisions in his life that would most definitely have put him in this same circumstance. Stuck once again in the pit. We all have the propensity to go our own way which often leads us into some sticky situations. Isaiah tells us we are all like sheep that have gone astray, gone our own way.

But this verse gives us hope….

B. David waited patiently for the Lord….
The translation of this passage infers that ‘waiting patiently’ seems to be a kind of indifference and carelessness about the result. But this is not an apathetic, idle sitting still. If you were in this situation, would you be content with staying where you are and just getting comfortable until God answers. Would you just fill your time with other things until something changes.

This verse describes:
1. A constant looking to God -- waiting on the Lord as a criminal condemned to die would wait anxiously and constantly at the door of one who had the power to pardon them and set them free.

2. An earnest, agonizing, and intense looking for deliverance.
The idea is better expressed as, “I waited agonizingly or intensely for the Lord”. The original text reads “in waiting, I waited”, and implies a steady yet fervent attitude of prayer.

3. Waiting patiently for the Lord implies a holding on and a refusing to be denied. Like Jacob when he said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." Like the widow with the unjust judge.
Like John Mellor – keep praying and believing.
Jesus himself said ‘Ask and keep on asking’.
Like a man that had fallen into a pit lifting up his voice again and again, in the hope that someone passing by might hear his cry and bring help.
Persevering prayer is a heart waiting on God.



4. Waiting patiently for the Lord implies a knowledge and conviction that our circumstances are desperate unless God moves on our behalf. The waiting heart does not seek to find its own solutions. It does not run around seeking help from worldly advisors. Instead, its whole focus is on God with an expectation of seeing His hand move.

5. Waiting patiently implies a conviction of the consequences and horribleness of his situation. David did not look upon his circumstances as terrible and unfortunate but as desperate, wretched and hopeless.
He knew that if he stayed there, he would be lost forever.

HOW DID GOD RESPOND TO THIS CRY FOR HELP…
1. David said: He inclined to me and heard my cry..
When we fully understand how desperate we are without God, and turn that desperation into a cry unto the Lord, he inclines himself to us. He turns toward us and reaches out to grab a hold of us. Just as He did when Peter stood on the water and looked around at the seemingly impossible situation of the storm and began to sink. Upon hearing Peter’s cry for help, Jesus at once reached out and took hold of him.

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear dull that it cannot hear.
Joel 2:32 Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

2. David said: He brought me out of the pit and set my feet upon a rock.
In the pit of miry clay there is no solid foundation. Unless our lives are built on the rock of Christ, we will flounder and sink in the mud time and time again. It is a futile and exhausting way to live.

Matthew 7:24 gives us the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built on the sand. When the storms of life came the house on the sand crumpled. And great was its fall.
We see this time and time again in the world. People with money, fame and power that seem to have it all. Suddenly something in their lives is exposed or taken from them and their whole life crumples.
Money & possessions can be lost – stock market, economy, fire.
Power can be taken away – presidents are overthrown almost weekly
Fame is fleeting – famous today, forgotten tomorrow. People are fickle.
Look at Jesus – people were laying down palm branches for him one day, crucifying him the next.


There is no security in money, possessions, power or fame.
But Jesus is the solid rock. Christ can never be taken from us.
He will never leave us or forsake us. He provides for every need.
Notice in this parable, that the winds blew and the floods came to both houses. Building your life on Christ doesn’t exempt you from these things, it enables you to stand solid through them.

3. David said: He established my steps.
Luke 1 Zacharias gave a prophecy about the Jesus.
In vs 79 he says: Jesus will come: to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
John 16:13 Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit who would guide us into all truth.
Psalm 25:8 – 10
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice and the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

4. David said: He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God.
When our lives are built on the Rock, there is a new song to sing.
It is a song of Praise to our God. This praise flows out of a heart that knows where it has been and knows where it is now going.
Triumph always causes us to sing.
Exodus 15 – Moses and the children of Israel sang a song after the Red Sea crossing and the deliverance from the Egyptian army.
Numbers 21:17 Israel sang a song in response to God’s promise to provide water.
Deuteronomy 32 – Israel sang a song of witness to the covenant.
Judges 5 – we have the song of Deborah after victory over their enemies
2 Samuel 22 – all 51 verses – song of praise by David for God’s hand on his life.
Psalms are songs sung by David.
Isaiah 26 – Song of salvation.
Isaiah 42:10 - Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth.
Psalm 22:3 But you are holy; enthroned in the praises of Israel.

5. David said: Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord.
When God hears our cry and inclines himself to reach out to us.
When God picks us up out of our pit of despair and destruction.
When God places our feet on the Rock that is Jesus Christ.
When God establishes our steps and directs our paths.
When God puts a new song in our mouth.

Many will see it and fear and, and will trust in the Lord.
What a testimony. Our lives become a testimony to the Goodness and Faithfulness of God. This testimony of our lives opens doors for God to work in the hearts of those around us. Because His desire is that they too, will recongnise the desperate situation of their lives without Christ and cry out to Him.
2 Cor 3:2
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

1. Are you in a horrible pit at the moment. How desperate are you.
If you don’t know Christ then your life is, this very moment sinking into a pit of destruction. Everything you have tried so far has not brought any peace. You can’t get yourself out of this wretched place. There is no hope for you, unless you call out desperately to God to lift you up and place you on the rock that is Jesus Christ.

Christian – where are you with God right now. Are there things in your life that you see as just an inconvenience, or a distraction or perhaps just an innocent habit. Or do you see recognise that these very things have the propensity to drag you down into the miry clay once again.
King David, called and anointed by God, still gave in to his fleshly desires and ended up committing adultery. He became ensnared by his lust, and ended up in a miry pit of lies, deception and murder. A very sticky situation indeed. God did not abandon Him, but his actions had serious consequences.

In Hebrews 12:1, Paul admonishes us to: lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

Don’t harden your heart to his tug of conviction today. He wants to raise you up to ‘walk on mountains and stormy seas’. He wants to adopt you into his family and have a relationship with you. He wants to come and sit with you and put a new song in your mouth.