INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: If you’re not inclined to believe what I’m telling you about pits, just ask 9 Pennsylvania coal miners. Breaking through into an older mine, a powerful current of water was released, and the miners ran for their lives. Unable to outrun the rising water, they had to return to the original place where they had broken through into the other mine because it was the highest point. Their noses and mouths slightly above water at times, they tied themselves together, wrote “goodbye notes”, and waited for the inevitable. But as they cried out to God and encouraged one another, good things began to happen. An air vent was created to give them fresh air. A drill team was brought in to make a way of escape. And a wonderful sense of humor buoyed their hopes. One of the guys cracked: “Boy, imagine the overtime pay we’re going to get for this!” They were eventually rescued and we all rejoiced.
Transition: There’s a story similar to this in the Book of Psalms.
Text: Psalm 40:1-3
Title: Out of the Pit, On to the Rock, Singing a Song
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Opening Statement: Sometimes we lose our song. The pressures of life, the pressures of family problems or the pressure of sickness snatch our song. And some morning we wake up and realize it has been awhile since I caught myself singing. I think the Psalmist found himself in that situation. He has been bogged down by the problems He faced. He has apparently lost his song.
Background: To set this up, allow me to say that the Psalms are basically the thoughts, meditations, prayers, and hymns of the Old Testament saints. They were written in poetic fashion. Though others wrote nearly half of the psalms, this particular Psalm is attributed to David.
Recitation: Psalm 40:1 I relied completely on the Lord, and he turned toward me and heard my cry for help. 40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud. He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing. 40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, praising our God. May many see what God has done, so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord!
Key Word: There are THREE IMAGES regarding the first three verses of this Psalm that guide us toward its significance. The first image is…
OUTLINE
The Pit
Exposition: 40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud.
Explanation: The Psalmist described himself as being in “a pit” that was watery and slimy. In Psalm 40, David is figuratively describing a really important time in his life when God delivered him from trouble and restored his song. We’re not sure what this “pit” might have been. We can look at the low points of David’s life and come up with several possibilities.
Suggestion: It could have been written when King Saul drove David from the palace and began pursuing him in jealousy, wanting to take his life. David narrowly escaped on many occasions. Perhaps, it was one of those times. It could have been when David’s own son, Absalom, tried to have him assassinated so that he could be king. Maybe it was near the time of his adultery with Bathsheba or the death of his illegitimate child by her. Could it have been when his own son violated his half-sister? Perhaps, it was a description of David’s own conversion experience when he turned his life over to God.
Observation: Whatever “the pit” may have been, it was uncomfortable, it was dark and wet, and impossible to get out of without someone else’s help.
Application: Maybe you’re in a pit this morning in helplessness, desperation, and apparent hopelessness. The pit is the breaking point for the overworked businessman, the outer limits of exasperation for the mother of three constantly crying children, the impossible expectations of too many classes in school, the grinding stress of a lingering illness, the imminent attack of a powerful enemy. Anything that causes a sense of helplessness and desperation and threatens to ruin life or take it away - that is the pit.
The Psalmist cried out to God in urgency and sincerity while in the pit and God made a way of escape for him. Cry out to God.
The second image…
The Rock
Exposition: Psalm 40:1 I relied completely on the Lord, and he turned toward me and heard my cry for help. 40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud. He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing.
Explanation: When you’re in a dark, muddy, slimy pit, there is no secure footing. If you can’t stand up, you can’t escape. Furthermore, when you’re in mud, the more you squirm, the deeper you sink. You’re stuck! The Psalmist, overwhelmed by his rescue, thought of “a rock” when he thought of God’s deliverance. He wouldn’t have to sink any more. He could freely move about, unrestricted on a sure foundation.
Application: Living life inevitably brings pits - slimy, watery, sticky pits. Stand on the Rock!
The third image…
The Song
Exposition: 40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, praising our God. May many see what God has done, so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord!
Observation: You have been created to sing. We sing in the shower, we whistle while we work, at times we even find ourselves pausing along the way to hear a bird chirping in the trees. We, by our nature, love to sing, even when we sound terrible. When we come to the Bible we find that the God of Creation and Redemption is the God of Song. When the universe was brought into existence, Job 38 says “The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” When God brought the Children of Israel out of bondage to Egypt in Exodus 15, the Israelites sang the song of Moses. One day when this world is over and God’s plan of redemption has reached its consummation and we’re all gathered before Him, we’re all going to sing the song of the Lamb. So we see that our singing is evidence of our life.
Illustration: No one helps us understand this better than the Psalmist David, who wrote, “He put a new song in my mouth; a song of praise to our God”. As a little boy, King David would play upon his harp while he tended his sheep in the fields. And later in life when David grew older, David played the harp so well that it quieted the weary soul of King Saul as David played his melodies on his harp in the royal palace. David knew song and music but he had not yet experienced “a new song.”
Explanation: When you’re in a hole in the ground, you may sing songs, but they’re sad songs – songs about tragedy and misfortune, sorrow and grief, anger and bitterness. But when you get out of the pit, you feel like dancing and singing what the Psalmist called “a new song.” It’s a song that the rescued can sing and it praises the living God. In fact, you’re so happy to be out of the pit, standing on the rock and singing a new song that your rescue story becomes a great witness to others who are still in the pit. May many see what God has done, so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord!
Application: You’ve been singing sad songs for too long. Sing a new song!
CONCLUSION
Application: What do you have to do in order to sing this new song? Do just what David did.
1. Admit you’re in the pit. You can’t be rescued unless you see yourself as stuck. I think there are many who live in the pit of moral darkness and discomfort and who do not realize how much light, freedom, and hope exists on the outside. Please accept the testimony of others. It is wonderful on the outside. Jesus died on the cross to make this rescue possible. The song is beautiful. Salvation and song are inseparable because the joy of the Lord generates music in the soul. Cry out to God today. Tell Him, “God, I’m in the pit.” Maybe you’re a believer that has fallen into a pit. Tell Him, “God, I’m in the pit.”
2. Ask for His help to get out of the pit. God wants to deliver you from the pit of personal sin or extreme grief or a lost dream or a broken family and give you a new song. Don’t just admit that you’re in the pit. Ask God to help you out of it, “God, lift me out of my pit.”
3. Wait on God to rescue you. The first reaction when we are in a pit may be to try harder, to get ourselves out, but that may just be tiring us out even more. The new pattern of life calls us to wait patiently. But the funny thing is that most of us when we call out to God for help don’t wait long enough for God to act. After a short while, we start to do things on our own again instead of continuing to ask God and wait for him to act. David waited patiently for God to act and God in his time, acted. He lifted David out of the pit and set him on a rock. Tell God, “I’ll wait right here in the pit until you rescue me.”
Question: What is your pit this morning?
Recapitulation: Cry out to God! Stand on the Rock! Sing your new song!
