Rescued, Redeemed And Rejoicing Series

Summer in the Psalms

Psalm 40:1-10 Rescued and Redeemed (Part 1)

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

8-29-2021

Baby Jessica

On October 14, 1987, a little girl fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas. Do you remember her name? Her name was Jessica McClure, but she became nationwide as “Baby Jessica.”

For 56 hours, rescue workers frantically tried to figure out how to get her from the well while 18 month old Jessica could be heard singing “Winnie the Pooh.”

Paramedic Robert O’Donald finally emerged with Jessica.

[Show video of rescue 3:00-4:00]

This rescue lead to rejoicing all over the world. I remember it and, if you are my age or older, I bet you remember it as well.

This morning, we will see that David’s rescue from the pit lead to not only his personal worship, but the worship of his people as well.

Background of Psalm 40

In Psalm 37-39, we hear David’s cries for God to deliver him for the guilt and shame of past sins.

In Psalm 40, this plea is answered in an amazing way.

David wrote this psalm to the Chief Musician and it is called a “mizmor,” which means a song written for stringed instruments. Remember these are songs that Jesus would sing with his family.

We don’t know exactly what was happening when David wrote this. Was it a betrayal? Was it a sickness? Was it when he had to run from his son Absalom? We don’t know. But he is remembering a time when he was as low as you can go and God rescued him.

We going to split the psalm into two parts and study verses 1-10 this morning.

Turn with me to Psalm 40.

Prayer

Rescued

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.” (Psalm 40:1-3)

David begins with waiting and as Tom Petty sang, “The Waiting is the Hardest Part.”

We are a microwave society who get road rage when we have to wait in traffic. We get annoyed at the workers and fellow customers when we have to wait in line. We get furious when we have to wait on hold forever.

The Hebrew is very strong. It literally says, “In waiting, I waited.” Doubling the term conveys the intensity of the activity.

There are several different kinds of waiting. There is the patient endurance waiting that most drive thru windows force you into and then there is expectant waiting than you experience at concert.

You enter the arena and there is an electricity in the air. You know that the band is somewhere backstage getting ready. Then the lights go down and the crowd begins to roar.

Waiting is often part of God’s program. But waiting is not the same as inactivity. It is an active expectation of God keeping his promises.

Abraham waited 25 years for the child that God had promised.

Jacob waited for 14 years to marry Rachel.

Jacob waited two years in prison.

Job waited for God to reply to his cries of confusion.

Paul waited 14 years before he went to Jerusalem to tell the other apostles what he had been preaching.

Jeremiah wrote these words when surveying the ruins of his beloved Jerusalem:

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26)

And David waited years between being anointed king and finally becoming king.

David remembers waiting with endurance and expectation for the Lord. This is the covenant making, promise keeping God.

And this God came near. He inclined, “he bent down,” and listened with a tender heart to David’s cries for help.

He not only leaned in and listened but he lifted David out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.

The picture of being stuck in a pit is seen several places in the Scriptures.

Jospeh’s brothers threw him into an empty well (Gen 37:24) and Jeremiah was thrown into a well;

“They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.” (Jer 38:6)

There would be no way to get out of the cistern on his own. The bottom would be muddy and the sides would be slimy. He was hopeless. If he was going to be rescued, it would have to come from outside the well.

David wrote in Psalm 69,

“Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink…” (Psalm 69:14)