“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm.” — Psalm 40:2 In today's verse, the Psalmist tells us what God has done. After patient waiting, he testifies of the deliverance of the Lord. Here, we see two specific things God did for him. First, He brought him up out of the pit and the miry clay. The pit of destruction is a place of hopelessness, ruin, or death that traps a person. David was in that state—but he gives a testimony: *God brought me up.* You may be in the same state. You feel like you are rotting. You have been scammed. Sickness is eating you up. Cry out to the God who brought David up, and patiently wait on Him.  Let me share a memory from my village in Tubur. There were days we went to the garden with bulls to plough when the soil was wet from rain. The ground became sticky, miry clay. You would step on it and sink. Sometimes your gumboot would remain stuck in the mud while your leg cam...

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.” — Psalm 40:1 In tonight's verse, the writer says he waited. In Hebrew, the word for wait is Qavah. This word portrays deliberate, tension-filled waiting that binds the heart to the expected intervention of Yahweh. It is not passive. It is not lazy. It is faith stretched toward the sure character of God. But what does it mean to wait patiently for the Lord? Does it mean sitting down while everything falls apart around you? No tuition for your children? Just sit and wait for God to pay it? Getting older and still single? Just sit and never look for a spouse? Hungry? Just sit and do nothing while you starve? No. That is not biblical waiting. Waiting in Scripture is never passive resignation. It is active trust. It is crying out. It is seeking. It is hoping. “Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame” (Psalm 25:3). David did not just sit. He cried to the Lord. He called on Him. He humbled himself. He pra...